Maayakkannadi: A Spell Cast Wrong

What to expect:
1. Cheran as urban youth. Who wants to go boling and eat pissa with his gaerlfrend. But they are 'yezhai' lovers unable to afford pissa after bike gets punture and maama takes mamool.

2. Cheran changing before the camera, revealing his diaper-like underpants. Though this scene happens in the background, the sheer imagery shocks you with its lucid irony. Though he's urban youth, he still wears lungi tied up as diaper inside his pants. Whatta statement: You can take villager to the city but you can't take him outside his pants.

3. Cheran as style icon. He plays a hair-stylist at upmarket salon. See pics for proof. His yezhai lover/gaerlfrend is also hair-stylist and together, they make-out in changing rooms at Shoppers Stop. If you spot him wearing sleeveless, beware of gross sights... or what he has up his (missing) sleeve.

4. Cheran as Superstar wannabe. Yes, he borders on blasphemy insinuating that to become Superstar you just need to learn to chuck the cigarette into your mouth. Just because Boobman Sarath Kumar (not seen Pachaikili Muthucharam yet?) tells him anyone, including him, can become an actor.

5. Cheran as break-dancer. Oh, there's this one minute long shot of Cheran dancing that's supposedly choreographed to bring the roof down. It surely does. God bless Ilaiyaraja. It is a kickass track nonetheless.

6. Cheran indulging in more obscenities in the pretext of duets. The comic above is self-explanatory in that regard. Also, Cheran doing kaamedy. Intentionally and otherwise.

7. If you are going for the night show at Rohini complex like I did, the interval break happens at 12.20 a.m. And Cheran finally decides to get to the point around 2 a.m.

8. Radha Ravi's two minute long monologue in the end that delivers the message of the movie. Very effective. Saving grace of the film. Oh yes, even the actor playing Cheran's workaholic roomie is quite good. One of the rare credible performances in the film.

9. Anti-rich propaganda: All rich people are evil rapists or ganja smugglers. All good rich people call themselves poor because they struggled to make it.

10. Guest appearances: Malavika, Sarath Kumar, Arya, Director Raj Kapur, Balachander's office, Cheran's armpit...

What went wrong:
1. Cheran as actor. What was he thinking when he cast himself? There are so many scenes with the mirror in the film. Did he bother looking into it just once?
No doubt he did a decent job in Autograph as an actor but here he should've gone in for a younger actor like Bharath. The movie would've at least been watchable and probably even effective.

2. Cheran as director. It is time he stopped being indulgent and realised economy of scenes. With merciless editing, this might have been a fine film, with a different actor in the lead, of course.

3. Cheran as casting director. It is not essential to pack your film with ugly people just to give it a realistic feel. I wouldn't mind unattractive actors as long as they are effective in their roles. The guy playing wannabe rapist couldn't even act to save his balls. And did you really direct that scene, Cheran? Ham-fest!

4. Cheran as dialogue writer. There are some very good lines in the film no doubt but there are some equally corny ones too borrowed from Nayakan-rejects. And that actor playing Nayakan, I assume, is the producer. Can't imagine any other reason he was cast for the role.

5. Navya working overtime. She seems to be a talented actress but here, she goes way over the top. Or maybe it was Cheran pushing her for an award-winning performance.

What works:
1. Ilaiyaraja.

2. Ilaiyaraja.

3. Ilaiyaraja.

(Even if he insists on singing most of the songs himself these days)