Saturday Dec 27 2008, Chennai

Refreshingly different!

After comedians Vadivelu and Vivek, it’s the turn of Karunas to play the hero! Mercifully, ‘Dindigul Sarathy’ not a typical Kollywood hero’s role, who sings a duet, bashes up the baddies and delivers punch dialogues from time to time.

The film deals with the life of a man afflicted by inferiority complex--about the colour of his skin and his appearance-- and the agonies he suffers when gets married to a fair-complexioned, beautiful woman. The film, directed by Sivashanmugan, is a remake of the hugely successful Malayalam film by Sreenivasan, ‘Vadakkunokki Yantram’.

Many prospective brides reject Sarathy (Karunas) for being dark and ugly. The beautiful Vasanthi (Karthika), to his surprise, gives the nod and marries him. That’s when the trouble starts.

Sarathy gets very possessive about his attractive wife and even when she speaks with other males, his heart gets filled up with suspicions on her fidelity. With time, Sarathy’s behaviout turns unbearable for Vasanthi and she goes back to her parents’ house. How he reforms himself and brings her back form the rest of the story.

The director deserves praise, in the first place, for attempting a story sans violence, double-meaning dialogues, vulgar lyrics and punch dialogues. There is no dearth of comedy in the film: watch out for Karunas’s reaction when he tries to hide his wife from others’ view when she draws 'kolam' in front of their house and the way he gets upset when his wife praises Ajit in ‘Billa’.

The first half is quite hilarious and the second half a little serious. Karunas is a quite a revelation in this film. He fits into the serious character role very easily and has come up with an appreciable performance.

Karthika gets a meaningful role and makes full use of that opportunity. M.S. Bhaskar has put in one of his best performances till date. Others including Shanmugarajeswaran, and Balaji have played their roles well.

Cinematography by Taj and dialogues by Ramnath are major pluses for the film. Dhina’s music is just about ok, and the peppy song “Dindukkallu” makes the audience get up on their feet and dance.

An entertaining fare, no doubt!