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SAROJA - REVIEW

SAROJA ( Tamil,2008)

Director : Venkat Prabhu

Cast : Prakash Raj , Jayaram , Shiva , SPB Charan, Premgi Amaran , Vaibhav Reddy

Alright , let me make a few things clear about my review of "Saroja" . We all know that this is a rip off from "Judgment Night". However , my review is going to be completely independent of "Judgment Night" , as I have not seen that movie.

Saroja is the daughter of a rich businessman , Vishwanath (Prakash Raj) , in Hyderabad. She gets kidnapped and her dad launches a hunt , with the help of his police friend ACP Ravichandran (Jayaram) . Meanwhile , we have a group of 4 friends , completely different characters , Ganesh ( Premgi) , Ajay ( Shiva) , Jagapathi Babu ( Charan) , and Ram Babu (Vaibhav) who are on their way to Hyderabad from Chennai , to watch a cricket match. They happen to stumble upon a factory where Saroja has been held captive. What happens when they decide to rescue Saroja from the gang leader Sampath and his men , forms the rest of the story.

The movie is very unique as far as Tamil Cinema is concerned. It does not follow the traditional formula techniques. Instead it dares to be different as it tries to come across as a mix of the thriller and comedy genres. The humor is excellent and blends perfectly well with the storyline. Thankfully, there are no separate comedy tracks , very unlike the Tamil movies being made these days.

The movie is basically about the kidnap and eventual rescue of Saroja , but I don't think it would have been right to make it a pure thriller.alone It would not have gone down so well with the audience , if the humor was done away with.

The acting is pretty good. Although brilliant and versatile actors like Prakash Raj and Jayaram have done an excellent job in "Saroja", the quartet of friends steal the show completely. The bonding between them is very natural and there is no exaggeration in the characterization. Like I mentioned earlier , these are 4 distinct characters , and we have a good time watching them react to rather sticky situations , especially in the rescue sequences.

The humor is very refreshing and does not rely on vulgar jokes to make us laugh. The dialogues are nothing great , but it is the comic timing which keeps us smiling throughout the movie.

Being a Tamil movie , we have a few songs thrown at us when least expected. But the music by Yuvan Shankar Raja is fairly decent. the background score too blends well with the story.

If there is one thing about the movie which I liked the most , it has to be Premgi Amaran . This man comes across as someone who has the least self-respect , but in a funny way. His mannerisms will keep us laughing through out the movie.

There are a few predictable scenes , and a few cliches too. For instance the climax looked too good to be true , so the Director decides to throw in a predictable twist towards the end.

This is not a great movie , nor does it aspire to be one. In essence it is only a cat-mouse chase in the form of a thriller , but manages to keep us interested thanks to the humor and fairly decent screenplay. Not quite pacy , but not slow either. Watch it with a group of friends and you will enjoy it a lot.

The references to other Tamil movies will go down well with anyone with a decent knowledge of Tamil cinema. The Volkswagen mini in the beginning , with the "Karakatakaran" music in the background , the " Evalavo panrom" dialogue from Vijay's "Azhagiya Tamizh Magan" , Premgi's attempts at spoofing "Sivaji" are all to be enjoyed.

My verdict for this movie will be 3 out of 5 . As I said , this is only a cat-mouse chase in the form of a film , but has to be seen , for the screenplay and humor. And I give my verdict , without considering the "Judgment Night" rip-off factor .

Verdict : Worth a watch . ( 3 / 5)