Film- Take Diversion
Director- Sivaani Senthil
Cast- Sivakumar, Padine Kumar, Rams, John Vijay, George Vijay, Gayatri Rama, Bala J. Chandran, Srinivasan.
After his road–movie ‘Kargil’ set majorly in a car and with one character on screen for the most part, Sivaani Senthil embarks on his sophomore venture. This again is a road-film but this time it’s a set of assorted, quirky characters the director has adorned his screen with. Each has its own agenda, leading to a comedy of errors as they set out on a car trip from Chennai to Pondicherry. The film works in parts, the genuine fun moments few and far between.
The plot revolves around Arjun ( Siva Kumar), who’s rejection of prospective brides for flippant reasons, had resulted in him remaining a bachelor. Thirty and worried at his single status, Arjun decides to get married. He zeroes in on Sushma, a girl he had rejected years back because she was ‘big eyed’. The engagement ceremony to be hosted at Pondicherry, Arjun decides to drive down. Meanwhile he had to carry out a task given by his boss JK, a diversion that would land him in a mess but later help him to sort out his life. Never be intimidated by diversions in your life. For, ultimately they will lead you to your destination, goes the message.
The characters that happen to join Arjun on his road trip are no doubt colourful and quirky. Like Jk who had a secret agenda to travel to Pondicherry (John Vijay over the top and revelling in it); Arjun’s colleague Yazhini (Padine Kumar), her being unreachable on the phone worrying JK; Cruise, with his one sided love for Yazhini; Chap an eccentric gangster and money lender (Rams in a colourful getup, and making the most of his role ),who had kidnapped Yazhini, his refrain ‘money or the girl’; Chap’s team of bumbling goons and his noisy music band; and Sushma, Arjun’s intended bride who joins them during the trip.
The fun begins when Yazhini to buy time with Chap and evade the unwanted attention of Cruise, poses as Arjun’s fiancée, joining him in the car trip, he going with the farce. With Sushma too unexpectedly joining them midway, one expected some hilarious moments to follow due to the mix-ups and the resultant confusion. But the situations hardly generate any humour. Siva Kumar, a theatre actor who has played minor and supporting roles in various films (like KGF) plays Arjun with casual ease. Padine Kumar’s (from the small screen) childlike innocence and endearing expressions makes Yazhini watchable.
The knot had the potential to turn into a fun filled, adventurous journey. But what may have seemed amusing on paper seems to have lost some of its punch and fizz while being transitioned to screen. This again is one of those films, where the actors seem to have had a whale of a time going through their portions. But unfortunately weren’t able to transfer even some of that fun moments to the audience.
Malini Mannath
Malini Mannath 