Rathna Kumar’s ‘Gulu Gulu’, starring Santhanam, is an ambitious effort, but it plays like separate parts of a jigsaw puzzle that never come together

Spoilers ahead…

I was never sure what to make of the movie. The easiest thing would be to call it a curious experiment..

In most films, Santhanam is the guy who does the funny lines, the crazy stuff while the others play it straight. In Rathna Kumar’s Gulu Gulu, the others in the cast – Namitha Krishnamurthy, Pradeep Rawat, Mariyam George, and many, many others – are in charge of the funny lines, the crazy stuff. And Santhanam is the straight guy, a man with a heart of gold. He is from… I cannot name the place, because that’s part of the film’s many wild surprises. The other surprise is this writer-director’s choice of this material. Meyaadha Maan was a romantic drama with a dash of comedy, and Aadai was a morality tale. Both films were focused affairs, with a tight group of characters. Gulu Gulu is a complete reversal. There are many characters and many tonalities – from serious drama to Chaplinesque physical and situational comedy – and I was never sure what to make of it. The easiest thing would be to call it a curious experiment.

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