Inji Iduppazhagi Tamil Movie
Inji Iduppazhagi is a pretentiously written film that subsists totally on Anushka's singularly terrific performance, the never-ending sermons on 'smile', 'happiness' and 'fitness' and the sumptuous close-up shots of jilebis and laddus.
Without taking much time, director Prakash Kovelamudi introduces us to Sweety, played by the effervescent Anushka Shetty who shines in her role as a plus-sized woman. As a child, Sweety loves receiving message cards from the weighing machine and is absolutely content with her weight without any airs of burden. She believes that happy girls are the most beautiful lot in the world. And, ostentatious flash cards appear on screen whenever Sweety thinks highly of her values. Her laid-back life gets disturbed when her mother, played by the hypersensitive, melodramatic Urvashi, hunts for a prospective, well-read NRI groom who wouldn't give a hoot to Sweety's obesity.
There are few appreciable moments Kanika Dillon manages to stock in her manipulative screenplay that boasts as a clarion call for women empowerment. Though the intentions of the makers are good-hearted, the way the story-telling is orchestrated on screen is absolutely apathetic.
The supporting cast is quite indifferent and caricatured. Prakash Raj as Sathyanand is absolutely wasted in his role as the managing director of Size Zero, a fitness centre that promises instant weight loss. Sweety, who is coerced to enroll in one of the express courses in Size Zero, feels regretful about her plum body , which she thinks acts as a deterrent that precludes Abhi (Arya) to fall in love with her.
Size Zero fixation among young women is the latest fad across the country and a sensitive subject like this demanded more powerful writing and lucid staging to get the message across to audiences. Instead, Prakash and Kanika find simpler ways to convey their messages by wrapping it up in 'fortune cookies', which Anushka delivers her customers to make them feel happy.
RS Prasanna, the great talent behind the highly-sensitive Kalyanan Samayal Saadham, fails miserably as a dialogue writer here. His lines appear too monotonous and as literal translation from Telugu. It is high time Telugu directors stopped passing off dubbed garbage as bi-linguals and cheating the audiences.
Even though Anushka manages to make us laugh occasionally and revel in her mirthful performance, Inji Iduppazhagi is a spectacularly boring 'message film' that focuses solely on delivering discourses.
MOVIE REVIEWS