AGS Entertainent Presents Naveena Saraswathi Sabatham
CAST: Jai as Ramarajan, VTV Ganesh as Ganesh, Sathyan as Gopi, Rajkumar as Krishna, Subbu Panchu as Sivan, Manobala as Narathar, Nivetha Thomas as Jayashree, Devadarshini as Parvathi, Ramya as Saraswathi
Technicians
Cinematography : J. Anand
Music : Prem
Editing : T.S. Suresh
Art Director : M.G. Murugan
Choreography : Dina
Stunts : Dilip Subburayan
Costumes : Vanitha Srinivasan
PRO : Nikkil
Director : K. Chandru
Prducers: Kalpathi S. Aghoram, Kalpathi S. Ganesh, Kalpathi S. Suresh
In this twenty first century in Kailash , lord Ganesha is busy running on the treadmill while his brother Karthikeya is hooked to Temple Run on his iPad. Lord Shiva uses Apple gadgets The Lord’s abode is a beautiful place with the latest technology carrying traditional values. And the Gods are so much in the present that they are multilingual. Goddess Parvati and lord Shiva await the arrival of Vedic sage Narada who now carries a guitar instead of a tanpura because he can’t bear its weight. With a creative and humorous initial set up, you expect ‘Naveena Saraswathi Sabatham’ to be a laugh riot but all that it manages to deliver is a few minutes of laughter. Everything about the movie is contemporary.
God decides to play a game and that will teach four men a lot of lessons in life. Taking inspiration from the 1966 flick for title and the famed ‘Thiruvalaiyadal’ to begin with, ‘Naveena Saraswathi Sabatham’ is nothing like anything. Four friends an actor, a politician, an all and sundry man and a doctor set out on a bachelor’s party to Bangkok , two week before the wedding of the films protagonist. There, after a night of debauchery, they wake up to find that they are stranded on an island surrounded by water. As they try and figure out a way to leave the island, its revealed to the viewers that lord Shiva is pulling the strings in this game which was designed to teach the friends the importance of life as they are reckless.
A little love, some sentiments and a lot of fun is what Chandru has brought to Kollywood. What do they do to escape and when and how they come out of the mess is what makes ‘Naveena Saraswathi Sabatham’.
Ganesh plays the subjugative husband to the feared Swarna Akka, and Gopi played by Sathyan is a politician’s spoilt son. Jai the protagonist comes around as Ramarajan the doctor carrying forward the
tradition of many generations to take progeny forward, who falls head over heels in love with singer Jayashri. Ramarajan and Jayashri go strong till engagement. And with just a month left for their wedding,
the four men head to Bangkok with plans for a week of bachelor’s party. What gets them into complete mess and gets them to an abandoned island is alcohol. Set predominantly on a theme that suggests the ill effects of alcohol in practical life, with lots of enjoyment thrown in, ‘Naveena Saraswathi Sabatham’ is a movie with a message.
During Bangkok trip, one of the characters in the film says that it all looks like a scene from ‘The Hangover’. He is silenced by his friend who in defence of the film asks him not to evoke such ideas in the first place because their film is not inspired by the Hollywood flick. Likewise, in another scene when on the island, he refers to a scene from Tom Hank’s ‘Castaway’. If the intention of the makers was to stop the audience from drawing comparisons with Hollywood films, they only succeeded in encouraging the audience to do exactly the opposite.
In another scene, Narad asks lord Shiva what he plans on doing next with the four characters on the island as he starts to feel that the film is not picking up momentum and audiences are likely to get bored. In a way, the makers are to be blamed for constantly reminding us of the film’s shortcomings instead of concentrating on entertaining viewers.
Anand Jeeva has canned Chennai, Bangkok and the lonely yet beautiful island with utmost care. The best of all is the hep makeover that Shiva’s abode got. Second half of the film covers the abandoned island
and the struggle of the four stranded men. They are given two chances at a gap of six months to escape the mess. But failing miserably at both, the four take a vow to quit drinking as it was this hydrocarbon
that put them all in trouble in the first place.
Ganesh, Gopi and Krishna are a band of supportive friends to the jolly lad Ram, played by Jai. Unlike many stories where love blooms almost immediately after the hero and heroine meet, ‘Naveena Saraswathi Sabatham’ is slightly different. Jai waits a good two years to win Jayashri’s heart. Niveditha Thomas on the other hand plays an ardent singer, well into her emotions in every part of her brief presence.
Motive is in place perfectly; however it has taken to long to be conveyed. Revolving around four men almost all the time, the film could have avoided a few scenes that occupied time. The 1966 flick has
certainly influenced ‘Naveena Saraswathi Sabatham’ he arriving at its climax twist, but has got nothing in connection with it otherwise. In all, the film is a brand new concept, with a contemporary message and
a revolutionary screenplay, although it ultimately ends in an old fashion. A clean entertainer by nature, ‘Naveena Saraswathi Sabatham’ is old wine in a not-exactly-new but quite a fancy bottle.