BISKOTH

Biskoth is a comedy film, written and directed by R Kannan and has Santhanam and Tara Alisha Berry in the lead roles. The movie is produced by Kannan himself under the banner, Masala Pix. It has music by Radhan and cinematography by Shanmuga Sundaram.

Biskoth is a film that falls in the same universe as Santhanam's movies of the recent past. The lead actor stays in his on-screen character and frequently jumps out of it to the real, outside world to create humour. For instance, take the Baahubali spoof scene that also appeared in the teaser/trailer of the film. The humour sequence has a reference to coronavirus that's plaguing the world right now. However, the virus doesn't seem to exist in the film's universe.

The film is solely dependent on Santhanam's one-liners and counters. Apart from that, the plot is wafer-thin with no highs at any point. It would have been okay if the plot was predictable. But the film is structured in a way where the plot is revealed beforehand, leaving no room for surprises.

The story revolves around the life of Raja (Santhanam), the son of a pioneer in biscuit production. His dad's friend (Anandraj) takes control of the biscuit company after Raja's dad passes away while our hero finds himself as a supervisor. How he manages to ensure that the company doesn't fall in the wrong hands and whether he becomes the owner of the firm is what the rest of the plot is all about.

After being promoted as a film with Santhanam in triple roles, the expectations were high, but like rain playing spoilsport during Deepavali, the treatment of the concept spoils the movie. For every four jokes attempted, only one manages to land. And out of every four jokes that land, only one makes you laugh your heart out. One such would be the sequence where an accident takes place and the driver's face is buried into the airbag of the car. Motta Rajendran immediately says, "Enna pa inga okkandhu Chola Poori saapadranga?" This timing is what the other jokes miss.

Talking about the performances of the supporting cast, Sowcar Janaki stands out while Motta Rajendran and Tara Alisha are bearable. The rest, repeatedly, break their characters that aren't fleshed out in any way. What I mean by this is, Anandraj plays Anandraj and not his character. The same applies to Lollu Sabha Manohar, and at times, Santhanam himself.

The film isn't technically strong too. Radhan, who had proven his mettle in films like Arjun Reddy, had very little to work on. The background score sticks out at many places. Shanmuga Sundaram's camera is not bad but isn't outstanding either. The staging looks like a theatre play where the characters move in and out, which reduces the cinematic feel you're supposed to get.

With a runtime of less than two hours, the viewer might find solace but the quality of jokes presented results in the engagement taking a big hit. The film ends with a social message that has good intent but this intent should have been there throughout the film.

There's nothing wrong about making films under the Santhanam universe. We had A1 last year that was a laughter riot, in the same universe. The difference is that A1 was well aware of its shortcomings and focussed more on the strengths. Here, with Biskoth, the film tries to take itself too seriously at various places, which doesn't give a favourable result to both the movie, and us - the audience.