Meesaya Murukku: A debut worth twirling the mush over

It looks like 2017 is the year of dream directorial debuts. After Dhanush’s Pa Paandi, Hiphop Tamizha Aadhi has decided to don the directorial hat as well as star in Meesaya Murukku, which captures the life of a regular guy who finishes school and enters college. As one might expect in such a story, there’s the usual gang of friends who help him with love and help us with humour; there are the dreaded seniors who show a penchant for bullying; and of course, there’s love too. That’s where its similarities with regular commercial films end though, as Meesaya Murukku is also about the strife of an underdog as he meets his fair share of embarrassments and failures before rising from them. The film appears to be Aadhi’s autobiography, with umpteen references to incidents from his life.

Meesaya Murukku works largely due to its simple take on everyday issues which are relatable to the youth— the target audience for the film. Be it the song with superheroes such as He-Man and Shakthimaan, the engineering college backdrop or the struggle to maintain a work and personal life balance, all aspects of the film will appeal to young people who grew up in the 90s.

Cast: Hiphop Tamizha Aadhi, Aathmika, Vivekh, Vijayalakshmi
Director: Hiphop Tamizha Aadhi

Aside from veteran actor Vivekh and some known faces such as Ma Ka Pa Anandh, Vijayalakshmi and Gajaraj, the entire cast of the film, including Aadhi and the female lead Aathmika, is new. Knowing the pulse of the youth, Aadhi has also brought in a whole horde of well-known YouTube stars from channels such as Smile Settai, Temple Monkeys and Madras Meter. This has worked in favour of the film, as the comedy is fresh and amusing.

Aadhi has done a great job as a director, and he couldn’t have asked for a better launch pad. As the music director, he’s not quite as successful; his old tunes, which he has reused here, are a lot more enjoyable than the ones he’s composed for this film. The actor in him though, needs to do a lot more as he fails to emote enough, and this becomes clear especially in close-ups. He makes up for it with the mass appeal, however, usually with a cool twirl of his moustache. 

Vivekh has perfected his role as a dotting godfather (and father), something he pulled off convincingly in Brindhaavanam earlier this year. Scenes involving him advising the kids and preaching the values of Tamil to a school principal are super-cool. Aathmika has carried her role of a college girl well and is a good find. The romance portions, despite being decently written, fall flat due to a lack of chemistry between the leads. Songs are aplenty, and after the first few, they start disrupting the film’s flow. 

Despite all these flaws, Meesaya Murukku largely works and I have to say, is a dream debut for Aadhi. The film will largely appeal to the youth, and will likely prove to be worth the ticket price (including GST) they will shell out.