Like its promotional posters, the Shiva-starrer is irreverent and funny
Have you come across an actor with Rajinikanth’s style, Kamal Haasan’s talent, Vijay’s dance moves and Ajith’s screen presence? In short, have you come across Shiva?
We’re kidding, of course, much like most of Tamizh Padam 2, which spoofs most of Tamil cinema’s recent hits.
The laughs start even before the credits roll. A caste-related violence has broken out, and the police are unable to contain the situation. Shiva arrives, delivers a long dialogue that makes everyone go to sleep. The situation is resolved.
We learn in a bit that he’s actually an undercover cop. He’s married but he loses his wife in one of the first scenes to a bomb blast (a mobile phone bursts!) and has to find out the man behind it. But he has other plans — like falling in love again and again, surrounded by friends who hang out at a roadside tea shop that also sells croissants for two rupees.
Film: Tamizh Padam 2
- Cast: Shiva, Aishwarya, Disha
- Genre: Comedy
- Storyline: An undercover cop has to avenge the murders of his many wives
The mission he has on hand is to eliminate a ‘dreaded gangster’ named P, played by Satish, who appears in outrageous costumes that mock popular on-screen screen villains, including Akshay Kumar from the yet-to-release 2.0!
There’s not much of a storyline — not that we were expecting one in the first place — but director C.S. Amudhan’s candid style of trolling stars and scenes work well. No star escapes unscathed; Rajinikanth, Kamal Haasan, Ajith and Vijay… everyone’s films get mocked in good measure.
Director Amudhan, who gave us the humorous Tamizh Padam a few years ago, is in fine comic form, keeping you in splits most of the time. Like the first part, this one works much better if you’ve watched the films being referenced. There’s a clever quip by actor Jiiva (in a cameo appearance) that’ll have you chuckling if you’ve watched Ko. There’s another jibe at Ajith that you’ll enjoy if you’ve watched Vivegam. Gautham Menon’s work face the majority of the director’s wrath; he takes on scenes from Vinnai Thaandi Varuvaya, Neethane En Ponvasantham, Kaakha Kaakha, Vettaiyadu Vilaiyaadu and Vaaranam Aayiram, and gets Shiva to troll what we fondly remember as memorable sequences.
Shiva is the lifeline of the movie, with his uncanny dialogue delivery and self deprecatory humour. The satire is a genre he’s comfortable with, and that shows in most of the scenes. He also gets away with gags on political incidents, including demonetisation and the political situation in Tamil Nadu, that will surely get widely circulated on social media in the days to come.
Tamizh Padam 2 does get a little tiring towards the second half, especially during the historic flashback sequences that has reference to Baahubali big time. It’s at that stage we have to keep playing match-the-following, connecting the scenes on screen to previous films we’ve seen similar sequences in. There’s another trick to keep yourself engaged if the jokes are getting too monotonous – keep a look out for things in the frame that are non-Shiva. Like the bike he rides, which is similar to the one in Dhanush’s VIP, the photos in his house — one of which has him with Barack Obama. Like the clippings of ‘breaking news’ telecast in HBO and National Geographic! In today’s troll-heavy social media age, a laugh-at-yourself Tamizh Padam 2 might just be the best thing Tamil cinema needed.
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