VISITOR COLUMN

The trailer gave me goose bumps. The songs were soul stirring. Do I need any more reasons to give this film a shot? Like everybody, I believed that the film might have a melodramatic climax but the director clarified that it’snowhere close to it. And, yes the film is full of positive energy and carries tons of hope and lots of pure love.

Its “Attakathi” fame Dinesh’s second film and he has taken a huge leap forward. It’s totally an opposite character from what he played in his debut film. He plays a visually challenged young man in Cuckoo. His love interest, debutant Malavika too plays a visually challenged girl. Now, that’s enough to give a gist of Cuckoo. It’s a beautiful love story of two visually challenged people and their lives.

Cuckoo is one such film where everything has clicked. Raju Murugan’s script gave a new hope to an art called cinema. The script, though clichéd, was executed in a beautiful way. The screenplay takes its own time to unfold but it gives us the feeling that more slower, the better. You would want the emotions to soak in and stay there forever.

There is neat blend of humor, sadness, love, excitement and every emotion a normal person can feel. The script is not preachy and not even close to negative emotions. He made sure everyone could connect to the on screen pair and even forget about their disability.

I liked the way Raju Murugan weaved the screenplay. It has right amount of humor at right places. Especially, the dupe characters of MGR, Vijay & Ajith give some light moments. I screenplay flowed seamlessly smooth and you can sense the buildup for a fitting climax. I loved his detailing and that showed his efforts in making the film, which is close to reality. Raju Murugan, gets 5/5 for his script, screenplay and direction.

Dinesh’s acting is simply superb. He reminded me of Kamal Hassan in lot of scenes. He made us travel with him and feel his love story. Most importantly, he looked convincing in this visually challenged character. He deserves a standing ovation for sure. I can’t rate his performance as its way beyond ratings. He just lived the character of a blind young man in love.

Malavika was thoroughly dominated by Dinesh in all sequences. However, she did her part. She showed a variety of emotions and looked promising. Their chemistry was refreshing and every touch gave a divine feeling. The supporting cast was equally brilliant and the film clicked because of a relatively fresh cast with less expectations riding on them.

Music by Santhosh Narayan lifted the film to a whole new level. The songs and their lyrics gave an unadulterated & purest form of love.  Even the vocals were fresh and the BGM especially in the climax sequence was mesmerizing.

Visuals by PK Varma were in sync with the theme of the film, which is hope and love. All sequences are well lit and characters were framed quite well. There were some shots that brought out his creative side too. The colors were vibrant and filled every scene with positivity.

Editing was crisp is the first half and a tad slower as it traveled. The climax was rushed is what I felt. Nevertheless, it was in sync with the screenplay.

Cuckoo makes you laugh, fill your eyes with tears and makes you feel the love. The dialogues were simple and characters seemed real. The film oozes with positive feelings and far from creating sympathy. Love has a different meaning for each person. Cuckoo shows what real love is. It’s way beyond beauty and materialistic things. There might be an embedded moral message for the audience to grasp but it does not allow you a chance to sympathize on them. Cuckoo is bright and colorful and makes you feel that love is indeed blind.

Cuckoo is a must watch film and am sure it will remain in your heart forever. My rating is 4/5. Just felt the second half was a bit dragging and the climax was rushed.