Uthamaputhiran

Story: Shiva (Dhanush) is a do-gooder and will go to any lengths to help his friends. But in one such bid to unite a buddy with his lady love, he and his friends end up picking up the wrong girl, Pooja (Genelia), from a marriage hall. But surprise! She is more than happy to escape the marriage as she was being forced into it. In due course, Shiva and Pooja fall in love and want to get married, but they must first convince their families.

Movie Review: This remake of the Telugu film "Ready" has nothing much going for it. There is nothing new either in the script or in its presentation. Dhanush looks jaded for most part of the movie, and perks up only in the second half. Genelia is getting stereotyped in roles of a chirpy, happy young woman (something she has already portrayed in movies such as "Santosh Subramaniam"), and it is high time she looks for more challenging roles.

The movie looks up only in the second half after the entry of Vivek, who plays an accountant named ‘Emotional Ekambaram’. The scene where he spouts “The confusion of the constitution of the institution of the loose motion”, even as Dhanush tries to convince him about his “subconscious memory power” is hilarious. If the movie holds any interest, it is only because of Vivek’s performance, and he proves why he gets top billing in Kollywood when it comes to comedy roles. Dhanush does a good job in the scenes he shares with Vivek, delivering his lines with a perfect poker face.

The other problem with the movie is that a lot of good actors who are part of the ensemble cast like Bhagyaraj, Ashish Vidyarthi, Ambika and Rekha are wasted in small and insignificant roles.

This is the third collaboration of Mithran Jawahar and Dhanush after the successful "Yaradi Nee Mohini" and the dud "Kutty", which were also remakes of Telugu movies. Though they deliver a feel good and clean family film in "Uthamaputhiran", the duo should work on original themes if they want to make good on the promise they displayed in their first film together.