Vijay Sethupathi's bull ride in the box office had started with Pizza. Driven solely by the story and the well concealed twist in the end, the movie became a huge hit through word-of-the-mouth popularity. Soon, as his next two ventures, Naduvula Konjam Pakkatha Kaanom and Soodhu Kavvum became major hits which were loved equally by both the critics and the masses, Vijay Sethupathi proved that he is a thinking actor who chooses different scripts which are content oriented.
It is definitely Vijay Sethupathi's dullest movie - including Thenmerku Paruvakaatru and Sundarapandian - and this can probably be attributed to the standards that Vijay Sethupathi has set for himself. If it were any other actor, you could have said 'not a bad attempt' and tried to laugh it off. But it is Vijay Sethupathi, and the movie has followed a cult movie like Soodhu Kavvum and so , obviously it is a big let down, if you were expecting something very exciting.
The story is a simple tale of a day in the life of two people: the potagonists Bala (a rather timid Ashwin Kakamanu) and Kumar alias Sumaar Moonji Kumar (Vijay Sethupathi). Bala is a Sales Executive in a bank who struggles to satisfy his boss (played excellently by M.S. Bhaskar) on one end and meet the demands of his girlfriend (an effervescent Swathi Reddy). Sumaar Moonji Kumar is a - hold your breath - wastrel whose only aim is to get the girl from his opposite house (Nandhita of Attakathi fame) to fall in love with him.
The only plotline is that a woman in need of a rare blood group (it seems there is a H1 blood group) and that can be provided by Kumar alone. Bala, who is the reason for the accident that injured the woman in the first place, feels a moral obligation to help her and hence attempts to find Kumar and get him to donate his blood. But, Bala, is on his way to a wine shop and Kumar must reach him before Bala can gulp the liquor - else, the poor pregnant woman - yes, she is pregnant, and that is supposed to make us sympathize with her - could die. Does Bala find Kumar? Does Kumar manage to impress his girl? That forms the rest of the story.
You can almost predict the ending from a mile away, so when it happens, it does not actually surprise or impress you - it was just the typical all-is-well ending. With better writing, this could have been a heartwarming movie. There are portions such as how Swathi is hopelessly in love with Bala that she keeps coming back to him in spite of all the promises that he has broken, the small smile from Nanditha for which Bala agrees to *SPOLIER ALERT* donate his blood and so on. The movie has a message which is said rather too subtly that I am not sure people would even think about it: Don't Drink.
But instead of capitalizing on these, the director puts much emphasis on the unnecessary murder at the Wine shop and the subsequent investigations, the role of Soori and a host of numerous other characters who are wasted in the name of comedy. Because of this, there are a lot of scenes which you feel are needless and crass - and they bring rather an embarrassing shrug on your face than a laugh. The adultering wife and her luring Soori and the two other murderers are just pointless distractions in the story.
Vijay Sethupathi and Swathi Reddy provide good perfomances but the other actors with the exception of of M.S.Bhaskar - who steals the show in one scene - have not emoted that well. This is probably the Director's fault and the first-timer Gokul should probably work more on extracting the best out of his actors. Songs are a problem here - they severely hamper the pace of the movie and cinematography has nothing great to write about.
Overall, Idharkuthaane Aasaipattai Balakumara is a reality check for Vijay Sethupathi. Let us hope he bounces back from these and chooses stronger scripts and better roles than that of a wastrel who is hopelessly in love - we have already seen it a hundred times in our movies. For the audience, it can be a mildly amusing venture. Don't go with much hopes. It is just an addition to those ordinary Tamil comedy movie that seems to release every weekend these days.
A modest 2.5/5.
