Comali Tamil Movie
'Comali' directed by debutant Pradeep Ranganathan was in the news for all the right and wrong reasons sometime back. The trailer of the film was funny enough and at the same drew some flak. It created a furor amongst Rajinikanth's loyal fan base as it slyly took a dig at the super star's apprehensions to enter politics.
Also, issues relating to the original script ownership and Trichy area distributors boycotting the movie popped up right before its release. However, the film managed to cross all the hurdles and has released on August 15th as announced.
The movie has an interesting hypothetical premise that crawls through the life of Ravi ('Jayam' Ravi), who wakes up from a state of coma after 16 years. His past, present-day challenges, survival tactics, and his relationship with other characters is narrated with a lucid screenplay that warps between the reel and real issues. Through its course, the movie deftly touches upon the social problems that have mushroomed under our noses because of the modern lifestyle and technologies that have become part and parcel of our lives.
Nostalgia and a certain sense of wack drive this film's narrative. The 90s kids who relished films like 96 with tears in their eyes would have the same tears rolling down, but this time out of laughter. Though at certain junctures the script went overboard to be ridiculous at the very least, it gets justified by the amount of farce and absurdity that comes off as a result. Thanks to the combination of Yogi Babu and Sha Ra, we were kept entertained throughout.
The early school episode where Jayam Ravi sports a toned schoolboy look was convincing due to his body language and script. The later portions tried to balance between 'message' with some masala elements. The part where Jayam Ravi goes after the treasure and gets caught by KS Ravikumar was pretty hilarious.
Jayam Ravi has managed to balance the entire movie on his shoulders, ably assisted by his side-kick, Yogi Babu, who is being groomed into a character artist. RJ Ananthi was a sweet surprise as her ability to emote works! Newcomer Samyuktha Hegde and Kajal Aggarwal perform the usual ex-lover and heroine gimmicks respectively. Sha Ra (as Dr.Thyagesh - again, a wacky name), with his weird looks and dialog delivery, was able to churn those funny moments successfully.
Towards the climax, the movie wanted to rely heavily on the 'message' part of it and was doing the usual rituals of blaming the societal malice on the overindulgence of social media and technology. The message has worked to an extent, thanks to the sharp dialogues. The climax, however, was a let down as it was a bit of a drag and fell into the melodramatic zone where it relies on humanitarian endeavors.
In the lines of 'Naduvula Konjam Pakkatha Kaanom' that hinged on a specific disability encountered by a lead character and its ensuing funny moments, Comali too treads a similar path with some over-the-top masala elements that work to a large extent. At least it worked to the extent that one doesn't feel cheated and insulted after walking out of the movie. It's a reasonably enjoyable masala ride!
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