Oh My Dog Tamil Movie
Produced by actor Suriya and Jothika's 2D Entertainment and directed by Sarov Shanmugam, 'Oh My Dog' is a direct-to-OTT film that has been released on Amazon Prime. The movie is strictly targeted towards children and has Arun Vijay, his real-life son, master Arnav Vijay and Vijayakumar. It's almost like a family fair - on and off the screen.
Since the movie caters to kids, there are no intriguing narrative tropes or layers. The movie's narrative was shoved on the face and was unapologetically predictable. Fernando (Vinay Rai), an egoistic dog enthusiast wants his breed of dogs to be fit and always ready for the competition. When he finds out that one of his exclusive canine breeds (Siberian Husky) has given birth to a blind pup, he asks it to be executed. Obviously, the pup escapes and lands on the lap of Arjun (Arnav Vijay).
No prizes for guessing the rest! Literally, it's the transformation of an underdog to a prize-winning dog! Such films where the primary target audience are children, one needs a lot of creative freedom and plot points to execute them without hiccups. Over the years, we've been spoiled for choice with respect to such genres thanks to Hollywood and OTT. So, the bar is set quite high. Debutant director Sarov had a tall challenge to begin with.
The writing was primitive. Many portions reminded me of Ramanarayanan films without the entertainment quotient that he used to effortlessly infuse where kids and animals pulling off tricks and deception. The dumb helpers of the villain and the wagon that they drive could have been conceived in a more matured manner. The silver lining in the movie is Arun Vijay and his relationship with his father and son. We could see the three generations of the Vijayakumar family bring their off screen chemistry on the screen.
Mahima Nambiar as Arun Vijay's pair play the role of a beautiful young mother and homemaker. Her expressions and nuances on screen have improved a lot. Vinay seems to be the new 'suave' bad guy of Kollywood. He carries a sense of sophistication and bites, chews and spits out Tamil dialogues. What better qualification one needs?
The movie with its predictable plot points and cliche fails to impress the larger audiences. For kids this might appeal to a certain extent, thanks to the antiques performed by the on-screen kids and the canine. Why can't a new-age 'Ramanarayanan movie' be more evolved in terms of making and catering to a larger audience? That would be my biggest gripe!
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