Remember the viral ‘Whatsapp Swami’ that everyone was talking about a few months ago? He has now inspired an actual film that takes its title from something he says in the beginning of every audio clip – ‘Hara Hara Mahadevaki’.
The makers of this film have made it clear from the very beginning that it would be an ‘adult comedy’ and even went to the extent of proudly flaunting the A certificate. Some of the jokes pass muster, but the film hardly comes together as a whole. That’s because director Santhosh packs in too many things without any real purpose.
There are three separate segments… involving a missing child, a bomb and fake currency notes. But the film is actually about Hari (Gautham Karthik), who runs an agency that takes care of all rituals post death, and his break-up with Ramya (Nikki Galrani). He wants her to return all the gifts he’d given her during their relationship (no doubt inspired by that Endhiran sequence that we’ve all forgotten by now) and the plan is to do that at the Hara Hara Mahadevki resort.
- Director: Santhosh P. Jayakumar
- Cast: Gautham Karthik, Nikki Galrani, Satish
- Storyline: A resort sees a lot of activity in one day – a break-up, a bomb and a kidnap
The gifts are all packed in a black bag, one that has been given by a politician as part of his election gifts disbursal. Meanwhile, two petty rowdies (‘Motta’ Rajendran, who’s not mottai but sporting a colourful spike, and Karunakaran) are plotting to plant a bomb in a similar looking bag. Elsewhere, a fake notes racket is happening… in a similar looking bag.
All this is material enough to shape a decent comedy of errors, but HHM misses that target by a mile as it is quite content indulging in mostly crass jokes that don’t work. Even the ones that do – a stretch involving a flash mob is mildly amusing – don’t reach any great comic heights.
That HHM sought to explore a genre rarely tapped into by Kollywood deserves credit, but the laugh is clearly on us, the audience.
