A phenomenon called Hatrick : Chetan Sharma, Kapil Dev, HarbajanSingh and Irfan Pathan were the four Indian bowlers to achieve an international hatrick. Even they would be surprised on the importance of a hattrick for a cinema star or director. For quite a while, any rising star or director in Kollywood wants to achieve a hatrick. With such cruel norms in the industry that may perhaps dismiss him as a 2 film wonder, Venkat had definitely high stakes in Goa and Vaali penned it in Goa theme music “ Hatrick Adi”. Well, before the review, Congrats on your hatrick, Venkat Prabhu. Just like I saw in your two movies, audience stood up, laughed, clapped& whistled(in this order) before leaving the theatre.
A story called Goa : Many people dismiss the story component of Goa. I went through one reviewer who recorded hisastonishment that a film could go on for more than couple of hours on such aloose story. Another one made a scintillating discovery that story was writtenon the sets. Personally, I thought that story wise; Goatrounced Chennai 28 & Saroja. For those who missed it in all the humour, itis the story of today’s youth rendezvous with the seriousness and importance ofso called true love. Three village bred guys (so called torch holders ofculture) go to Goa with an idea of lust &comfort as love and after twists in tale get to understand and accept truelove.
A brand called Venkat Prabhu: You go to a Venkat Prabhu movie expecting interestingly packaged laughter and Venkat does it with élan most ofthe time in Goa. The way he opened the movie with the Panchayat & the way he closed with Manmathan was 100% Venkat Prabhu. He has his share of spoofs(Premgi imitating Ilaya Thalapathi in action & Little Ilaya Thalapathi inromance), one liners courtesy Jai (“My country da, enakku puriyum”, “One sugaryes, one sugar no”) and momentary comedies (like Vaibhav’s “Thayavu Senju, OnnuSollunga Sir” Premgi’s explaning his absence during Sneha-Vaibhav duet etc.). Whoelse than Venkat could have thought of Harinath’s Dasavatharam? You get towatch Venkat or his entire (previous) team (even his past two producers) makingan appearance then & there showing how happy and united they are as a lot.And then there is the making, for which the audience seemed well prepared this time. With the maturity he handled the sensitive gay matter; Venkat exhibits his superficial grey matter. Barring some lapses in the second half, Venkat Prabhu did almost everything right!
A gang called Jai, Premgi, Vaibhav, Sampath & Arvind: While Premgi& Sampath do their third straight film with Venkat, Jai, Vaibhav &Arvind are into their second. So it’s all known and played grounds for all.While Vaibhav shows improvement after an impressive Saroja, Arvind brings in a lot of confidence into his role, which you don’t see in his other films. UnderVenkat’s arms again, Jai shows us where he belongs – great work, lad. Only inhis brothers movie Premgi gets a sizeable role and that may perturb reviewers to impress that Venkat has given him a better share. I firmly disbelieve thefact, but I believe that no one other than Premgi could have played Samikannu.The best of all is Sampath! This otherwise bad boy’s body language –extraordinary(in Venkat’s words) or mind blowing(if I am allowed my own one)
An angel called Melanie : Though Sneha and Pia do justice to their roles, their performances(read looks) are angled away by one Australian angel.Melanie with her simple personality and innocent smile (once again borrowed from the movie) catches one’s eyes and fails to fade away. We must madly, deeply and truly thank Jessica Alba for rejecting this role because Lemonie Melanie was the main attraction of this holiday.
A duo called Yuvan & Sakthi : A director is incomplete without his Directors of Photography and Music. Sakthi Saravannan (teased by naming Prassana’s character after him) who stunned one and all with the simplicity of Chennai 28 & darkness of Saroja now shows Goa in broad daylight and great lights. I think he scores more than 10 in a scale of 10. Yuvan has never let his cousin down. While his songs meander from the rural “Adida Nayyandiya” to the techno “Goa theme”, he takes the movie to another level with his re-recording. I think his BGM justifyies his “Ilaya Isai Gnani” billing. When you compare and contrast Goa and Tamizh Padam(which has already picked up), Yuvan and Sakthi do a great job in tilting the scale on Goa’s favour.
An appointment called disappointment : In Chennai 28, the Christina – Arvind song was the only aspect which troubled my clean chit for the director. Saroja was a totally flawless performance. However in Goa, Venkat poses few more things that don’t go down well. I thought “Yelaelu Thalaimuraikkum” was poorly picturised keeping with Venkat’s standards. The second half dragged a little bit teasing your humour, if not patience. The way they snatch back the jewellery from Sneha seemed amateurish and brought out the guffaw which hid for long.
A tail piece called theerpu: I am sure that Venkat Prabhu did a good job keeping with his herculean expectations and his well defined style. There were a few dull moments. Nonetheless, any holiday is bound to have some lazy and dull moment in it. All the same, this Venkat Prabhu holiday was very enjoyable. You don’t look back on your holidays, do you? You rather look forward to the next one!
So, well done & what’s next Venkat Prabhu?