Uppu Karuvadu (Tamil, 2015)

For a change the film is entirely dominated by a protagonist and not a Hero. One more salient feature is that the male & female leads, Karunakaran & Nanditha Swetha are not lovers or enemies. They are just part of the story. Now if that isn’t a rarity then what is! Radha Mohan’s subtle yet apt differentiation between the filmy & non-filmy worlds is one to savor too.

It is refreshing to see the generally stoic-faced Karunakaran being open a role like this devoid of heroism. He is able to bring out the angst of a man who is struggling to realize his dream. Similarly, Nandita shows her mettle by ably jumping between the caricature-level acting in real life & measured acting on reel.

If there is an award for Second Hero (not just a Supporting Actor) my vote will go for two marvelous performers from this film: Chaams & ‘Doubt’ Senthil. They bring the roof down with their antics without ever resorting to TASMAC-based jokes or double entendres. While Chaams’ modulation is pretty well known, the ability of ‘Doubt’ Senthil sweeps us well & truly off our feet.

The other supporting actors such as MS Bhaskar as the poetic master, Mayilsamy as the simpleton Manager, Kumaravel as the rugged & realistic rowdy, and ‘Daddy’ Saravanan as the uber-cool Swamiji have well-written parts and have excelled in their respective roles.

The dialogues laced with Thirukkural from Chaams, the tiny bits of poetry from M S Bhaskar, the hilarious English mistakes from Senthil, and the ever-singing Malayalee are all very well-conceived ideas and work perfectly in line with the overall story never sticking out from the core.

Radha Mohan’s fascination for the world of Cinema is admirable. However, he is almost becoming addicted to it & transforming into a Meta-Lover of sorts with many of his films either being about films or filmmakers. Hope he comes out of that. There is also a tinge of over-acting in the emotional sequences! However thankfully it is not to the caricature level of a Siruthai or a Kanchana 2.