Comali Review

Comali Review: Time-pass Entertainer With A Few Good LOL Moments

The premise

Comali is not a superhero like Captain America is. But their stories nearly run parallel to an extent. This is the story of a youngster who goes into a coma for about 16 years and how he finds the changing society in between his teenage and his sudden waking up from the coma is all this film about. 

The story

Ravi, the said youngster is a Plus Two student when the major incident happens. The movie opens in Ravi's narration. Like a self-respecting Tamil teenager, he falls in love with his classmate. He forms friendships. And the gift which he gives to his love of life, Nikita leads to a major plot point in the second half of the film. 

After a few incidents, he goes into a coma and wakes up only after 16 years. It was during the late 1990s, that he was a teenager, and he loses his entire twenties to coma. A lot has changed since he went into a coma and he finds it tough to navigate through the modern-day. This is the story of Rip Van Vinkle who goes into sleep on a hill and wakes up to find a lot has changed. 

Ravi Slowly but steadily tries to find the whereabouts of his love but it is when he finds that the gift he had given her - an idol which he used to feel sentimental about - is invaluable, that the frantic search for it starts. He finds that it is now in the possession of an evil politician. From now onwards, the film becomes predictable and borders on melodrama for the most part. What happens to his search forms the rest of the story. 

Performances

Jayam Ravi is sincere in his portrayal of the teenager who wakes up to find himself a man in his thirties. A lot of humor is generated through his characterization. His scenes in the combination with Yogi Babu are outright hilarious. Yogi Babu too after a long time received a considerable role. Samyuktha Hegde is neat in her role as the love of teenaged Ravi. Kajal Aggarwal has received one more under-utilized role. Alas! Two films of her are released on the same day and her characters in both films don't add much to her CV. K. S. Ravikumar as the evil politician is terrific. 

Writing and direction

The basic story of the film despite having similarities to Captain America (losing an important part of his life) and Rip Van Winkle, it is fairly innovative. It has the potential not just to induce nostalgia among the 1990 kids but also a chance to offer sharp commentary of these ties compared to generally innocent days of the 1990s. But after a promising first half, the narration takes a beating in the second half. The screenplay is straight and has its moments. The dialogues are good, especially humorous ones. 

The crew

The music of the film composed by Hiphop Tamizha is excellent. The background score adds a lot of value to the emotional core of the film. The cinematography is neat. The editing is good though the runtime of the film could be trimmed by t least 7-8 minutes, The production design is good. The early 1980s (hero school days) and the late 1990s (the time the hero joins college for Plus two) are well depicted. The production values are very good. 

Finally

Comali may not be what its story promises to be but still, it has its moments. As it's promoted as a mindless comedy film by the makers, we need not take everything too seriously. And as such, it's a decent time pass entertainer with some neat performances and a few good laugh out loud moments. You can give it a try. 

Pycker Rating: 2.5 out of 5