MGR Magan

Some of us may have had these dreams where everything is absolutely random, and when you wake up, you don’t even know how your neighborhood uncle, Shah Rukh Khan, and Donald Trump were all part of that dream. The script of the new Disney Plus Hotstar movie MGR Magan directed by Ponram, reminded me of such a dream. The kind of randomness you see in the writing will make you feel that they wrote the script on the morning of the day of shooting. With M Sasikumar showing his terrible acting skills in front of us for more than two hours, MGR Magan, the biggest mistake in Samuthirakani’s career, is that movie you should recommend to your enemy.

MG Ramasamy is a traditional medicine practitioner who has filed a case against a businessman named KR Thangavel for trying to destroy a hill that was a source of herbal plants. The case was getting delayed in court due to the frequent absence of Thangavel saying lame excuses. How this legal fight ends eventually is what we see in MGR Magan.

What I have told you in the above paragraph can be described as the plot of the movie, and all that part roughly gets a 20 minutes time on screen. The rest of the film is about Anbalipu Ravi, MG Ramasamy’s only son, who is a pain in the butt for the whole family and anyone watching this movie. You cant even say that they tried to do something, but it wasn’t effective. The scenes are so random that you may feel that Ponram created scenes after checking which all actors were available on the set. You chop off the entire Samuthirakani track from the film, nothing changes for the movie, and it would have reduced the headache caused by the film.

Barring Sasikumar, I think everyone else was instructed to perform poorly so that the hero wouldn’t stand out. Sasikumar’s punch dialogues are comical, comedy timing is horrendous, and swagger is ultra lame. Sathyaraj, as MG Ramasamy clearly knows he is acting in a messed-up movie, and in certain scenes, his outbursts felt like the fourth wall was breaking. Mrinalini Ravi is there in the movie just for the sake of songs and Sasikumar’s facepalm-worthy dance. Saranya Ponvannan is that forgiving mother who doesn’t know which side she should take. If you are a fan of Samuthirakani, never ever watch this movie. Samuthirakani is basically doing that comedian role usually played by Soori or Santhanam, and trust me, it’s a heartbreaking thing to watch.

The one thing that I am extremely curious to know is how Ponram convinced the producers that what he has written can be called a script. What is even more shocking for me was that this was shot before the lockdown and was supposed to be a theatrical release; that’s the peak of audacity. They should release the entire wedding scene of the character played by Samuthirakani as one of those sneak peek videos. That scene clearly shows why this movie is a horrible creation. Vinoth Rathinasamy’s efforts to create a mass appeal to the hero are not getting any help from the hero. I felt bad for National award-winning editor Vivek Harshan who had to stitch these random sequences.

There are times when you feel that OTT releases are a big relief. I completed this movie in 7 installments over 3 days. Some may say that it’s not the right way to watch a film. But in my defense, that’s the only way my brain could tolerate crap like these that just mocks the viewer for having a brain. If you wish to test the tolerance level of anyone, just ask them to complete this movie within three hours.