''Udhavikku Varalaamaa'' () is a 1998 Indian

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia ** Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nati ...

-language

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...

directed by Gokula Krishnan. The film stars Karthik,

Devayani Devayani ( sa, देवयानी, translit=Devayānī) is a character in Hindu literature. She is described to be the daughter of Shukra, the acharya (preceptor) of the asuras, and his wife Jayanti, the daughter of Indra. She marries K ...

, Sangeetha and Anju Aravind, with

Janagaraj Janagaraj is an Indian actor who has appeared in over 200 films predominantly in Tamil cinema as a comedian or in supporting roles. He also starred in few Malayalam, Telugu and Hindi films. Early life Janagaraj was born to Vadivelu and Muthul ...

, Pandiyan,

Vadivukkarasi Vadivukkarasi is an Indian actress. She made her acting debut in the Tamil film ''Sigappu Rojakkal'' (1978) and has acted in more than 350 films in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam and 40 television serials in Tamil. Film director A. P. Nag ...

, Manivannan,

Kovai Sarala Kovai Sarala is an Indian actress and comedian, who prominently plays supporting roles in Tamil and Telugu films. She has won the Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Comedian three times, for her performances in '' Sathi Leelavathi'' (1995), '' ...

and Jaiganesh playing supporting roles. The film was released on 16 January 1998 to negative reviews and became a failure at box-office. This was Gokula Krishna's last film as director and continued as dialogue writer before his death in 2008 and also was his last collaboration with Karthik after '' Poovarasan'' and ''

Muthu Kaalai ''Muthu Kaalai'' is a 1995 Tamil-language drama film directed by Gokula Krishnan. The film stars Karthik and Soundarya. The film, produced by Raadhika Reddy, had musical score by Ilaiyaraaja and was released on 24 February 1995 to above averag ...

''.

Plot

Muthurasu ( Karthik) has come to the city to earn money to finance his mother's (

) operation and asks for ideas from his friend Annamalai (

). To rent a place owned by a Brahmin couple ( Manivannan and

), Muthurasu transforms himself into a Brahmin Pichumani and also falls in love with Mythili (

), the couple's daughter. Getting a job at a company owned by a devout Muslim ( Jaiganesh) makes him put on the garb of Hussein, a Muslim. Things get more complicated when an unsafe situation makes him take on the role of Pastor James, a Christian and Stella ( Sangeetha), his secretary in the office where he works as Hussein, falls in love with him.

Cast

* Karthik as Muthurasu / Pichumani / Hussein / Pastor James *

as Mythili * Sangeetha (credited as Rasiga) as Stella * Anju Aravind as Aisha *

as Annamalai * Pandiyan as Paalrasu *

as Mutharasu's mother * Manivannan as Mythili's father *

as Mythili's mother * Jaiganesh as Aisha's father *

Kaka Radhakrishnan T. V. Radhakrishnan, better known as Kaka Radhakrishnan ( – 14 June 2012) was an Indian actor who acted in Tamil language films from the year 1940. He is also notable for having introduced his childhood friend, Sivaji Ganesan, into films. Car ...

as Hussein's father *J. Lalitha as Stela's mother *

Shakeela C. Shakeela, known mononymously as Shakeela, is an Indian actress and politician who has predominantly acted in Malayalam, Tamil and Telugu language films. She is a member of Indian National Congress. Shakeela debuted in the film ''Playgirls'' ...

as an

item number In Indian cinema, an item number or item song is a musical number inserted into a film that may or may not have any relevance to the plot. The term is commonly used within Indian films (Malayalam, Telugu, Tamil, Hindi, Kannada, Punjabi, and Be ...

Soundtrack

The film score and the soundtrack were composed by

Sirpy Narayanan, known by his stage name Sirpy ( ta, சிற்பி; born 25 May 1962), is an Indian film score and soundtrack composer. He has predominantly scored music for Tamil films apart from working in Telugu and Malayalam films. He has als ...

. The soundtrack, released in 1998, features 5 tracks with lyrics written by Palani Bharathi.

Reception

Aravind of ''indolink.com'', criticized the film and actor Karthik : "Karthik should spit out whatever he has in his mouth before delivering the dialogues. His mannerisms are also getting on people's nerves." Balaji Balasubramaniam gave 1.5 out of 5 and he said : "The director's flair for comedy is obvious at several places but unfortunately, is not sustained throughout the movie. But the segments where Karthik shuffles his identities are not as hilarious. The unnecessary, shortlived diversion into 'masala' elements hurts the movie even more. And the introduction of a villain and the fight in the bottling factory are needless and serve no purpose other than padding the running time." A reviewer from ''Screen'' magazine called the film "a total farce which taxes the patience of the viewers", noting it was a "washout" at the box office.

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, tt10763466 1990s Tamil-language films 1998 comedy films 1998 films Films directed by Gokula Krishnan Films scored by Sirpy Indian comedy films