Vijay Sethupathi, Few Humor, CinematographyVijay Sethupathi, Few Humor, CinematographyUsual Boring Plot, Screenplay, Editing, Music
Director Gokul, who had last directed the fantasy thriller Kaashmora in 2016, has come back to screens, reuniting with his Idharkuthaane Aasaipattai Balakumara hero Vijay Sethupathi after 5 years, to present Junga, the funny tale of a miser don, set in Paris. Here's team AP Herald's exclusive first on net Junga review.
Junga (Vijay Sethupathi) is a conductor who falls in love with a Telugu girl (Madonna Sebastien) but is forced to follow a violent route. Junga's mother (Saranya Ponvannan) doesn't want him to become like his father and grandfather Linga and Ranga who were dons who lost their wealth including their theatre cinema paradise, celebrating success parties. Now as Junga sets out to Paris to reclaim his lost properties including cinema Paradise, he gets to know that old Don Sopparaj (Radha Ravi) plans to demolish cinema Paradise and has to face Chettiar(Suresh Menon) who's now the owner of Cinema Paradise. Chettiar humiliates Junga and as Junga plans to take revenge on Chettiar by kidnapping his daughter Yazhini (Sayyeshaa), she's kidnapped by the Italian mafia. Whether Junga was able to rescue Yazhini and win back cinema paradise and exact his revenge is what Junga is all about.
Vijay Sethupathi strikes with his impressive comic timing and funny body language, and with his typical getup, perfectly generates genuine laughs. Coming close on heels stealing the show from Vijay Sethupathi often is the humourous yogi babu, who is a livewire, and will his one-liners, comic punches and hilarious body language instantly evokes laughter and his chemistry with Vijay Sethupathi is interesting. Sayyeshaa is the typical eye candy who tries hard to emote but fails. Madonna Sebastien is adequate in her mini Cameo, while Suresh Menon continues his villainy from where he left in Thaanaa Serndha Koottam. The rest of the cast including Motta Rajendran and Saranya Ponvannan are aptly cast.
Background score by Siddharth Vipin is soothing, while of the songs, Aagayam Thaandiyum, Junga title track pass the muster while the rest of the songs falter. Cinematography by Dudley is impressive, capturing the exotic locations of Paris and the period portions with finesse. Sabu Joseph's editing could have been taut.
Director Gokul, known for his knack of presenting serious subjects with humor laced screenplay, with movies like Idharkuthaane Aasaipattai Balakumara and Kaashmora, returns with his favorite Vijay Sethupathi yet again with Junga. This time around, he has chosen to opt for a routine story as old as hills, presenting a revenge theme with comedy throughout the screenplay.
While comedy comes in handy for the Rocking Aandavan Kattalai combo Vijay Sethupathi and Yogi Babu, everything else falters, including the action sequences which look forced, the romantic track with Sayyeshaa that is a huge dampener with its artificial tone (Madonna Sebastien track works, surprisingly!), and the scenes between the hero and the villain are ultimate downers, with no interesting factor in them to engage the audience. Despite good cinematography and music by Dudley and Siddharth Vipin, Junga suffers from cliched scenes, flat comedy in the second half, a boring and slow screenplay, and poor song placements, ultimately impacting the quality of the comic entertainer it must have been. All said, Junga is a tedious watch, only for Vijay Sethupathi, if you possess extreme patience.
Vijay Sethupathi,Sayyeshaa,Madonna Sebastian,Gokul,Arun Pandian,Dr. K. Ganesh,R. M. Rajesh Kumar,Siddharth VipinA Vijay Sethupathi show, impacted by a poor screenplay.
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