Movie Review 'Uppu Karuvadu': It’s watchable once for its fun ride

Cast: Karunakaran, Nandita, MS Bhaskar, Mayilsamy

Direction: Radha Mohan

Rating: Two stars

Chandran (Karunakaran) is a struggling director with his first film being a disaster and second getting jinxed. He has the biggest responsibility of getting his sister married. With the help of the production manager Pandiyan (Mayilsamy), a superstitious person, he gets an opportunity to direct a small budget film with a bigwig fishery-businessman Neithal Jayaraman aka Ayya funding the project. But there’s a condition –Ayya’s daughter Maha (Nandita) will be the female lead in the film, which has been titled Samudrakumari. He has his set of assistants Ilango (Chaams) and tech-savvy Karthik (Narayanan). And in comes Stephan Raj (a hilarious ‘Doubt’ Senthil) who is recommended by Pandian and he brings the roof down with his character of using wrong and similar sounding English words, like impotent for important and bald for bald etc. The rest is whether Chandran realizes his dream or not and the film ending with a twist in the end.

Though there’s nothing by way of story, the film’s biggest strength is Radha Mohan’s characters which are quirky and witty and generates laugh with their perfect timing. It is Karunakaran’s first film in a lead role and he has handled it proficiently. Nandita as the spoilt child and wannabe actress who cannot act is a surprise packet. Chaams and Narayanan play an effective foil to Karuna. As usual Kumaravel, a regular in Radha Mohan’s films scores at crucial segments. Mayilsamy and MS Bhaskar prove yet again that they are veterans. Rakshitha as Chandran’s love interest is good. Pon Pathiban’s dialogues are noteworthy. The camerawork and music are just functional. Some of the gags seem to be forced.

All said and done, Radha Mohan known for his breezy films like Mozhi and Abhiyum Naanum is back with his signature style of clean comedy and Uppu Karuvadu is watchable once for its fun ride.