Deiva Machan Movie Review: An interesting idea let down by slipshod screenplay 
Deiva Machan Movie Review: An interesting idea let down by slipshod screenplay 

Deiva Machan Movie Review: An interesting idea let down by a slipshod screenplay 

All is well, till the laughs keep flowing in and the scenes aren't stretched out. But, unfortunately, the film quickly runs out of uncoerced humour
Rating:(2 / 5)

Debutant Martyn Nirmal Kumar's Deiva Machan is a story of a man who experiences infrequent supernatural dreams that predict the death of his near and dear. Though he has lost a handful of people in the past owing to his strange condition, he is determined to save the life of the newest entrant to his supernatural hitlist: His sister's fiancee.

We have already seen enough films featuring a protagonist with Extra Sensory Perception, and thankfully, director Martyn doesn't try hard to establish the film as a one-of-a-kind experience. Instead, he focuses on the fundamental items on the rural comedy checklists and gets a lot of them right. For starters, the film never tries to punch above its weight. There are hardly any commercial compromises like a force-fit dance number, an out-of-place stunt scene, or a non-sync romantic track. The narrative solely focuses on the endeavours of Karthi (Vemal) to safeguard his brother-in-law. Mainly, the film doesn't aim to preach to the audience, and instead has the humble ambition to make the audience smile and laugh, which it quite successfully does in the first half. The setup and payoff strategy of Martyn is majorly effective and he elevates even the simplest of all gags, by dropping them at the right moments.

Director: Martyn Nirmal Kumar 

Cast: Vemal, Anitha Sampath, Balasarvanan, Vathsan Veeramani 

All is well, till the laughs keep flowing in and the scenes aren't stretched out. But, soon enough, the film runs out of uncoerced humour, and all of a sudden, every character starts spelling out the jokes almost terrorising us to laugh. I clearly didn't anticipate this jarring shift, as the film had the potential to be an effective rural comedy with ample humour and good-old sentiment, almost oozing the aura of Bhagyaraj classics like Thooral Ninnu Poochu. Ironically, what used to be the biggest merit of the veteran's films is the biggest disappointment in Deiva Machan: A solid screenplay! 

For the unaware, Deiva Machan is a feature film adaptation of Martyn's successful short film Boodham. Previously, directors like Balaji Mohan (Kadhalil Sodhappuvadhu Eppadi) and Ratna Kumar (Madhu- Meyaadha Maan) have adapted their shorts to the silver screen in Tamil cinema. Their feature adaptations were enjoyed by the majority because the filmmakers created a whole new world for their big screen debut and introduced fresh characters and bigger stakes to ensure that the audiences are hooked to the narrative. They also made it a point to develop their stories beyond the climax of their shorts to suit the longer format. Though director Martyn does a decent job of introducing a bunch of new characters in his feature film adaptation, the lack of innovation in increasing the stakes and building a world beyond the short film leaves us dejected. 

The fast-paced narrative, the sudden twist in the climax, and overall mindlessness were the factors that worked in favour of Boodham. But in Deiva Machan the filmmaker tries hard to wedge in logic to the story killing the inherent outlandishness in the native script. Instead of adding elements to make the scenes from the original more effective, he stretches them out to match the runtime of a feature. 

Towards the end of the film, a man forcefully ties the thaali to a young girl and claims her to be his wife. Of course, she throws the thread away when she gets the chance, and calls out the act. But very soon we see another man taking down the culprit only to look at the girl and say, "Yaar unna kaatipaanga nu varutha padadha, naan unna kattikren!" It was quite shocking to see a present-generation film's principal character resorting to this toxic and dated strategy to win over a girl who hardly has an agency. Aside from this regressive sequence, which eats away the little light-heartedness in the film, the story has one too many deaths that is more in the dark territory rather than the dark humour one. Dissecting a comedy film might not be the best of ideas, but a creator must set the right mood while treading through such tricky spaces. 

With a solid core idea, an in-form Vemal and a majorly talented supporting cast, Deiva Machan had all the ingredients to deliver a wedding feast to the audience, but the recipe and preparation seem to have gone awfully wrong midway that the final result only passes off as a barely edible leftover. 
 

Related Stories

No stories found.
Cinema Express
www.cinemaexpress.com