Director Selva Bharathi, who has given films like Priyamanavale, Vaseegara and Hello, has made a comeback after a hiatus. His Murattu Kaalai, starring Sundar C, Sneha and Sindhu Tolani hit the screens this week. This film is the remake of the 1980 super hit Murattu Kaalai that had Rajinikanth in the lead. This remake was to be released in 2010, but remained in cans for long due to a number of reasons.

With his Kalakalappu having become a huge hit, the expectations from Sundar C are high.  However, this film, in which he has reprised the role Rajinikanth played in the original, hasn’t given him enough opportunity to satisfy the audience. It looks like the lead pair, Sundar and Sneha have just done what they have been instructed to do.

The biggest minus of the film is its screen play, which fails to keep the audience glued to their seats. Antonio Terzio’s cinematography looks not very professional and is shaky. His compositions neither look pleasing nor support the style of the film. Praveen KL and Srikanth NB’s editing too fail to impress.

Even after spending loads of money on the making of the festival song, neither the faces of the actors nor the sets get registered in the minds of audience. The fast editing and multiple cuts have gone awry.  Unnecessary visual effects and sound effects too disturb the flow of the movie.

The music by Srikanth Deva does not rise above average. His idea of using contradictory backgrounds (like a comic tune for a serious scene) obviously doesn’t go with the mood of the scenes. The songs too are less pleasing for the ears.

Sundar C and Sneha have the capability to pull large crowd. But the director has underutilized them and all other actors. Vivek, who comes as a female in the film, does make the audience laugh in a few scenes.

On the whole, Murattu Kaalai is a team of good players led by a poor captain.

Verdict: A bad photocopy of the original.