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'Mazhai' A Wet Blanket

By P. Sreekumaran
Film critic, ApunKaChoice.Com

Varsham, the Telugu original of Mazhai (Rain) was a super duper hit. The film pitchforked Trisha to the pinnacle of fame. Alas! The Tamil remake Mazhai is, to say the least, a damp squib. The Telugu version brought in a bounty at the box office for the filmmakers. Mazhai does not look like raining any financial relief for the producer!

For all that, ‘Mazhai’ could have been a better movie. Imaginative handling of even a hackneyed theme can work wonders. But, then, director Rajkumar simply does not have it in him to do that. No wonder, ‘Mazhai’ turns out to be a damper of the first order.

A

major drawback of ‘Mazhai’ is that a supposedly love theme degenerates into an action movie, though hero Jayam Ravi does a good ‘dishum dishum’ job! Such thematic dilution is inexcusable. And the director must take the rap. Is it any surprise that the film has left the audience cold? It deserves to be given the cold shoulder!

Arjun (Ravi) and Shylaja (Shriya) run into each other on a train. It’s a case of love at first sight! Shyla has a passion for rain. She just cannot resist it. So, the lovers meet whenever it pours.

But then, Arjun has other competitors. A landlord Deva (a convincing performance by Rahul Dev), besotted with Shyla, also wants to marry her.

The girl’s father Sundaramoorty (Kalabhavan Mani) uses Deva to further his aim of becoming rich. In the process, Moorty manages to create a misunderstanding between the lovers. The result is separation of the lovers.

Sundaramoorty has other ideas, too. Knowing his daughter’s flair for acting, he takes her to the city and manages to make her a heroine.

Feeling cheated out of his prize, Deva vows revenge. His goons abduct Shyla with the idea of forcing her into marriage with the landlord.

That is the time when the hero intervenes and prevents fructification of Deva’s devious plans. To achieve this, Arjun uses his fists of fury to telling effect.

Devi Prasad’s music is good, but songs fail to make up for the fatal flaw in the treatment of the theme.

Performance-wise, it is Rahul Dev as the landlord who takes the cake. Ravi tries his best to inject life into the role. But lack of directorial support lets him down. Still, he succeeds in looking convincing in the stunt scenes.

Shriya has a beautiful body, and she flaunts it with gay abandon. The chemistry between the lovers comes alive in the rain-drenched scenes, too. But such small mercies do not lift a film. Kalabhavan Mani’s crafty father is passable. Thank God, Mani has not tried to overact, as is his wont in such roles!

To sum it up, ‘Mazhai’ is a wet blanket. Avoid it!

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