Prabhu Deva needs to seriously reconsider his own criteria for the selection of scripts to survive in an industry that is far more competitive and less forgiving than the industry was in his heyday. Throughout the ordeal of watching his latest film, Jolly o Gymkhana, the lingering question is: What did he see in the role to accept it?
Director Shakti Chidambaram (Charlie Chaplin 1 & 2 and Thillu Mullu remake) starts Jolly o Gymkhana off with a disclaimer that one should not judge the film on adherence to logic, but to simply enjoy the comedy. Unfortunately, he believed that stringing together a nonsensical plot with weak scripting and a frayed screenplay would pass off as comedy. Worse, he uses some truly fine actors in this dismal excuse for a comedy.
The story revolves around the plight of the family of Thangasamy (Y.G. Magendran) after their family business faces severe challenges. Their attempt to solve the problem makes it worse and they are forced to seek legal help in the form of visiting lawyer, Poongundran (Prabhu Deva) but things take a turn for the worse after they meet him.
The first 20 minutes of the film provide some laughter, but there is nothing subtle, sophisticated or refined in the humour. Within a short time, the frequency of jokes become sparse and the brand of humour becomes tiresome. It does not help that the screenplay and script are both very poorly written. There is nothing wrong with escapist films or farce, but the audience must not be taken for fools just because farce or satire is being used.
Jolly o Gymkhana has a huge cast and their participation in a film has to be a huge blight in their respective careers. Y.G. Majendran, Abhirami, MS Bhaskar, John Vijay and Adukalam Naren are totally wasted (and insulted) in their roles, Yogi Babu briefly brings a fun element to the story while Sai Dheena plays a somewhat different character to his normal role.
It is a reasonably good effort from music composer Ashwin Vinayagamoorthy although he does need to work on improving his background score.
Cinematographer MC Ganesh Chandra has a few amazing shots, but they are wasted in this ocean of mediocrity.
Jolly o Gymkhana is a waste of 2 hours, but if you just want to see some of your favourite actors on screen, you could choose to sit through this very painful ordeal.
Rating: 4 out of 10.
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