DIKKILOONA (2021)
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| Critic No. 236 |
Director: Karthik Yogi
Written by: Karthik Yogi
Produced by: KJR Studios
Casts: Santhanam, Anaga, Shirin Kanchwala, Yogi Babu, Anandraj, Nizhagal Ravi, Munishkanth, Rajendran, Sha Ra
Music: Yuvan Shankar Raja
Language: Tamil
Genre: Comedy, Romance, Sci-Fi
SYNOPSIS:
It’s the year 2027 and electrician Mani (Santhanam) is unable to realize his dream of becoming a hockey player and he hates his married life with Priya (Anaga), a girl once he loved head over heels. When Mani stumbles upon a time machine, he decides to go back to 2020 to stop the most devastating event of his life - his wedding.
REVIEW:
It is an interesting connection done by director Karthik Yogi for the title, Dikkiloona, a game that Babloo (Senthil) invented in Gentleman (1992). When he tries to play ‘Dikkiloona’ (where you have to move backward and collide another person’s butt with yours; if you know, you know) with Mani (Goundamani), he gets a kick in his rear. The same analogy of moving backward is applied to this film where Yogi Babu transports Santhanam back to his past.
The film is packed with eccentric comedy shifting from various timelines neatly, with a bunch of screwball characters (bumbling time cops, mental asylum patients, and doctor) stuck in nicely engineered comical situations. The first half goes on at a jet speed and sustains our pains in our guts with effective comedies coming in every second. Time travel is a complex concept to write and usually, we will have a credible scientist in the film explaining how it works. But in Dikkiloona, you won’t have such issues because we have Albert Einstein (Yogi Babu) himself spelling out the formula for time travel! Yes, the science fiction aspect of the film is treated like a spoof rather than a genre tool to supplement the story. So, do not expect the science to make sense in the film, especially when an asylum doctor is showing a picture of his wife to Santhanam and asking him whether she is pretty, in order to check whether he really has a mental issue.
Even though the format is clean and the jokes work most of the parts, the character development takes a big hit in the second half of the film which works against the emotions that the film tries to address at the climax. The female leads are shown as one-dimensional antagonists in the film. If Anaga is shown as a nagging wife, Karthik also injects some commentary through the other lead, Shirin is designed as an example of how modern girls drinks, party through the night, and wearing a figure-hugging dress and stilettos to temples. Oh yes, she also has a boy bestie who films her revealing ‘Bit-Tok’ videos. I just felt that these characters continue to embody the misogynistic view against women even though the director tries to compensate at the end by justifying Priya’s character which just doesn’t work at all for me. The weak conflicts in the second half make the film more draggy before it picks up in the last 30 minutes.
Another issue I had for the film is the body-shaming comedies that go one notch higher to even poke fun at the physically challenged characters. The most hyped Per Vechaalum song from the legendary Michael Madana Kama Rajan (1989) is seriously underutilised in the film. The main idea of choosing the song might be probably the similar situation of multiple lookalikes trying to outrun each other. In this version too, a guy is carrying a piece of log to knock another man out. Maybe they should have instead thrown in four time-traveling Santhanams at the climax trying to get rid of one another?
That said, the film has many star comedy actors ensuring that the momentum doesn’t drop even if the runtime feels stretched. Besides the offensive lines in name of comedy, Santhanam does well in his role, even during emotional scenes this time. Anagha is good but wasted in a thin character. Anandraj-Munishkanth’s duo was my favorite as the dumb cops trying to stop the multiple Santhanams from achieving their mission. Yogi Babu does well in his brief role while the group of Lollu Saba actors creates a scream on screen with their final pre-climax asylum sequence. The comedy worked most of the time and I just felt that stronger characters would have made the romance angle stronger at the climax and we would have rooted more for Priya and Mani to unite. Now, we are just laughing at the situations with zero tension. Yes, the message that you must change yourself first than trying to recorrect the past is clear, stronger arcs and emotions would have made Dikkiloona a more fulfilling joyride.
'Dikkiloona' is a rib-tickling, madcap entertainer that has tons of comedy actors performing their hearts out to enhance the predictable ride that feels a tad too long.
CELLULOID METER- 3.25/5:
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