Uttama Villan Tamil Movie

Feature Film | 2015 | U
Critics:
Audience:
This is one movie that you might not lap up immediately, but maybe in a couple of years or perhaps a decade later, look back and go, WoW... Now, you ask? You might not love it, but it will make your eyes sweat.
May 3, 2015 By S. Sriram


Every time I see a movie, a small voice inside me reminds me that I have an Intelligence quotient of a seven year old and the emotional quotient of a nine year old. Given how that makes me sit comfortably in the big broad bell in the statistical curve of your average movie going Joe, let's get started on our take on Utthama Villain. For starters, it is a movie which talks about morality and mortality in a casual way. Whether it upset my religious belief, I do not know- for the seven year old in me was pretty sure that a religion that has survived its own evils can sure beat alleged defamation thrown from the outside on the inside.


Kamal has made it apparent that he has been fascinated by cancer for quite some time now... saw that in Nammavar, then a literal magische Kugel saved him in Dasavatharam... In Manmadhan Ambu, Ramesh fought cancer and successfully too, given how he has returned to direct this venture. Here again (SPOILER ALERT) Kamal is stricken with Astrocytoma and Andrea is his doc-once again fooling gullible kids into thinking there are hot gals in the profession...(that is not offensive as I belong to that field, sexist perhaps? Perhaps...) But if you were hoping for another magic bullet to his head, you are wrong. Be prepared for a gut wrenching, neck wrangling emotional ride.


Once the super star (re)turns to his mentor (played by the late legend KB), we have the cinema within the cinema and some Meta stuff on death and living after death. Throw in an illegit kid and a few affairs alluding to the actor's real life, blurring the lines between reel and real, we have the movie. That the yesteryear comic Nagesh was schooled by KB shows and whenever the latter appears on screen, if you close your eyes, you can actually visualize Nagesh- much like in Kochadaiyaan... Talking of super stars, Kamal has cleverly treaded a balance so that this is not his LINGA. I mean, the mere presence of Thalaivar quenched the emotional thirst of the nine year old in me, but on a larger level, it didn't challenge the seven year old's intellect (ppara!)


As you would expect, Kamal sizzles but for some strange reason I kept seeing Kamal and not Mano... Maybe that was what they were going for... The transposition of comedic relief in the movie and the actual grief in the larger picture along with the obvious irony of the 'immortal' character played by a man counting his days should have worked better, but who am I to judge? Urvashi shines as do the artists playing Kamal's kids. Andrea and Pooja look gorgeous and that is fine by me. There is however one man that manages to hog the limelight even when sharing the screen with Kamal: Nassar. On a technical level, you have Kamal at the helm so, that in itself is a stamp for perfection.


To sum things up, this is one movie that you might not lap up immediately, but maybe in a couple of years or perhaps a decade later, look back and go, WoW... Now, you ask? You might not love it, but it will make your eyes sweat.


S. Sriram

   

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