Comali review: A film enjoyable in parts

Direction: Pradeep Ranganathan

Cast: Jayam Ravi, Kajal Agarwal, Yogi Babu, Samyuktha Hedge

The film begins with Ravi's (Jayam Ravi) voice over depicting him as a small kid in the 80s to an adolescent boy in late 90s. Like anyone of his age, Ravi is an easy-going person and he falls for his classmate Nikhitha (Samuyuktha Hegde). When he is all set to propose to her with a rare family inherited idol, he meets with an accident and slips into a coma and does not wake up until 16 years have passed in 2016 at his school friend Mani’s (Yogi Babu) house. He sees Mani married to his sister (Anandhi). Everything around him has changed and Ravi who is caught in the past struggles to adjust to the modern world. He still idolizes his cherished school day memories and how has to come to terms with the present-day tech driven world.

Jayam Ravi gives his best and does a neat job although his VFX created teenage looks is not quite convincing. Together with Yogi Babu, he brings the roof down with their comic conversations. However, his finest comes when he earnestly advices today’s youth to come out of their fixation towards gadgets and machines and how human emotions are the same which is undeterred by technology.

Yogi Babu plays an IT guy and he is in full form. He is almost a parallel hero in the film whose witty one-liners and emotional scenes work to a large extent. Kajal in a poorly written role has been wasted. Samyuktha and Anandhi make use of their screen space well. K.S. Ravikumar in a role with negative shades is adequate. Vinodhini impresses with her realistic expressions. Though Sha Ra goes overboard, his comical scenes work.

What starts off as an interesting premise with the director succeeding in entertaining us in the first half quickly loses steam post interval. The story takes a totally opposite direction, leaving the core theme behind, thus taking its unique sheen away. The emotional climax with a message is endearing.

The controversial Rajinikanth scene taking a dig at his political entry from the trailer has been replaced with politician turned actor Nanjil Sampath’s clip, where the character speaks about yet another topic of Cauvery water dispute, which is still relevant. But the scenes involving objectifying women in the name of comedy and the way it has been picturized is atrocious and unwarranted.

Hip Hop Adhi’s songs are good, but BGM is loud at times. Overall, a film that can be enjoyed only in parts.