Boss Engira Bhaskaran Review

Movie: Boss Engira Bhaskaran

Director: Rajesh

Cast: Arya, Nayanthara, Santhanam

Rajesh of SMS fame knows the subtle art of tickling the funny bone. His latest Boss Engira Baskaran is a warm, loving and comic look at the antics of a typical small town Kumbakonam youth.

BEB works to a certain extent on Rajesh’s dialogues especially comedy one-liners like the Nanbeneda. The comic duo of Arya and Santhanam are let loose on the audiences with a single point agenda, make them laugh their guts out. Add Nayanthara playing Chandrika, a girl next door full of beans, and the trio brings the house down.

Story is nothing but a series of comic mishaps, depending on funny dialogues and hilarious situations. Baskaran lovingly called Boss (Arya) is a laidback guy, a bumbling idiot who is always busy but has no job and is yet to get his degree. He lives in Kumbakonam and hangs out at ‘Thala Thalapathy’ saloon run by his friend and advisor Nalla Thambi (Santhanam) is completely spoiled by his family consisting of loving mom (Lakshmi), a brother Saravanan (Subbu Panju), a introvert and a nice guy, and a sister who wants to be a television anchor.

While going to write his arrear papers in English, Boss meets Chandrika (Nayanthara), a trainee professor who catches him copying but soon they fall madly in love with each other. Chandrika’s sister (Vijayalakshmi) marries Saravanan, fueling the romance which is opposed by her father who will not give his younger daughter “to the good for nothing loafer”. How Boss the eternal loser with the help of Nalla Thambi manages to get Chandrika forms the rest of the story.

There is nothing new or different in story and presentation but the film moves at a rapid speed due to the Rajesh’s dialogues and situational comedy stitched into the proceedings. The scene where Arya meets Nayan in a town bus and without knowing her identity reveals his plans and gets caught by her for copying is hilarious. Another funny scene is when Arya walks out of his house in a huff in pouring rain, and finds his brother coming out to give him an umbrella instead of calling him back! The climax bonding scene between Arya and Jiiva, where they turn the table on Nayan’s father is great fun. Santhanam bringing Shakeela as teacher to Arya’s parallel college is howlarious!

The Arya- Santhanam comic duo and the crackling chemistry between them is a plus point of the film. Santhanam is a scream and Arya allows him to take over many scenes, without showing his star ego, which works to the film’s advantage. Nayanthara sparkles as the young trainee professor. She has something called screen presence and even in the role of a girl-next-door type looks gorgeous. Subbu Panju as Arya’s brother is very good and Lakshmi is the ideal screen mom.

Yuvan Shankar Raja’s music is hummable and makes it lively with numbers like Yaar Intha Penthan... Why two of the dream songs had to be shot in Switzerland, when Kumbakonam and its surrounding would have given it a more realistic look?

Rajesh has pulled off the impossible, making a family comedy work a second time armed with nothing more than a few situational gaffes and couple of funny dialogues. It’s pure escapist fare and will work big time, as there is paucity of healthy entertainment for the family audiences.

Verdict- Rocking Comedy