The brother-sister films surrounded with sentiment are not new to Indian cinema and we have seen listless such films on screen. Udanpirappe is another new addition to this list which is streaming on Amazon Prime Video. Produced by Jyothika-Suriya under 2D Entertainment, this is their second film in this year after Raame Aandalum Raavane Aandalum.
Story
Mathangi (Jyothika) and Vairavan (M.Sasikumar) are the ideal siblings in Pudukottai village whose relationship gets severed after a tragedy that stuck both the families.
Master Sargunam (Samuthirakani), the husband of Mathangi who doesn’t like the way of Vairavan’s violent approach towards various issues drives a wedge between the two families.
But both siblings share a unique bond that was inseparable and it gets stronger as both enter into an alliance under dramatic circumstances.
The remaining story of Udanpirappe was about this alliance and dwells on how do these siblings unite along with their families in the end.
Performances
Jyothika, in her 50th film, has aced through the film with usual grace and elegance. Mathangi was the embodiment of love and compassion, an ideal woman who goes out of her way even to help the man who tried to kill her daughter. All womenfolk would indisputably love Jyothika for excellent depiction of this character.
M.Sasikumar as Vairavan was brilliant in a character who earns the respect of the villagers and fights against anyone who thinks of evil about his villagers.
Samuthirakani as Sargunam Master who wants everything to take place as per law was excellent and he is one actor who is growing in stature with every character he has been doing.
Soori in the character of Pakkadi who acts as a bridge between two families has got some good one-liners with which he has managed to create some lighter moments and also showed emotional side in few scenes.
Sija Rose, Nivedhithaa Sathish, Sidhaarth K T, and Kalaiyarasan have done well in their respective characters.
Behind the scenes
The writer-director Era. Saravanan has wanted to present the age-old sibling rivalry from a new perspective by taking a leaf or two from many similar kinds of films.
The extra dose of sentiment and melodrama got unbearable during the first half of the film. Though the momentum got picked up slightly in the second half, it lacked the appeal to touch the right chords due to faulty writing that was evident all through the film.
The photography by R. Velraj was stunning and the way he captured the picturesque locales was exemplary especially the top angle shots were a feast to watch.
The music and background score by D. Imman was not up to the mark as neither the songs nor the BGM could not do much to elevate the dull and drab narrative.
The editing by Ruben was patchy and the length should have been reduced by at least 15 minutes.
Final Verdict
Except for the ace performances by Jyothika, Sasikumar, and Samuthirakani, Udanpirappe was a film loaded with lofty sentiment and myriad melodrama that calls for a lot of patience to sit through the film.
Though there was a show off about high moral values and a lot of preachy scenes laced with motivational dialogues, Udanpirappe could not do much on the emotional or entertainment front. As a result, it gets relegated to one-time watch film with reservations.
