Ullakkadathal is one of those movies that makes you wonder if the director had some
kind of a hold on the producer. Because that is the only way he could have convinced the
producer to bankroll it. The film has a flimsy story, weak characters behaving in illogical
ways and uncharismatic actors incapable of lifting the movie through their performances.
Sakthi(Vignesh) thinks the world of his younger sister Ramya('Kutti' Radhika) and she in turn
loves him very much. She promises her parents and Sakthi that she would marry a boy of their
choosing. But Ramya falls in love with Robert(Yugendran), a freelance photographer who comes
to her college for a teaching stint. Due to circumstances, Sakthi and Ramya's parents end
up having a bad opinion about Robert and refuse to agree to her marrying him. So Ramya
decides to elope with Robert, leading to serious consequences.
Conflicts between the characters are at the core of the movie but the director has not
made any effort to illustrate the strength of any relationship. The romance between
Yugendran and Radhika seems cursory at best with no passion or even cuteness. The
brother-sister relationship between Vignesh and Radhika is not depicted strongly either.
As a result, the conflicts don't generate any interest when they happen.
One of the important plot points in the movie is the bad impression that Vignesh and his
parents get about Yugendran. But this impression is created in completely convoluted and
cinematic ways. The fact that Yugendran is a Christian provides a simple reason for Vignesh
being against him but the director avoids taking this route. Worse the misunderstanding
could have been cleared easily with a single conversation but Vignesh, for some reason,
refuses to tell Radhika why they don't like Yugendran. Contrivances like this make sure
that we are constantly questioning the behavior of the characters rather than enjoying the
movie.
The seriousness of the consequences of Radhika's act comes as a bit of a surprise. The
movie then ends up almost showing Vignesh as a bad guy as he goes about trying to
separate Yugendran and Radhika. Yugendran's character, which was poised to earn our
sympathy, goes overboard here and ends up looking merely wimpy. The climax resorts to
the 'thaali' sentiment, which I thought was out of Tamil cinema for good. And even its
use is unnecessary and redundant since any piece of jewellery worn by any of the women
characters would have served the same purpose.
Since Soori flopped, Vignesh seems to have given up hopes of becoming a hero again. He
overacts even here though. Yugendran suffers mainly because of the characterization of his
role. Radhika looks good in some scenes and is adequate performance-wise. The actress
playing Vignesh's wife does a good job in one of the few strong and sensible characters
in the film. The actress in the role of Radhika's friend is irritating while aiming to
be bubby and chirpy. Songs are mostly pleasant but one good song is spoiled by bad
placement. It has Radhika drenched in waterfalls(in a white sari ofcourse!) and walking
around with her saree falling off while she is sad over her separation from Yugendran!
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