Cuckoo The Movie

The thing which immediately works in Cuckoo’s favour is that we root for the main protagonists right away. The fact that they are visually challenged yet always in good spirits, endears them to us even more. Love, that all-encompassing emotion dominates Cuckoo too, and here it is pure, intense and without any adulteration. The power and purity of the love between two young, visually challenged people, wins over all manner of obstacles and Cuckoo leaves us on a real emotional high.The film features a once in a lifetime performance by young Dinesh. He will no longer be addressed as ‘Attakathi’ Dinesh henceforth. The commitment and respect that he has towards the acting craft and his dedicated efforts are evident for all of us to see. He literally lives as the blind young man Thamizh and his travails and pain in the climax can be compared to what Kamal Haasan exhibited in Moondram Pirai. Along with Kasi’s Vikram, Dinesh’s performance in Cuckoo will be considered as the benchmarks in acting as a blind person. All those acting awards this year already have a rightful owner.Young Malavika Nair is able to display myriad expressions on her innocent face and it is a miraculous effort by this young girl. Dinesh and Malavika will live long in the hearts of cinema lovers as Thamizh and Swathanthrakodi.The cast also features many more visually challenged first-time actors who keep the mood light with their wisecracks, particularly Thamizh’s close friend who is a darling with his riotous one-liners, innocent chuckle and marked voice. The actors who impersonate Ajith, Vijay and MGR are so funny with their antics. In fact all the actors who are a part of the stage performance troupe offer some memorable moments. Murugadoss is among the very few known faces in the cast and his role provides its share of fun and sentiment.
Santhosh Narayanan is the other big pillar in Cuckoo with his tremendously moving BGM score which has been composed with a lot of involvement and adds so much value to each scene. His soundtrack also features some lovely melody numbers like Potta Pulla, Manasula Soora Kaathe, Kodayila, Aagasatha and lively tracks like Kalyanama and Enda Maapla. This is one of those rare efforts which doesn’t feature even a single substandard note. Flawless score by Santhosh. Eagerly waiting for the background score to be released online.Cuckoo is a visually brilliant film too. Even though the protagonists are visually challenged, the world around them has been shown so imaginatively by P.K.Varma with some beautiful and meaningful angles.The film moves at a pretty slow pace and runs for a good 162 minutes. Even then you wouldn’t find yourself losing interest in the happenings on screen. The film scores pretty high on melodrama towards the end but this also opens up the stage for the actors to exhibit their full range of histrionics. There aren’t any needless elements in the screenplay but the director could have made things more crisp and concise.
Journalist turned director Raju Murugan has made a film which brims with sincerity. His effort to direct so many visually challenged people and show their lives in such detail, is worth a round of applause. He also plays a role as a responsible journalist from Vikatan, who has a major hand in resolving things in the end. The autobiographical touches in Murugan’s screenplay are easy to spot.