Chennai Ungalai Anbudan Varaverkiradhu

Chennai Ungalai Anbudan Varaverkirathu (CUAV) is the kind of film that wants to be a slice-of-life drama that captures the experience of youngsters who migrate to the city from their hometowns with dreams only to wake up to the harsh realities of life in a metro. The director is clearly going for a new-age vibe but with one leg rooted firmly in melodrama, the film ends up as a muddled affair.

Chellapandi is an aspiring director who keeps trying to write a story but is unable to progress because he has hit a block, and more importantly, because of the people he lives with. First, his roommate Nagaraj's, another aspiring director, drunken behaviour forces him to shift house. Then, he is left shelter-less when his other roommate, Karthik, a womanizer, has a fling with a young divorcee and leaves her pregnant. He manages to find a sympathetic house owner but is again screwed up by a couple of lascivious roommates.

The problem with CUAV is that the writing is all over the place. The transition between scenes is never smooth and the tone of the film uneven. There are times when we get the feeling that the director just shot the scenes with whichever actor was available on that particular day. And, then there are moments that give us the feeling that we are watching a 45-minute short film material stretched to feature film length. Like the scene where Karthik mourns his dead mother while drinking with his roommates. Or, when two characters keep taking turns to have phone sex with the same girl.

Marudhupandian keeps introducing new characters (we even get one towards the end) and we get that he is trying to tell us how unsettled the lives of these men is. But then, he gives goes into narrating the lives of these supporting characters as well that makes the film somewhat of a drag despite the two-hour running time. And the characters are underwritten. We never get a hang of Chellapandi. Is he a genuine filmmaker or is he one of those guys who leave their village wit...