THAMIZH PADAM 2 (2018)

Critic - No.158

Director: CS Amudhan
Casts: Shiva, Iswarya Menon, Sathish, Kalairani, Disha Pandey, Chetan, Kalairani, Santhana Bharathi, R Sundarajan, Manobala
Language: Tamil
Genre: Comedy
Music: N. Kannan

SYNOPSIS:
 A stringent cop, Shiva tries all the possible ways to nab a dreaded don who poses a big threat to the society  A stringent cop tries all the possible ways to nab a dreaded don, ‘P’ (Sathish) who poses a big threat to the society.

REVIEW:
In 2010, CS Amudhan introduced the genre of spoof in Indian cinema through Tamizh Padam that was embraced with open arms by the audience. It turned out to be a blockbuster but there were no films that dared to follow the spoof genre. After 8 years, with updated content and some innovative techniques, CS Amudhan and Shiva are back with a bang!

The most striking factor about the film is the well-structured story that flows from the start to an end. Unlike the first instalment, the film is more cohesive in terms of storytelling. On surface it might look simple but the amount of detailing the team has done in writing is huge. The film continues from where it ended in the first and the sidekick of the previous antagonist, Sathish takes over as the main threat here.

From title card of ‘Agila Ulaga Super Star’, the director sets of the mood strongly. From then, there is no stop till the very end minute of the film. As the audience have evolved over time, CS Amudhan doesn’t only stick to movie spoofs but also takes references from politics, pop culture and even English TV shows. He also registers his voice for societal problems such as demonetization and increasing rape crimes.

Since this film plays more like a cop story, CS Amudhan inserts many Gautham Vasudev Menon’s (GVM) film references that creates laughter bomb in the halls. He takes a leap in creativity when he uses Gautham’s voice over narration style to push the comedic effect of a scene. He even parodies GVM’s non-cop films like Vinnai Thaandi Varuvaya, Neethane En Ponvasantham and Vaaranam Aayiram. My personal favourite was the dialogue “I love Gangai Amaran”, which was a spoof of “I love Illayaraja” dialogue in Varanam Aayiram. As a diehard fan of GVM, I thoroughly enjoyed the way the film celebrated the iconic scenes of his films.

The romantic portions of the film works better in this second part and Iswarya Menon has to be commended for that. She gives a wide range of performance throughout the film, parodying the stereotyped and underwritten ‘bubbly’ (loosu) heroines of Tamil cinema. Check out the witty heroine love failure song which again takes a dig on the male chauvinistic nature of Tamil songs.

Iswarya Menon emerges as a promising talent to watch out for

With a bigger budget, CS Amudhan has been given the liberty to think bigger this time. There is an overseas portions and a period portion that shows how much the producer (Sashikanth) have trusted the team. The period flash back portions not only parodies Bahubali but also takes references from 1960s and 70s devotional films. In the setting, there are many statures of different cultures that cheekily hints that India is a root of them all. This is just one of hundreds of cleverly but subtly placed mise en scène elements that aids in creating parody. CS Amudhan also cleverly inserts a few jokes in dubbing that can be enjoyed more in second viewing.

The period portion elevates the whole experience, finishing off with a wholesome effect

To help the director to recreate scenes, the art direction team, cinematographer, costume designer, music composer and even the stunt director have worked with immense detail to remind us of the scenes. Even at the backdrop of each scenes, there are intelligently places jokes. One example is the ‘Vishal pirated DVD department’ board you see in the police headquarters. To match the tones of almost 100 films is not an easy task and Gopi Amarnath should be commended for it. The score of the film is very interesting as Kannan tweaks each memorable score to evoke the scene’s tonality without infringing any copyright.

Shiva carries the entire film on his shoulders. No one could ever replace him in this franchise. Even though he mocks himself in the film as a bad actor, his ability to makes us laugh constantly for 2 and a half hours is no joke. He is a terrific actor in his own way with his own strengths. Sathish uses this big opportunity to gain limelight and he has given his all with almost 15 to 20 get ups. Actors like Chetan, Santhan Bharathi and Kalairani walk away with claps at a few scenes.

Shiva stamps his own unique flavour of acting with his brand comedy.

CS Amudhan has tightly gripped the rhythm of comedy by setting up each scene with a serious tone and then dropping a comedy in it as a payoff. However, that creates an inevitable lag in the film at some parts. The item song performed by Kasthuri sticks out like a sore thumb in the film but if you look at it from another angle, this might also be a reminder that item songs are always misplaced. The portions between Shiva and his ‘under aged’ teens (played by Manobala, Santhana Bharathi and R Sundarajan) doesn’t engage as other scenes.

As the film has a huge number of spoof references, section of audience who don’t watch many films might miss half of the joke. On the other end, film fanatics who are updated about the Indian politics and trolls will celebrate each moment. So yes, the degree of engagement the film gives, depends on each audience’s exposure to the dynamics discussed in the film.

VERDICT: 
Thamizh Padam 2 comfortably exceeds the standards of its predecessor with intelligent writing, immense detailing and Shiva’s ever engaging brand of comedy.

CELLULOID METER- 3.75/5: