MOOKUTHI AMMAN (2020)

Critic - No.  182

Director: RJ Balaji & N.J. Saravanan

Producer: Ishari K Ganesh (Vels Film International)

Casts: RJ Balaji, Nayanthara, Urvashi

Language: Tamil

Genre: Comedy / Fantasy

Music: Girishh G

 

SYNOPSIS:

A small-time TV reporter Engels Ramasamy (RJ Balaji), who has been gathering evidence to expose a self-styled godman for years, gets help from his ancestral Goddess Mookuthi Amman (Nayanthara) who appears in front of him one day. How does he utilise the situation to bring down the godman before the public?

REVIEW:

RJ Balaji, the co-director and main cast of the film has always been interested in discussing sensitive social and political topics, both offscreen and onscreen. After delivering a sleeper hit, LKG, Balaji returns again to whip another religious-political satire with an interesting satirical twist.

As the synopsis suggests, the film has a mix of fantasy, comedy and some spoof kid of Goddess film trademarks we have seen in Indian cinema in the past decades. The film travels as a family drama in the first half, showing us the struggles of Engels Ramasamy’s middle-class family with a tint of black comedy. Throughout the film strikes a pun on the blinded belief of superstitions and frauds who use religion to earn money. The scenes are rapidly paced with engaging scenes knitted back to back. The word plays and social comedy injected in the screenplay is nothing but fun.

RJ Balaji excels both as a director and actor in this film with a clear vision of what he intended to express through this satire. Urvashi gets a meaty role as Balaji’s mother and scores both in comic and emotional scenes. Nayanthara looks great as the Goddess and that’s about it. Other good actors like Mouli and Ajay Gosh look wasted in underwritten roles. Girishh’s peppy songs and score are apt for the satirical theme of the film.

On the downside, the film does suffer from tonal inconsistencies where serious scenes are abruptly thrown in between comical whirlwind to force a message out of it. For example, there is a nicely written conversation between RJ Balaji and his sister where the latter asks for one-day leave from housework when asked what grant she wants. Despite the novel message, these kinds of scenes doesn't gel with the spoof nature of the film that it established earlier in the story. After a jet speed of screenplay, the film slows down majorly in the second half before a predictable but decent finish. Given the set up of Goddess VS Godman, the film doesn’t really show many interesting antics of the Goddess during the final moments other than a summarising speech.

However, Mookuthi Amman should be commended for the sensitive but pressing topic it has taken to dissect and address. Minding the few glitches here and there, the film does engage us in the 2 hours running time and makes us reflect on our own superstitious beliefs.

VERDICT: 

Despite a few tonal inconsistencies, ‘Mookuthi Amman’ is an engaging fantasy comedy that will tickle your funny bone and stir your mind at the same time.

CELLULOID METER- 3.25/5:

Watch the full film at Disney+Hotstar: https://www.hotstar.com/sg/movies/mookuthi-amman/1260047825