ONBATHULA GURU MOVIE REVIEW

P T Selvakumar, manager of Ilaya Thalapathy Vijay makes his debut as director in this Cosmo and Boss production venture of Onbathula Guru with a tag line of 4 idiots. Vinay Rai, Arvind Akash, Premji, Sathyan, Chaams and Lakshmi Rai round out the ensemble cast with the latest toast of the town Powerstar Sreenivasan in an opening cameo.

Although the title Onbathula Guru (OG) is suggestive of some astrological position, there is nothing remotely associated with celestial planets in this debut film of Selvakumar which showcases the reckless and to a larger extent, pointless lives of four friends.

Making a spoof film is not an easy task as it needs a lot of dexterity in the craft. The problem with OG is it’s indecisiveness in deciding whether it has to be a total spoof or if it has to follow something else. There is a continuous lambasting of every other film and every other artist in the film industry, that after a point, watching it becomes tedium. Once the limits are crossed, it no longer appears in good taste.

There are plenty of irrelevant situations and women could not have been showcased crasser than this in any other recent work. It is ironic that OG has chosen International Women’s day to hit the marquee! Perhaps to make amends, the director places a dialogue in the climax as a damage control measure but by then enough dent has been already done.

Movie appears as a mere pattern of events stitched together that seldom seem engaging. The characters are fleshed out in a slapdash manner although the actors are very sincere in their performance. Even if we are willing to forgive the thematic naiveté, the narrative structure and characterization leaves a lot to be desired. OG tries to be funny but most of the times, the jokes end up being crude and they fall flat.

There are plenty of actors who sashay on but nobody leaves an impact. After a long time Manthra makes a cameo and there is Sona too. Of the four friends Vinay Rai has more screen presence and is earnest. A fitness challenged Lakshmi Rai enters the film post interval and does her job neatly. Arvind Akash, Chaams and Sathyan try to bring some rev in to the proceedings. There is a parody of almost all the popular artists from Kalaignar Karunanidhi to present day Ajith.

On the tech front, cinematography, music and editing are just about serviceable. The songs of K are not anything that you will hum the next day. The much promoted Vaa Machi is ordinary and like every other scene in the film, it also mocks women.