Cuckoo - Tamil movie Review from Kerala

Directed by     Raju Murugan
Music by     Santhosh Narayanan
Cinematography     P. K. Varma
Editing by     Shanmugam Velusamy
Studio     Fox Star Studios, The Next Big Film Productions
Release dates    March 28, 2014

Distributor Fox Star Studios via E4 Entertainment
Country     India
Language     Tamil

Cast

Dinesh as Thamizh

Malavika Nair as Sudhanthirakodi

Aadukalam Murugadoss

Somasundaram

Elango

Nandhini

'Cuckoo' tells the heart warming story of two lovers, Thamizh & Sudhanthirakodi, who are visually challenged. How these two meet, their relationship flourish into friendship and later to love, their romance etc forms the crest of 'Cuckoo'. At an important juncture certain events happen in their lives and they gets separated. Will they reunite, what future has in store for them forms the rest of the story.


We have had films that deals with physically/mentally challenged characters in the past, but 'Cuckoo' is not another entry into those list, as it instead of focusing on the troubles, issues and complaints of blind people, making it a sympathy evoking social drama exercise, it shows the lives of a bunch of people who understand their shortcomings and still lives the life like everybody else, or may be even better. They don't complain or cringe, or blame others for what ever has happened or is happening to them.

'Cuckoo' is a film that evokes multiple emotions, it brims one with happiness, make one cry,  and  boost once self confidence. It tell us what they need is not sympathy but our love and care & If they can make it happen we definitely can and should.

The biggest plus is of 'Cuckoo' is the acting department. Dinesh has done a Very Good job as Tamizh, Malavika Nair too was good. Their chemistry sparkled and makes us care for the characters. But in fact its the 2 who acted as their close friends who spring a surprise with their knock out act. The fact that they didn't opt for a tragic climax, a usual practice in similar themed Tamil films, and decided to end on a positive note is a great sigh of relief.

Rajmurugan's Direction was also good, an impressive debut. The Songs are impressive, but its the background score that steals the thunder. Cinematography by P. K. Varma was top class while editing could have been much better.

But the film is not a perfect one either, in fact its far from it. The film is filled with lots of unnecessary scenes, especially in the first half. The scenes added for comic relief didn't work out, in fact stands out like sore thumb. The film should have been shorted by at least 20 mins, as 163 mins is a bit far stretch for such a film with already slow pace. The scripting is inconsistent as it hooks out interest some time while make you check the time at others. Dialogues could have been better, as the film doesn't provide much that remains even after leaving the cinema halls. The songs even though good (except one) could have used as bit songs or as part of proceedings as it drags the pace of the movie even more. The climax is bit far fetched and the acting goes a tad over the top.

In all 'Cuckoo' is a must watch film, for the honest intentions and the warmth, and positivity it spreads - plus it entertains too, even though a tad longer.

Rating: 3.5/5

Verdict: Good