Vallavanukku Pullum Aayudham

My review: Vallavanukku Pullum Aayudham

Remake of Telugu hit "Maryadha Ramanna", "Vallavanukku Pullum Aayudham" (VPA) suffers from the Telugu hangover. Known to be loud and brass when you remake a Telugu movie into Tamil one must tone it down a great deal for it to be palatable for the Tamil audience. But Srinath however fails to do that and hence the overt brandishing of loud, crass and over the top making ensures that VPA fails to take off inspite of it having quiet a few laugh out loud moments. If only the makers vouched for some degree of subtlety things would have been different. 

Nonetheless VPA is not entirely despicable and is a decent launch vehicle for Santhanam as a solo hero. He does his parts well, excels even in the slapstick comedy, yet unexplored trait of his. As unusual he excels in his timing comedy and sarcastic one-liners, which is his forte. It is when he tries to "act" he gets unintentionally funny, especially when he tries to show of petrified affect. He does well in the song sequences choreographed to suit his persona. 

The first half is a drag, with those tiring sequences on the train testing one's patience. In the name of comedy the whole sequences that involves director Rajakumaran and his gang is infantile. It is only in the second half the story actually unfolds and the proceeding become engrossing. There are quiet a few genuinely funny sequences in the second half. However the Telugu cinema cliches and unwarranted and dreary songs keep intruding with the seamlessness of the flow. 

Ashna Zaveri doesn't look like a heroine material and her acting skills needs a lot of honing. Nagineedu and his group of villains overdo their parts which might be ideal for the Telugu version but in Tamil you need to tone it down a bit more. Mirchi Senthil is okay while director Rajakumaran is plain irritating. 

Technically movie looks rich with neat visuals by Richard M Nathan and Sakthi. In Siddharth Vipin's music, "Takkaru takkaru" is a foot tapping number while "Otrai devathai" is a good melody, though one can sniff the Telugu flavor in all the songs.  

On the whole, "Vallavanukku Pullum Ayutham" is funny in parts, but fails to sustain interest. Too much of Telugu movie idiosyncrasies spoils the movie's overall appeal.

Bottomline: For few LOL moments here and there.

2.5/5