Movie Review Rajini Murugan': A perfect family entertainer for the festive season

Cast: Sivakarthikeyan, Rajkiran, Keerthi Suresh, Soor, Samudhrakani
Director: Ponram

‘Rajini Murugan’ is a film that takes the aspect of ‘comedic relief’ and makes it the point of the entire plot. That said, the film follows a predictable but necessary pattern throughout; just when a scene or sequence begins to get a bit dicey and serious, a comic act, a diffusion, or some form of song & dance interjects and this ends up colouring the reminder of the story. After much anticipation, the Ponram directed - Sivakarthikeyan starrer film has finally hit the screens and the results are just as described above.

Sivakarthikeyan and his sidekick Soori played a big part in making this possible; despite the soup they often find themselves in, an unforeseen concatenation of circumstances makes sure that their end result is more comic than tragic. And just when one begins to reflect on the incidents that led to this funny outburst, a song is thrown in to derail your train of thoughts. And on this goes on to hinder the development of a lasting story.

So, the movie shows us a picture of Ayyankalai (Rajkiran) and his family, most of whom are NRIs. Rajini Murugan (Sivakarthikeyan) is his grandson and he brings a more localized Madurai flavour to the screen. First, there’s a bit of a romance and love story going on between Rajini Murugan and Karthika (Keerthy Suresh,) who happens to be the daughter of Neelakantan (Achudanand)- a good friend of Rajini Murugan’s dad (Gnanasambandham) and who has an extremely short temper. A practical joke of sorts turns this one time friend into an enemy. This thus separates Murugan and Karthika at a young age.

Alongside this love interest develops another tale: Ayyankalai’s wish was to sell off his Madurai estate and divide the proceedings equally among the children. Murugan takes up this mantle and when a lot of money and possible politics are involved, there’s always a hitch in the proceedings. Ezharai Mookkan (Samuthirakani) - a thuggish and insufferable local don enters the fray and claims that he’s also a grandson of Ayyankalai. He claims a right to his share of the proceedings and makes threatening howls if he were to be ignored. Panchayat settlements not withstanding, Ezharai doesn’t rule out the possibility of physical violence and death threats. Murugan’s job is now twofold: win over his love (which includes her scary father who kind of looks like Vijayakanth), and settle the estate trouble once and for all.

The limelight of the movie goes to the duo of Sivakarthikeyan and Soori. The hero seems to be able to do it all: dance, fight, laugh, cry whilst all the time aware of the comedic angle. Soori works out to be an excellent choice to keep this comedy going. Rajkiran shines bright in his usual role. Keerthi Suresh gives a realistic portrayal. Samudhrakani does a neat job. The songs by Imman are already popular, cinematography by Balasubramaniem is colorful which captures Madurai in its true essence. Perhaps it is because of the lack of intelligent and mindful content that this movie suffers. It doesn’t really make you consider any aspect of life or humanity. Nevertheless, the movie is a perfect family entertainer for the festive season.