OKOK – Santhanam’s Playground

Oru Kal Oru Kannadi (OKOK) is the third flick of one of the very few directors who can handle the humour quotient perfectly – humour that actually makes the audience burst out in laughter. Though Santhanam is the one who is responsible for it, without Rajesh, it could have just been plain dull. OKOK does have the wittiness but the problem is that everything seems to be same old, same old.

Even if you dig the film to several layers, you cannot find a proper ‘storyline’. The bottomline is that the central theme of the story turns out to be the same as his previous two flicks. You can also find many scenes and characters that are repeated. If Rajesh thinks that this is his signature, he is wrong. After sometime, it just becomes annoying.

Both the male and female leads lack the basic acting skills. They don’t know to dance, speak, let alone act. In some places, even their walk looks pesky. Though Udhayanidhi is not a veteran, Rajesh has tried to draw out the best from him (Yes! This is his best. I don’t think he can perform any better). Especially the scenes where he appears to be drunk make the audience puke. Hansika has stayed in the industry for a long time than she is supposed to be. It’s high time that she goes to Tollywood or Sandalwood. One more movie with her irritating expressions, the audience might just lose their temper.

The true hero of the movie is, of course, Santhanam. Every review that you read about OKOK will have a separate paragraph or two dedicated only for Santhanam. The only soothing part of the film. His mere presence makes the audience go gaga. With his usual drollness, hilarious English accent and the Iyer Aathu Baashai, he completely takes control of the audience. As always, without him, the movie might not even be considered as a competition to the so-called small budget films as the big shots such as Karnan and Titanic are still in the run. In the supporting roles, National Award winner Saranya is the only one worth mentioning.

There in nothing to mention about the songs. Some seemed to be out-of-sync,  but still the usual Harris magic compensates them. Visuals of the chart busters Venam Machan and Kaathal Oru Butterfly do justice to the audio. Others are just added to make the movie run long enough.

One of the major weakness of the film is the editing. After decent works in SMS and BEB, Vivek Harshan should have done a better job as the film lacks a decent story.

Though major portions of the movie seem just OK, it turns out to be a hilarious entertainer merely because of Santhanam’s presence. Santhanam makes us forget the many logical and continuity goof-ups. Rajesh can try his next film with Santhanam as the protagonist, as their chemistry works out much better than the hero-heroine chemistry in all his films. That is the movie where the audience won’t expect any storyline and will just come for laughing their stomach’s out.

OKOK – If only Santhanam appeared in more scenes.

[rating:2.5]