The indisgestible Equation of Iru Mugan : 2Vk + 1 Na + 1 Nm + ½ Tb + (CT)

2Vk + 1 Na + 1 Nm + ½ Tb + (CT) = ½ Bk (St) + 1/1000 P (E ) + 1001 L (H) + (-100)  H (A) +   Limiting Reagent

                                           

Vk= Vikram

Na= Nayanthara

Nm= Nithya Menen

Tb = Thambi Ramaya

CT= Cinematographer

½ Bk (St)= half- baked story

1/100 P ( E) = 0.001 % effort

L (H)= Loopholes

H (A)= Harris Jayraj

Limting Reagent= Director, who basically limited himself from crafting anything sensible.

The indigestible equation of Iru Mugan provides a complicated and sophisticated relationship between pressure and temperature for your body, soul and mind which react at relatively low pressures and high temperatures throughout the 150 minutes. This experiment illustrates the application of tiger balm on your forehead and the loss of $15 from your month-end savings to remind you that the valuable properties of basic film-making, entertaining and engaging audience do not seem to be the norm in a multi-starrer big budget films of recent times.

Watching the film reminded me of my chemistry practical lessons. I entered the lab expecting to meet the intended objective of getting the result that the chemicals promised to give me. Instead, I got a totally new, strange, pungent smell and I had absolutely no idea how and why it was formed.

Disastrous Mismatch

Apart from the fact that the film was let down by the meandering screenplay and insipid execution, infuriating science and technology errors in movies, what disturbed me the most, was that the film-making was a perfect example of a disastrous mismatch.

Like the background score providing you comic relief? Because half the time, I was laughing uncontrollably, hearing the background score. The two best comedians, I would say, were the whistle sounds used inappropriately and the mirdhangam music that had no connection to the scene.

There might be illogical screenplay. But how can there be illogical characterization? Here, we have Iru Mugan, breaking barriers to have come up with never-seen-before illogical characterization. The RAW agent from India, Vikram, seemed to be a rugged and heartless officer who didn’t seem to be bothered about the dying rithvika (oh yes, for god’s sake, can someone please save her from all Malaysian gangsters, mafia and what not? and rithvika, please don’t go and kena caught again one more time!) 

He showed no emotions when rithvika was dying because his wife, Nayanthara, another RAW agent, was killed brutally by the villans and that the incident had left him a scar. So it seemed that he had been hurt so much that the death of Rithvika didn’t seem to shatter him. 

Dei! just 5 minutes ago, you were Halena-ing Halena-ing with nayanthara in Phuket what?
And enna periya hurt?

Leading lady Nayanthara was given a lot of screen time, and she spent it impassively hacking every damn government website and every damn gadget that she saw and for a moment, fear engulfed me as I had a strong feeling she would just snatch my iphone on my lap and start hacking that too.

The funniest dialogue that director Anand Shankar came up with, was when Nayanthara explained that she was cured of retrograde amnesia after taking a bullet into the hypothalamus just by sniffing a puff of powdered adrenalin,
“Speed maathirai saapita piragu, mandai pinnadi kidantha ninaivugal,
4 varushama access panaatha ninaivugal enaku thirupi vandhuchu.”

That is exactly what I say, when I clean my wardrobe,

“wardrobe clean pana piragu, pinnadi kidantha
4 varushama kaanama pona pants enaku thirupi vandhuchu.”

Why this hatred towards ‘love’?

In all the interviews, Director Anand kept reminding us that the villanic ‘love’ role done by Vikram, is not a transgender. How many of us even know the differences between transgender, gay, cross-dresser? 

The character is so poorly written that it seems to exist just for the sake of being 'different'. Who is 'Love'? How did he become so well versed with chemicals? Why does he behave like a nut-crack when no one is watching? Is he just an effeminate genius, who loves the male gender? How was he shaped? What drives his crimes, other than the money?  Lots of opportunities for infusing tension are missed, letting things resolve in the most unimaginative ways possible, but we are still on the noose, waiting for Anand to disable cruise control and pull a trick or two of his own. Unfortunately, we only keep waiting, straining our ears to get Vikram's strained accent as the twisted genius, and trying to get a hold on the entire feigned attitude and calculated hamming.

Don’t fool us, director saar!

You mentioned that you were very careful in how the other characters view and say about the 'love' character in the movie, so that it wouldn't be offensive? Did you?

Example 1: There was a scene where 'love' walked out from the ladies' fitting room. So what was their motive? And then you had other girls outside the room, looking shocked? So what exactly are you trying to convey?

Example 2: There was this shot where one of the police officers oogle at 'love' as he walked pass the officer and the officer gave an insulting whistle sound. Why?

Example 3: And love repeatedly says "intha ulagathuku nee raja naan rani." So director saar, you did say that 'love' wasn't a transgender and yet 'love' conveys this in addition to saying, "I don't like girls."

Why confuse the audience? You think we would be offended if there was a transgender or gay role in the film. Absolutely no. We would love to see someone donning such role and respecting everyone as a human being. What majorly failed here, was that the role was so underwritten that indeed, became offensive and derogatory.

And almost everyone in the crew during their promotions kept saying, “oh we have treated this film like a Hollywood movie!”

Dei! Phone Wire-u pinju oru vaaram aachu!

You treat this film in whatever way you want, but stop ill-treating the audience.

Story and screenplay that were immiscible, characters and music that didn’t want to form any ionic bond basically put my brain through oxidation which made my IQ level to experience a Lanthanide contraction.