Brindhavanam Review
Director : Radha Mohan
Star Cast : Arlunidhi, Tanya, Vivek, MS Baskar
Amidst commercial potboilers, preachy dramas and horror comedies, Brindhavanam comes as a great relief. Radha Mohan films oozes sincerity from start to finish, touching upon human values with light-hearted humour. These are formulas he's employed which were lapped up by family audiences and Brindhavanam is no exception.
Kannan (Arulnidhi) is a speech-and-hearing impaired guy living in Ooty. He is an orphan and has a group of friends and neighbors, who cares for him and he loves each and every one of them. For Kannan, watching Vivek’s comedy scenes brings immense joy and needless to say, he is a big fan of the actor right from young age.
One fine day, Kannan helps a guy on road and surprisingly, he realizes that it is none other than his matinee-idol Vivek. After a brief conversation, Vivek and Kannan begin to share a great rapport that they become thick friends.
Kannan also introduces Vivek to his childhood friends Sandhya (Tanya) and Varkki (Doubt Senthil). After a point of time, Vivek finds out that Sandhya is in love with Kannan but they always behave like Tom and Jerry. The rest of the film is all about how a fan and his favorite actor bring a refreshing change in each other’s life …
The biggest strength of Radha Mohan is his ability to convey a highly emotional content with sublime humor, thanks to his writing skills. After Viji(Mozhi), now Pon Parthiban’s dialogues has been a great value addition to Radha Mohan’s films and Brindhavanam is yet another gem from the director-writer combination. It is all about conquering hearts with basic human goodness.
Narrating a deaf and mute person’s life would often get melodramatic but Brindhavanam is high on entertainment, major credits to the comic one-liners of Vivek, who is in splendid form and gives his best in recent times. Along with the script-driven comedy sequences, the track between Cell Murugan and Vivek also brings the roof down.
For Arulnidhi, Brindhavanam is easily the second best character after Mounaguru, and the actor steals the show with his subtle performance and once again proves that he has a great eye for picking quality content. Tanya’s character in Brindhavanam is easily the best role written for a heroine and her dubbing and lip-sync are perfect. MS Baskar, a regular in Radha Mohan also shines in an incisive role.
MS Vivekanand’s cinematography is a visual treat for us in this hot summer by capturing the breezy cool locales of Ooty. Vishal Chandrasekar is one of the underrated music composers of this generation, he continuously delivers good songs and background score, Brindhavanam is yet another quality product in his career.
Though the film’s run-time is 130 minutes, the long drawn out climax tests our patience that it would have been better if the director opted for a crisp ending. Nevertheless, Brindhavanam is an exhilarating feel-good entertainer, go and watch this one with your family!
To some perhaps Brindhavanam will give hope, that a perfect world like this is actually out there somewhere. The importance of family, the enduring bond of brotherhood, and the power of forgiveness will surely make you smile.
