Vellaikara Durai - Stale gags parade!

Director Ezhil has dished out so many potboilers in the past - some successful (Thullaatha Manamum Thullum) and some buried deep down (Raja) with hardly any impact. His misses by far outweighs the hits that he has delivered till date. His recent successes were ‘Manam Kothi Paravai’ that placed Sivakarthikeyan in the limelight and ‘Desingu Raja’ which too tasted moderate success thanks to the B and C center crowd. His latest is Vikram Prabhu starrer, ‘Vellaikara Durai’ - the title sounds funny as the metaphor works out great. So it’s obvious to expect that this movie would be a fun ride throughout, especially with an actor like Soori in the cast. The actual result however was starkly different!!

The story was typically tailored to tickle our nerves. It is set in a small town where Soori and Vikram Prabhu try their hand at doing a real estate business. They get fooled by a land broker who manages to sell them a graveyard for a hefty price. Now that they have to repay the loan shark (John Vijay as ‘Vatti Varadhan’ in yet another goofy villain’s shoes) from whom they borrowed to finance the business. As they fail to do so, they are being enslaved by him at his place. Then the story moves on and on paying little attention to logic or laughter.

The primal problem with the script is its protagonist - Vikram Prabhu. He is the only guy who is determined not to laugh nor does he want the audiences to laugh. An absolute fiasco in the casting department. No harm in trying to experiment with roles, but sadly one has to live with the pathetic outcomes if it goes awry (especially the audience). Sri Divya on the other hand looked much more dynamic and active in her role and I felt she was wasted. Soori did his bit to make people laugh but the script lagged behind so much that his gags fell flat and looked ineffective most of the time.

Director Ezhil, almost on the verge to becoming a veteran movie maker should have done his basics right. He need not make a film every year, but can concentrate on a script for a couple of years and execute it without a flaw. At last, the quality of the films count more than the quantity. Let’s hope directors learn their basics first!!

Verdict: Disappointing

Rating: 1.5 / 5