THILLU MULLU MOVIE REVIEW

The Superstar film of 1981 directed by the legendary K Balachander, returns with the same name with Badri helming the state of affairs and Shiva reprising the role of Rajnikanth. The load of remaking a blockbuster which had stalwarts associated with it, would have meant that the team satisfies the huge expectations set by the original. And luckily director Badri sails through the process quite smoothly giving the film his own touch and also making it modern to suit the present needs.

For a population which was fed on a diet of K Balachander and Rajnikanth, the story is already known. For the ‘WhatsApp’ generation, Thillu Mullu is about the antics of a young man trying to hoodwink his boss to retain his job and love with a couple of lies.

What is interesting and what works for Thillu Mullu 2 is while Badri has managed to retain the main story line, he has made the new version appear much more contemporary and at the same time not goofing it up one bit. For all those who have watched the original will not find any complaining moments and the film is breezily comedic and enjoyable.

The strong point of the film is definitely Shiva and he suits the role of Pasupathy and Kandhan Ganguly so effortlessly. In one of the opening scenes, Shiva says that ‘he can never over act’, a statement that could not have been false anywhere. All that he needs to do is look at the camera and mouth a simple dialogue like ‘my name is Shiva’ with a poker face which is enough to send the audience on a laughathon.

Director Badri has utilized this facet of the actor effectively and with suitable help from dialogue writer Balaji, Thillu Mullu gives ample fun moments. One example would be Shivas’ reply that he is in Mylapore when Prakash Raj asks if he is there in Facebook and there are quite a few such scenes in the film. 

For a film that is hinging mainly on humor, dialogues play a pivotal role and kudos to Balaji for rising to the occasion and delivering witty oneliners all through. Shiva’s explanation to Prakash Raj about his light eyed twin and his aunt’s (chitti) profession could best justify this. Towards the end when Santhanam appears, it is not an understatement to say that the actor buoys up the film to several levels. The scene is hilarious to the hilt with the comedian occupying the centre stage totally.

There are quite a few scenes which are written with the sole purpose of evoking laughter like Mano Bala getting confused with Kovai Sarala’s profession where Balaji has played with words brilliantly. The mix up of two Jananis and her fathers is one hell of a laugh riot at the temple.

On the performance department, we have veterans like Prakash Raj, Kovai Sarala, Mano Bala and Ilavarasu who deliver with effortless ease. Isha Talwar appears good looking and Krithika Nelson’s voice completes her portrayal as Janani. While Sachu, Soori and Sathyan round out the supporting cast, there is a long ensemble list of cameos from Sathyan, Venkat Prabu, Blaaze and the likes.

Thillu Mullu 2 has retained ‘Raagangal Padhinaaru’ from the original with Karthik’s voice and the ditty ‘Thillumullu’ is remade with rap. Kaipesi number is pleasantly melodic.  

The film uniformly provides fun moments all through the viewing time but the tempo is slightly marred by the songs Aaja Aaja and Raagangal Padhinaru. If this had been taken care, Thillu Mullu would have further emerged as a crisper product.

Summing it up, director Badri has successfully remade an old classic hitting the right notes without any compromise while rendering his own individual touch to the story.