Screenwriter and director: Gokul
cast: RJ Balaji, Kishen Das, Lal, Sathyaraj, Meenakshi Chaudhary
interval: 137 minutes
Regions available: theater
There’s a lot to love about Gokul singapore saloon. a lot. The small details he left on various movie posters, the on-point casting, the beautiful echoes of important dialogue, the way the film took time to establish the bonds between characters, the touch of magical realism. and Gokul’s skill at saving the best for last in writing great comedies that keep the eye glued. But (sadly, yes, there is a proviso) the film goes in different directions in the second half, with the stakes suddenly becoming so huge and threatening that the resolution takes a convenient, predictable, melodramatic route.
Kathir (RJ Balaji) and Basheer (Kishen Das) are childhood best friends. We travel back in time to see a younger version of himself in awe as he watches the magic of Chacha (Lal), the village’s famous barber. When he saw how Chacha changed the beggar’s look and people started respecting him (Vijay’s portrait is painted on the barber shop wall) minsara kanna (1999) Poster), Kathir praises how much hairstylists can do. “Hairstylists can change the way the world sees people,” says Kassir.He falls in love when he reaches the 8th standard (and now on the wall Arai Payutei (2000) poster). A few months later, the wall becomes an important space, as Kashir and Bashir tear up the movie poster and instead paint a stolen image of Cha Cha, which later has a beautiful resonance. This detailed depiction of their childhood is long, but with one joke after another, it’s okay to see a little more of these mischievous kids. This same logic applies to many other moments in the movie. There, the scenes may not contribute much to the big picture, but you just enjoy the moment because they tickle your funny soul.
And you are slowly drawn into their world. So you wouldn’t be surprised if Kathir or Basher decided on a whim to take EEE instead of Computer Science. When Kathir gets married, we don’t need another Love She track to see how much Kathir and Nila (Meenakshi Choudhary) mean to each other. Or when we are randomly introduced to Nila’s father (the brilliant Sathyaraj) and her brother-in-law (Roboshankar), and the former starts to take center stage, it doesn’t feel off-putting. Instead, the combination of Sathyaraj, Robo Shankar, RJ Balaji and Kishen Das is so much fun that the pre-interval stretch gets the most out of it and you hope the film stays in that space.
When the son is dumped, the father says, “I’ll drive, you sit in the back,” and there’s a certain sense of security that we feel along with the character. When Sathyaraj gets angry because of his sons-in-law (RJ Balaji and Roboshankar), we see that they are a family. Watch the scene where Sathyaraj realizes Kathir’s passion but cannot accept it due to his ego and goes back to being stingy after a little trouble. In both cases, various emotions can be captured through an open door. Robbo Shankar offers more to the character that makes his role memorable and so does Meenakshi Chaudhary. A small cameo by Imman Annachi and his YG Mahendran adds to the fun. Besides RJ Balaji and Sathyaraj, another person who benefits from a subtle script and matches Arc in acting is Kishen Das, who played Basheer, the ever-dependable and caring best friend.
All these little things that this movie keeps giving you in the most humorous way possible. singapore saloon‘s greatest strength. But the movie starts to pull you out of this comfort zone. That’s not a mistake. But where it goes is the question. Small dreams and small joys suddenly give way to big problems and big worries. Again, this change in genre is not the whole problem. It’s entirely possible that you or I could be in the same situation as Kasir, whose dreams are literally crumbling before our eyes. So what would you do? The answers to his problems become more convenient and contrived.
A touch of magical realism will bring a smile to your face as a god-like person appears from nowhere (even a bright light always shines behind him) and Kathir’s perspective on suffering changes . But the scene where a pregnant woman suddenly goes into labor and Kathir helps her, as we’ve seen before, feels more contrived than emotional. When the main characters we’ve seen so far are deep in the ocean, struggling with the biggest hurdles they’ve ever faced, the movie doesn’t bring us closer to them, instead the words “months later” appear on the screen. Flow and decide to skip.
There are moments you want to take home, like when he sees a glimmer of hope and how the first conversation, “A hairstylist can change the way the world sees people,” sounds a beautiful echo. To get there, the film deviates more than expected. The film felt very personal, relying on the usual commercial means to get the point across as Kathir achieves his big dreams. So when he finally succeeds, you’re happy for him, but your heart isn’t jumping with the usual hope and elation that his success is inherently supposed to leave you with.
That’s a nice hairstyle. But it’s not something that will excite you.
Watch the official trailer for Singapore Saloon