Goa - A Venkat Prabhu Holiday

Goa - After the stupendous success of Chennai 28 and Saroja, Venkat Prabhu seems to be obsessed yet again with his comedy route in story telling.

Basically, there is nothing much to say about the story. It revolves around three thick friends - Jai, Premji and Vaibhav who have nothing but create nuisance in their village. This result in their punishment of not to speak to each other by the village 'panchayat' president. Unbearable by The punishment, they ran away to Madhurai which eventually leads to the birth of their ambition to marry white girls and settle abroad. So, off they go to Goa in search for white girls. In Goa, their hardwork in chasing their dream forms the rest of the story.

For the first half an hour (village scenes), the director tries to mock 90's movies and most of the times, he succeed too. But, it seems overly streched a few times and test audience patience.

As far as cast and crew concern, all the lead actors did their part quite well. Sadly, all female leads - Pia, Melanie and Sneha have nothing much to offer except for being there when needed in this male dominated movie. Nevertheless, they did their best for their part.

All three actors on the other hand definately brought the roof down. Jai with his broken English is just too good. Vaibhav wittiness and the way he suffers from Sneha's clutch well showed and evoked laughter. Last but not least, Premji, who can be considered the show-stealer with his solo fight, mockery on other actors and funny face expressions is a delight to watch. On top of that, there is an element of surprise which is clearly new to Thamiz cinema. The 'gay' thingy shown was not at all vulgar, instead it is laughable. Sampath proves his calibre by carrying his role pretty easy. Hats off to him to VP for this bold attempt. By the way, the insertion of cameo of Prasanna, Simbhu and Nayantara is short and sweet. VP's touch is crystal clear there.

Since the movie travels in both comedy and serious patforms, the dialogues played a vital role. Venkat seems to be good in dialogue writing that ticles one's funny bones continously. Goa carries dull moments frequently but luckily, backed up by lots of one liners or funny moments that even up the scenario. It definetely helps in preventing audience from yawning or ditching it at once.

Picturisation of the first song, 'ElElu Thalaimuraikkum' could have been better. But, considering it is also an effort in ridicule the 90's style of movie making, pardonable. Yuvan's re-recording and background score stands tall in certain places and Venkat's hardwork clearly seen in trying hard to match up the songs that are already chartbusters with his own style of picturisation. Camera work and other technical aspects need a special mention.

Overall, Goa is in the line of Chennai 28 where the story wonders aimlessly with funny screenplay. Comparing with Saroja, one will realize that Saroja had a good storyline as a backbone to the arousing, interesting and thrilling screenplay. Goa is just the other way around.

For some, Goa offers nothing but a rehash of techniques from the director's previous works and funny scenes shown weren't funny at all mostly. The rest might take Goa as it is - entertainment at it's peak. I'm skeptical on which group I belong to. But, I pray Goa will show the hat-trick door to our talented Venkat Prabhu. For those who still hasn't seen Goa, what are you waiting for? Book your tickets for a exciting holiday. Sit back and enjoy, entertainment guaranteed!!!

P.S Friendly advise to VP. Please avoid the following 'repetitive' elements in your upcoming movies even if you are into comedy genre again.

Avoid using Ilayaraja's or other MD's song bits repeatedly.

Stay clear from using phrases like 'Enna kodumai sir ithu', 'EvvalavO pannittOm....'

Prevent scenes that makes the audience confuse between funny or serious scenes.

Even the above situation arises, try justify it by other factors like background score to differentiate both tense and funny moments.

Personally, I hope VP tries his hand on something else than focusing more on comedies in the future.

Goa - I could only enjoy VP's holiday to a certain extent...