Sangili Bungili Kadhava Thorae movie review: A nice summer breeze

Director: Ike

Cast: Jiiva, Sridivya, Soori, Radhikaa Sarathkumar, Radha Ravi, Thambi Ramaiah

Sangili Bungili Kadhava Thorae chronicles the story of a real estate agent’s quest to purchase a dream home for his family and the shenanigans he has to perform to achieve that. The eventual plot-line and twist that occurs is familiar enough: Vasu (Jiiva) is sick of putting up with landlords and uses all the tricks up his sleeve to reduce the price of a mansion he is eyeing. With the help of his friend Sooranam (Soori), they convince the previous owner that the place is haunted and succeed in snagging a good deal.

Moving in with him is his mom (Radhikaa) and his uncle Ilavarasu (and Ilavarasu’s family,) Vasu is in for a surprise: Jambu, a descendant of the previous owner, has yet to vacate. And in a moment of instant karma, Vasu comes to realize that the place is actually haunted by a ghost named Sangili Aandavar (Radha Ravi). This ghost places particular importance on family values and demands that Vasu’s family live together as a unit and get along well. What happens next forms the remainder.

Ghost stories such as these are plenty in Kollywood and although this takes out the novelty in the film, debutant director Ike has done a solid job in keeping the jokes fresh and clean and juxtaposing them with equal amounts of horror. Jiiva, playing Vasu, is believable and entertaining in his determination to not abandon the haunted mansion. He also synergizes well with Soori, who still has a lot of fun left in him. Sridivya does not have much scope to perform. The veterans playing the older folks (Radha Ravi, Radhikaa, Thambi Ramaiah, Kovai Sarala, Ilavarasu etc.) are as solid as their resumes.

Vishal Chandrasekar on the music is alright, while the visuals and editing are adequate. Originality might not be a strong point of Sangili Bungili Kadhava Thorae, but the conviction of the director’s narration makes this a nice summer breeze.