GOA IS BREEZY AND JOCULAR

It is amazing to think that some movies are just made to make all feel good and take you back to a time when movies were watched to bring in some cheer into our sullen lives.Now thats the kind of movies that Venkat Prabhu is known for making and he does live up to his reputation with his latest offering in Tamil, GOA.This maiden production venture of Soundarya Rajinikanth, does not delve into the complexities of life and just aims to get you to have a whale of a time at the theater.
The movie focusses on three characters Vinayagam(Jay), Ramarajan(Vaibhav) and Samikannu(Premji Amaren) who are a fun loving group that are constrained by their village which considers it taboo to leave the village.Driven by their urge to enjoy life as it should be, the trio escape to Madurai,wherein upon dashing into their friend's marriage to a white woman, make it their goal to seek a partner in a westerner and live the fabulous life abroad.After exploring some possible options of seeking their goal, the group lands in Goa and has a whale of a time chasing bikini clad women and enjoying the Goan life,until each meets their partner and returns home.

While fundamentally, the story is not great, the approach is quite interesting. Filled with spoofs of tamil movie situations and songs, the movie offers some pure entertainment. Sampath and Arvind as a gay couple excel in playing their roles well enough to have you in splits.Premji Amaren energizes the show with his comic timing along with the rest of the cast including Sneha , Prasanna, and Silambarasan in guest appearences. Yuvan Shankar Raja complements this comic caper with some amazing background scores. While the GOA soundtrack may sound stange when you hear it for the first time, the songs add a great deal in highlighting the comic timing in the movie. Its interesting to see that none of the characters in the movie aim to prove their act.All this happens to flow out effortlessly and you are clealry led to believe in the holiday that the trio enjoy.
Replete with punchlines and tacky situations, Venkat Prabhu does not clealry talk of a story here. Nevertheless, you leave the theater feeling refreshed when classic filmmaking has been attributed to focussing on a serious subject and grim performances. Further, the slick filming by Venkat offers respite to our eyes which has you interested and laughing at the follies of the characters.Drawing generously from some popular songs like Kangal Irundhal from Subrahmanyapuram and some popular Illayaraja scores, the GOA team repeats its act in Saroja and Chennai 600028.
While the movie makes you feel good, the second half of the movie stretches and introduces some lame plots that make the movie a tad long.Given that there are spoofs, the team does not expect you to take it seriously when Premji gets into the Vijay act in Vettaikaran , while fighting goons and saving his girlfriend.
At the end of the day, the movie is intended to be short vacation of sorts and you are advised not to go looking for some plot but enjoy the parody that Venkat and team have to offer with all its cheekyness but still gets aimless as if the director has lost sight of what he wanted to originally communicate.Despite passing over the confusion, GOA works because of its ability to make you feel light after a hard days work.That said, GOA is worth a watch if u have been stressed out for a long time, but its definitely not as masterful as a Saroja or Chennai 28 that leaves the film with 3.5 out of 5 for making you laugh and letting you have some fun while you are at it.Take a break and catch the movie. You may just end up saying..enna kodumai saar idhu ( what torture),evalovo pannitom idha pannamaatoma (we have done soo much, wont we do this afterall) in chorus with Premji and gang.
Signing Off....
Eashwar