Mr Chandramouli review: An interesting tale narrated at a snail's pace

Thiru Krishnamoorthy's Mr Chandramouli is a regular commercial entertainer and has very little to offer in terms of novelty in its story and treatment.

On one hand, the film focuses on the love between a father and his son, and on the other, it showcases the rivalry between two taxi-cab services which eventually leads to a series of crimes.

To get on with the story, Mr Chandramouli (Karthik Muthuraman) leads a happy, content life looking after his son Raghav (Gautham Karthik), a boxer by profession. The father and son love each other to the core and there are no disagreements between them, except on two issues — an old Premier Padmini car and on Chandramouli's choice to dye his hair. While Chandramouli loves Premier Padmini with all his heart and refuses to part with it, his son wants him to sell it and buy a new car.

Two other people part of this family are Raghav’s girlfriend Madhu (Regina Cassandra) and Raghav's friend Padmini (Sathish Krishnan), a car mechanic.

While this small family leads a happy and care-free life, in another part of town, there is a silent competition going on between the heads of two corporate giants in the taxi-cab business.

Garuda, headed by Azhagar (J Mahendran), has been the best in the business for seven years in a row. Youngster Vinayak (Santosh Pratap) owner of the rival company, Go Cabs, is intent on dislodging Azhagar to reach the top.

The heads of both firms are ambitious and will stop at nothing to be number one in the business. It is under these circumstances that a series of crimes begin to happen in one of the cab services. A few of Go Cabs drivers begin to commit heinous crimes like murder, dacoity and rape. The brand takes a beating and it is expected that the authorities will even shut the firm.

While those running the firm have no idea how to stop their drivers from committing the crimes, Raghav experiences a personal loss at the hands of one the drivers. He then begins to investigate the issue.

Who is motivating these drivers to commit the crimes and why? What is the personal loss that Raghav suffers and how does he find the truth? Mr Chandramouli answers all these questions and more.

The film had raised expectations as it marked the come-back of actor Karthik Muthuraman. However, he seems to be a little too artificial in the first half of the film. One cannot help but think that the actor has lost some of the charm he originally had. It is only in the second half that one is able to see the actor’s real talent. Nevertheless, some portions involving the father-son duo are heartwarming and adorable.

Gautham Karthik delivers another clean performance. He showcases the energy of a real boxer and seamlessly expresses a son's love for his father. Gautham, who is well on his way to become the go-to actor for romantic roles, turns on the heat with actress Regina Cassandra in a sizziling number that is bound to catch the attention of youngsters. Gautham gels equally well with comedian Sathish and scores in the comedy department too.

Regina as Madhu has very limited scope for acting in this film. However, she proves her mettle wherever possible. The romantic portions between Gautham and her are cute and enjoyable.

Both J Mahendran and Santosh Pratap have given convincing performances.

The best performance, however, comes from Varalaxmi Sarathkumar, who plays Bhairavi. The actress appears only in the second half of the film but steals the limelight with her commanding performance. There is a marked improvement in Varalakshmi’s acting and she seems to have consciously worked on her dialogue delivery. In her earlier films, she was known to utter her dialogues at break-neck speed, often making them incomprehensible to viewers. However, the actress has not only slowed down, but has also taken considerable effort at improving her diction. Mr Chandramouli has Varalaxmi’s best performance till date.

On the technical side, there isn't much to talk about. Music director Sam CS and cameraman Richard M Nathan have done a reasonably good job in their respective departments.

Director Krishnamoorthy has an interesting tale, but he takes some time in telling it. The first half of the film moves at a snail’s pace, even to the point of being boring. But then, the story picks up pace in the second half and almost makes up for the drab first half.  

All said and done, according to this reviewer, Mr Chandramouli isn’t half as impressive as he could have been!

Watch the film's trailer below: