K. Chandru, the director of Naveena Saraswathi Sabatham, appears to be a fan of the irreverent fake-mythological plays staged by S Ve Shekher and ‘Crazy’ Mohan in the 1980s. He also appears to be a fan of the Hangover films. And Thiruvilaiyaadal. And Cast Away. And Saraswathi Sabatham. And the ugly message movie. And the modern-day Tamil-film comedy, with its mandatory references to a “quarter.” And so we have this mash-up, which opens in Kailasam, with Murugan playing games on his iPad and Ganesha on a treadmill. Are you laughing yet? We keep cutting back and forth between the goings on in this celestial abode and those on earth, with a sex doctor (Jai) and his friends setting out to Bangkok for a bachelor party. There’s a good USP in Jai’s profession, but our censors won’t allow raunch – so we’re left with a parade of limp jokes. Very occasionally, a line or a sight gag makes you smile, like the one with the roadside idli seller with a signboard that announces “pizza” and “burger.” Otherwise, it’s all very exhausting.
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Baradwaj Rangan 
lowlylaureate
November 30, 2013
Sir, the 80s drama staged by Crazy and Sve are still high on humour quotient I’m assuming by saying that this director is a fan of those dramas is not an black ink blot on those really humorous plays.
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Mambazha Manidhan
December 1, 2013
Enjoyed this one. I thought it was well done save the extended stretch in the middle when VTV Ganesh starts spouting saraswathi sabathams for a bit too long. And, the Climax. The PSA apologizing to the ‘thaimaargal’ in the audience for the basically the entire plot was the sorest point. Otherwise, I was laughing throughout.
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brangan
December 1, 2013
lowlylaureate: I’m saying that the mash-up doesn’t work, not that those plays themselves were bad. But I also haven’t seen/heard them in a while and I wonder how they’d fare today. Out of nostalgia, caught up on a couple of “Vanna Kolangal” episodes on YouTube (bless the damn thing!) — and found it dated. A few smiles, yes, but the whole thing was much funnier in my head 🙂
Mambazha Manidhan: What saar! Don’t tell me you’re going to get a Chillax ring tone now 🙂
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Sivasamy
December 1, 2013
I am sure many of us during our school days would have watched some modern version of those mythological story which is far better than NSS 😦
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Prakash
December 1, 2013
@rangan
The mish-mash didn’t quite work to the extent it was meant to, but, quite contrary to what you and many other reviewers told, I found many an individual scene that was a laugh riot.
Jai and his father Chitra Lakshmanan(that mongoose mandayan as Santhanam calls him) as the Siddha-sex-doctors were hilarious(one scene in particular where Jai scares an unwitting “patient” regarding “narambu thalarchi” was a scream 🙂 ). VTV Ganesh’s antics in the second half were also enjoyable barring the too drawn-out monologues from Saraswathi Sabatham.
When he finally goes berserk in He-Man style shouting “I am the Kung-Fu Panda”, the entire audience were ROFL.
I guess this is one of those films whose fortunes hinge a lot on the likeability of its leads. That way, I was pretty confident going in despite the negative WOM since I had enjoyed Jai and VTV Ganesh’s previous comic outings in films like Goa, Vaamanan and Poda Podi and generally found something funny about their distinctive voice and dialogue delivery styles which the director of NSS has generously tapped into.
This is not one of those films that tries to be subtle in its humour(hey, we don’t have too many of those anyways). But if you genuinely laugh at in-your-face ridiculousness and enjoy OTT type comedy with few pretensions of depth, this film does have many scenes to satisfy your appetite, though, as a package, it won’t keep you entertained throughout.(The Shiva-Shakthi scenes become boring very quickly once the initial novelty regarding the iphone-english updating wears off)
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Mambazha Manidhan
December 1, 2013
Don’t tell me you didn’t think Naradar was a riot. And, the fact they had a premise and actually (nearly) pulled it off is applause-worthy.
As for Vanna Kolangal, I think I remember its cousin ‘Nam Kudambam’ when I was in third standard. Not rofl funny as the Crazy ones though.
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venkatesh
December 2, 2013
Whats with Jai – isn’t he the same guy who did Subramaniapuram ?
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Kamil Mansur
December 2, 2013
Rangan – Just read your piece on the ‘Chiyaan’ in Caravan, impressive stuff! Though I think you didnt really venture and explain why the past few years have been so barren for him, almost no saleable hits. Or was that just about the rise?
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brangan
December 2, 2013
Prakash: But if you genuinely laugh at in-your-face ridiculousness and enjoy OTT type comedy with few pretensions of depth
Why is either this extreme or that extreme? The fact that one did noe enjoy this doesn’t mean I always want “depth.” Sundar C’s “Kalakalappu” is one of my favourite comedies of the past decade, and it just a silly film. Only, it made me laugh a lot. This one didn’t.
Mambazha Manidhan: Okay, let’s just agree to disagree on this one 🙂
Kamil Mansur: Thank you. Did you read the print version? About the past few years, there is a brief recap (the part with the trade analyst quotes, etc.) plus his own reasons for choosing films like “Rajapattai.”
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Shankar
December 3, 2013
Baddy, Kalakalappu is one of your favorite comedies…wow, I thought it was just okay. I felt it was essentially a Malayalam comedy that was trying too hard to be a Tamil film. What I mean is that the story, setting etc were what you expect to see in a Malayalam film (especially the health inspector turning out to be the love interest…many 80s Malayalam comedies had similar setups like Vellanakalude Naadu etc) but some of the slapstick comedy portions seemed force fitted into a Tamil milieu. I know the film has its roots in Soul Kitchen and no connection to Malayalam cinema but I just had that feeling when I watched the film.
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Mambazha Manidhan
December 6, 2013
Saw this again. Dont see too many movies these days. Naradar delivers!
PS – Don’t judge me. If there is another screening of Amour, koopudunga. 🙂
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brangan
December 7, 2013
Mambazha Manidhan: You saw this again? Dude, I am so using this against you the next time you give me grief for liking “Kadal.” 😀
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Prakash
December 7, 2013
@rangan
Fair point. And I liked Kalakalappu more too, though since I missed it during its theatrical run, I cannot make an accurate comparison.
But, BR, one difference between this film and Kalakalappu is that the latter was consistently funny while this is a film that only(for me) had some really funny scenes, just enough to make the overall experience enjoyable.
I guess “silly” comedies in themselves have a wide spectrum. And some enjoy more of it than others.
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