DESINGU RAJA MOVIE REVIEW

S.Ezhil, who made a mini comeback of sorts with the decent comedy-drama 'Manam Kothi Paravai', is back with another film which has abundance of comedy portions written throughout the script and aided by nearly the same band of artistes, who were present in his last endeavor. Will S.Ezhil strike it back-to-back ?

Vemal, takes up the male lead role and there's nothing contemporary with his portrayal. He has played the village lad role, relentless of times and he repeats it here as well. There are rooms for improvement as always, and he can at least strive to do something different with his dialogue delivery, with these conventional roles. Bindhu Madhavi looks ravishing in her pretty half-sarees, but is a little out-of-place, if you one is to consider her role's as a village belle. She has potential to be deliver better performances, and hopefully, may better scripts knock her doors. Soori has started to come out on his own and has established himself as a lead comedian. His dialogue rendition reminds us of Vadivelu's, especially with the English words. Nevertheless, he still manages to raise some chuckles, albeit in a non-sterling manner. Singampuli is a riot, with his lively antics and spotless dialogue delivery and well accompanied by Chams, as well. The rest of the cast such as Vinu Chakravarthy, Gnanavel, Ravi Maria, Naren, Singamuthu, Vanitha and etc were befitting of the needs of the script.

 Vasugi Bhaskar has done a good job, especially with Bindhu's costumes and her sarees and also for Vemal, who looked much presentable. Dhilip Subbarayan's action choreography is just functional, as per demands of the "masala" elements of the script and is well suited for Vemal's image. Sivaraj's production design was neat, especially with the props used for showcasing the interiors of rural homes, as well as for village festival sets. Gopikrishna's editing sufficed the basic needs of the film. Nothing spectacular about it. Sooraj Nallusami's cinematography complements the wants and needs of the director and he has pretty much, achieved the objective of bringing out the essence of a typical Tamizh cinema rural, commercial film.

D.Imman's score uplifts the mood of the film, with above average scores. The pick of the lot is the opening number, "Oru Ore Ore". Picturized on the lead pair on a temple festival backdrop, the song has good props and set work done by Sivaraj. "Ammadi Ammadi" is a sensuous number shot on the lead pair, in various sets of a small, fruit warehouse. Bindhu looked good in the song and the lighting complemented the feel and mood of the song. Sivaraj, once again does a neat and simple job, with the correct placement of fruits and other props, in the song picturization. "Nilavattam" is another village-festival song, but has been shot in a night sequence. The song has been shot with bright lights and feature a more lively ambiance. Muktha Bhanu makes a guest appearance for this song, and the damsel looks much better in a trimmer physique. "Pom Pom" appears in the end credits, with song picturization done on top of a moving bus. The lead pair was featured along with dancers and the visuals were interspersed with some blooper moments of the film. The background score was done well, but does not stand out as outstanding. Nonetheless, a decent output from D.Imman !

After the decent success of 'Manam Kothi Paravai', S.Ezhil has take a short-cut of sorts in making quick bucks, by aping the same format and template he has used for that film, in 'Desingu Raja' as well. There is no originality in the storyline nor are there any serious attempt in making a decent emotional plot-line for the film. Only S.Ezhil should answer if this film is meant to be an out-and-out comedy entertainer or an average drama, laced with comedy. Though S.Ezhil has projected it as the latter, the former proposition looks likely to be the actual case. In 'Manam Kothi Paravai', there was a serious element or undertone in the film, which formed the actual crux of the storyline and it was wrapped with good comedy portions. But in 'Desingu Raja', there seems to be no inclinations at all, to even attempt a properly structured, emotional content. S.Ezhil gave sole priority to comedy sequences and has laced the whole film, with plenty of them ! The climax is what you call the archetypal, lazy & farcical writing, notoriously prevalent in Tamizh cinema. N.Rajasekar's dialogues, is a big advantage for the comical portions of the film. S.Ezhil can be at least appreciated for keeping the duration of the film, bearable.

'Desingu Raja' - Slapstick comedy, at its average.


Ratings: 2.5/5 STARS

BY:TAMIL