Doing a movie on fake Godmen and taking a dig at few superstitions is a tight-rope walk. RJ Balaji, who made a political satire in LKG has managed to pass the test as he laces it with humour and wits.
And with a popular actress like Nayanthara at the helm of affairs, Balaji has won the battle even before he begins it.
The movie is strikingly different from OMG or PK for it speaks about religious politics without getting preachy and sticks to a funny route. It is both strength and weakness of Mookuthi Amman. If the first half was engaging and interesting, the latter part is tad slow and predictable.
RJ Balaji (Engles Ramasamy), is a local TV reporter who has family to take care of. He slogs for his mother (Urvashi), grandfather ( Mouli) and three sisters, and struggles to make ends meet. He plans a report on Godman Bagavathy Baba (Ajay Ghosh), who with the help of government authorities try to usurp huge acres of land to build Panchavanam, which he promotes as the spiritual capital of the world. Enters Goddess Mookuthi Amman (Nayanthara), the family deity of Engels Ramasamy to help him win over Bagavathy Baba. Efforts by Ramasamy and Mookuthi Amman fight Bagavathy Baba forms the story.
Nayanthara is tailor-made for the story. Dazzling she is in every frame. Her body language and dialogue delivery are strikingly different from her earlier movies. She is the major strength of Mookuthi Amman. Urvashi as RJ Balaji’s mother steals the show with her innocent performance. She has a strong screen presence and elevates the mood in scenes appears well. Ajay Gosh as fake Godmen is a caricature baddie we see in cinema. Animated at at most places. Sadly an artiste like Kohli has been underused.
RJ Balaji quite typical of him has plenty to speak and has loads of dialogues. Few are punchy, few hilarious and rest fails to create an impact.
Produced by Ishari Ganesh and directed by Balaji and NJ Saravanan, the movie has some good music by Girish. L R Eswari appears as herself in it.
Mookuthi Amman is a decent show that is punchy and engaging. Had it been a little serious, end product could have been different.