Santosh Subramaniam - Review

Is it possible to give a film without punch lines, Kuthu songs, unbelievable stunts, idiotic sentiments and third rated comedy in these days? Most of the time the answer is negative for this question, but sometimes we get the positive answer like Santosh Subramaniam. Raja, the remake specialist knows how to present a film with maximum clean and admirable way to the family audiences and in the past years he proved the same with 3 good films. Here is yet another clean entertainment from the master of remake.

If all you're looking for a good family movie with fun and amusement, then Santosh Subramaniam might be your right choice. It is a faithful remake of Telugu Bommarilu and you can relate to each and every character (even the locations and costumes),

which has a subtle yet important message for parents and a film that could change every youngster's life. The story is simple, but a close read on everyone's psychology with likeable characters and healthy humour.

Santosh (Ravi) is a good and intelligent guy, who always brings under the guidance of his, a strict, disciplined rich Subramanyam (Prakash Raj). He is a sort of dictator who decides everything right from the dress he wears to the way he should behave and talk even how to eat. They all live in a happy joint family with a kind hearted mother (Geetha), daughters, an elder son and his family.

Santosh tolerates everything just for the sake of the family and his father's kind heart. But he wants to get married as per his own wishes. But Subramaniam fixes Santosh's wedding on his own desires. A frustrated Santosh bumps into Hasini (Genelia) a vibrant and innocent girl (and sometimes looks like a crack) daughter of a middle class employee of a temple (Shayaji Shinde). They soon fall in love and when Subramanyam comes to know about it, Santosh requests him for a stay of Hasini in their house for a week, to prove his choice is right.

Finally, Subramaniam accepts for that and Hasini comes to live in Santosh's house and wins over each and every family member but in a turn of events she leaves his home and how the lovers unite in the end forms the rest of the story very interesting.

First, we must appreciate director M Raja for his right choice of story as well as right artists for the characters. Each and every scene reveals the director's confidence on the script.

Jayam Ravi has done his best and it seems that the actor has improved a lot in dialogue delivery and dance movements. His mature performance in the climax, where he blasts his father Prakash Raj, and outbursts his frustrations that he was carrying over years is heart touching. As usual Prakash Raj is simply outstanding and does his role perfectly. Genelia steals the show in the role of Hasini. Her spontaneous and innocent performance convinces everyone that no other actress could do the role like Genelia.

The supporting characters like Santhanam, Premji and Sathyan help to maintain the flow smoothly. Devi Sri Prasad is another asset of the film. All his tunes are lilting and foot taping, especially, Adada… adada… steals everyone's heart. The special of the song is that it is rendered by Siddharth, who also did the lead role in the Telugu original. The camera work is outstanding.

There are few minuses in the script but those are very minor and not affect the flow of the story.

Overall, Santosh Subramaniam is a promising entertainer that brings the first word of the title in every viewers mind for long time even after come out from the theatre

Verdict: A summer treat!
Credits
Cast: Jayam Ravi, Genelia, Prakash Raj, Santhanam, Shayaji Shindey
Music: Devi Sri Prasad
Story: Bhaskar
Screenply, Dialogues and Direction: M.Raja
Producer: Kalpathi S. Agoram