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Udhayanannu ThaaramRarely comes a movie about the tinsel world that takes potshot on its fellow-mates in a satirical humour way. Very few dares to do it because it is like throwing stone from a glass house. Writer & actor Srinivasan has succeeded in making a movie running down his colleagues yet walking away with accolades from them. The title says "All characters in this movie are fictional. Any resemblence is a co-incidence" but as the incidents unfold you could relate it with which you know and had read about…. like Meera Jasmine, Sita, Manju Warrier and star tantarums we had read a lot. This is all the recent super-hit "Udhayanannu Thaaram" (Udhayan is the star) from Kerala is about.

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The movie, set in Kodambakkam, revolves around three main protagonists Udhayan (Mohanlal), an aspiring director trying his luck for 12 years, Madhumathi (Meena) top heroine & an ardent lover of cinema who insists on good scripts alone and having a troubled relationship with her family, (reminding Meera Jasmine sometimes), sharing a mentor relationship with Udhayan, and Rajappan (Srinivasan) a wannabe star with below average looks inspired by Vijayakanth & Rajinikanth. One fine day Srinivasan steals the screen play of Mohanlal and becomes an overnight sensation. Meanwhile Meena elopes with Mohanlal. The industry blames him for curtailing her hot 'n' happening career and Mohanlal finds it difficult to cope up with the pressure of a star's husband. They part their ways and fate brings Srinivasan and Mohanlal together for a movie and a series of funny incidents take place. Cunning Saroj Kumar tries to teach Udhayan a lesson by giving him tortures in the film sets. How Mohanlal becomes a top director taming Srinivasan forms the climax.

The best part of the movie is its racy script. It shifts from comedy to serious and then to comedy with ease without straining you. Even though it had ample scope to make a stand-alone comedy, Srinivasan deftly handles it topping with all emotions making a wholesome entertainer. It takes a look at the darker side of struggling wannabe directors and ego clashes of star couples, how compromises between commercial and creativity are made, and pains that comes along with plagiarism, that strikes you hard yet not in a depressing manner. It was told in a totally natural and compelling manner that you feel like peeping into the life of a director without his knowledge. But before we come to a conclusion that it will become a classic, there comes a series of cinematic sequences of taming Srinivasan to complete the movie. Let us forgive these peccadilloes as this is a honest effort to give good cinema.

Udhayanannu ThaaramThe movie takes potshots at every one of Malayalam film industry and touching Tamil industry then and there, never mind how big they are. Starting from Mamooty for his passion towards sun glasses and stern looks, inability to dance and romance, it touches MGR then and there. However I feel the target is Dileep. Mohanlal calls for saving the Malayalam film industry from the clutches of mimicry artistes who churn out crass comedies at an alarming rate. Even a kid knows whom he is referring to…..none other than Dileep. In the movie Rajappan changes his name from wild Rajappan to suave Saroj Kumar. Remember a small time assistant director Gopalakrishnan Pillai rechristined himsef as Dileep and went on to become a superstar. To make the innundoes clear, he names Saroj Kumar's hit movie as Dosha Raghavan, reminding "Meesha Madhavan" that catapulted Dileep to Stardom.