Mugamoodi Tamil Movie
Mugamoodi opens with a theft that ends in murder. It's dark, quite tense and the old lady whose house is being robbed goes, within a matter of seconds, from confused to scared-to-death before she's fatally struck. Cue in the Mugamoodi theme. What did this opening sequence just establish? That this gang of robbers are merciless. By the end of the film, you'll discover that this aspect is not just trivial but misleading.
The police department is shaken. They summon a cop named Gaurav (Nassar) and assign him (echo Yudham Sei) with the responsibility of capturing these men. They tell us that the 'modus operandi' of the burglars is to rob old, weak people. Gaurav takes up the assignment on the condition that he isn't required to divulge any information until the culprits are caught. Nevertheless, he's assigned two officers to help out. I know what you're thinking.
Moving on to the principal characters of the film, the hero, Anand (Jiiva), is a Kung-fu junkie with Bruce Lee being his ideal self-image. He knows nothing of ambition or purpose in life, except that he wants to be a good fighter. If there's anyone in his life he really respects, it's his absolute-gem-of-a-human-being Kung-Fu master, Chandru (Selvaah). So when Chandru is forced out of his house for not being able to pay his rent (What do you expect? He teaches Kung-Fu for free), Anand goes to a fish market and challenges fishermen (I seriously wonder why these guys are stereotyped as limb-choppers) to a duel- if they fail to chop off his arm, they must sign up for Chandru's Kung-Fu classes. ROFL. And here I was thinking that they were just making ends meet. Apparently, what becomes of that is irrelevant because the (insignificant and uncharacterized) heroine makes her way into the story and their love affair is more important. Well, just know that Anand assumes the superhero role of Mugamoodi to impress her.
The villain, played by Narain as a guy so stolidly evil, goes bonkers at the end as he attempts to channelize The Joker. He also gets a kick out of raising the stakes, which he does by taking off his ghastly mask and baring his face to the public. Both Chandru and Mugamoodi let out a cry of despair when he vividly describes the way he murdered their mentors. I suppose THAT is his superpower.
The other characters seem bird-brained and impulsively reach insubstantial conclusions with regard to Mugamoodi's character. I guess that's okay, because Mysskin clearly intended to make us see this guy as a victim of injustice yet someone who is willing to do the right thing. The whole story reeks of contrivance and we hardly feel the sympathy that Mysskin hoped he could evoke.
The heroine's father is dying but she's busy romancing a mystery man hiding behind a mask and under a leather suit. I see no chemistry between the two and have not the slightest idea why she's attracted to him. After rescuing her from the villain, we see Mugamoodi run away and the camera slowly backs off as if he's made a lasting impression.
What particularly annoys you in Mugamoodi is the constant presence of Mysskin's stupid-but-deludedly-brilliant touches. The bits of humour, however, don't annoy. They're just juvenile and unfunny. Of course, with the exception of a long chase sequence in red underwear; the shots are distractingly shaky, the editing is choppy and background music is nice- an odd combination that doesn't work.
Mysskin has found his own style of visual storytelling, something I don't believe I can say at this point for another filmmaker working in Kollywood. But it hardly matters considering that this film and the one before are blatant cases of style over substance. I'm still slightly thankful though that Mugamoodi is not nearly as self-indulgent or self-glorifying as Yudham Sei. I think Mysskin should hire someone else to write his films.
Mugamoodi is heavily flawed and utterly boring.
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