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Udhavikku Varalaamaa
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Wikipedia article
'Udhavikku Varalaamaa' is a 1998 Indian Tamil-language comedy film directed by Gokula Krishnan. The film stars Karthik, Devayani, Sangeetha and Anju Aravind, with Janagaraj, Pandiyan, Vadivukkarasi, Manivannan, Kovai Sarala and Jaiganesh playing supporting roles. The film was released on 16 January 1998 to negative reviews and became a failure at box-office. This was Gokula Krishna's last film as director and continued as dialogue writer before his death in 2008 and also was his last collaboration with Karthik after 'Poovarasan' and 'Muthu Kaalai'.
Plot
Muthurasu (Karthik) has come to the city to earn money to finance his mother's (Vadivukkarasi) operation and asks for ideas from his friend Annamalai (Janagaraj). To rent a place owned by a Brahmin couple (Manivannan and Kovai Sarala), Muthurasu transforms himself into a Brahmin Pichumani and also falls in love with Mythili (Devayani), the couple's daughter. Getting a job at a company owned by a devout Muslim (Jaiganesh) makes him put on the garb of Hussein, a Muslim. Things get more complicated when an unsafe situation makes him take on the role of Pastor James, a Christian and Stella (Sangeetha), his secretary in the office where he works as Hussein, falls in love with him.
Cast
*Karthik as Muthurasu / Pichumani / Hussein / Pastor James
*Devayani as Mythili
*Sangeetha (credited as Rasiga) as Stella
*Anju Aravind as Aisha
*Janagaraj as Annamalai
*Pandiyan as Paalrasu
*Vadivukkarasi as Mutharasu's mother
*Manivannan as Mythili's father
*Kovai Sarala as Mythili's mother
*Jaiganesh as Aisha's father
*Kaka Radhakrishnan as Hussein's father
*J. Lalitha as Stela's mother
*Shakeela as an item number
Soundtrack
The film score and the soundtrack were composed by Sirpy. The soundtrack, released in 1998, features 5 tracks with lyrics written by Pazhani Bharathi.
Reception
Aravind of 'indolink.com', criticized the film and actor Karthik : "Karthik should spit out whatever he has in his mouth before delivering the dialogues. His mannerisms are also getting on people's nerves."
Balaji Balasubramaniam gave 1.5 out of 5 and he said : "The director's flair for comedy is obvious at several places but unfortunately, is not sustained throughout the movie. But the segments where Karthik shuffles his identities are not as hilarious.
The unnecessary, shortlived diversion into 'masala' elements hurts the movie even more. And the introduction of a villain and the fight in the bottling factory are needless and serve no purpose other than padding the running time."
A reviewer from 'Screen' magazine called the film "a total farce which taxes the patience of the viewers", noting it was a "washout" at the box office.
References
Category:1990s Tamil-language films
Category:1998 comedy films
Category:1998 films
Category:Films directed by Gokula Krishnan
Category:Films scored by Sirpy
Category:Indian comedy films
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