Mudinja Ivana Pudi movie review: A decent entertainer

Director: KS Ravikumar

Cast: Sudheep, Nithya Menen, Sai Ravi, Nasser, Prakash Raj

Sathya (Sudheep) is soft natured and runs a real estate business and his ruthless alter ego, Shivam is just the opposite of his original self. Shivam is a burglar and specializes in heist operations. Sathya falls for Subha (Nithya Menen), who is straightforward and bold girl.

When Shivam robs two businessmen (Mukesh Tiwari and Sharath Lohitashwa) of huge unaccounted money, a corrupt ACP Kishore (Sai Ravi) is entrusted with the job of nailing him. Kishore strongly suspects that Shivam and Sathya are the same person who cheats all with dual identity. Kishore waits for the right evidence to prove his accusations.  Sathya claims that it was Shivam who does all the crimes and even lodges a complaint on his brother. After a point, he is forced to narrate his tale to Subha and decides to turn over a new leaf.

The film begins with an interesting hi-tech heist sequence that is typical of Ravikumar’s style of execution; one would have felt that the commercial director is back with a vengeance. Unfortunately, he could fulfill the audiences’ expectations only partially.

Sudheep gets his share of a mass opening song and gimmicks that’s normally associated with a superstar flick. He shines in both the characters and pulls it off with consumable ease. Some of his style and dialogue delivery reminds one of Rajinikanth in many movies. But he needs to hone his Tamil diction. Nithya Menen looks pretty and as usual scores in a subdued role. Satish’s comedy falls flat. The exaggerated Mukesh and Sharath’s characters as well as Sai Ravi’s antics gives a feel of watching a dubbed film. Nasser and Delhi Ganesh deliver what’s expected out of them.

The story has been credited to T.Sivakumar and it is a total rehash of ideas and scenes we have seen in many films involving twin or double characters portrayed by the same actor. And one can’t help reminded of the director’s own earlier venture Ajith starrer Villian. The romantic portions are insipid and an urgent trimming is needed as the length is such that it comes in the way of movie watching experience. On the technical front though D. Imman’s songs are passable, his rerecording warrants mention.

Despite these flaws, it is Ravikumar’s smart commercial packing that works to a large extent to the film’s favor and makes it a decent entertainer.