Boss Engira Bhaskaran (2010)

English translation: Boss alias Bhaskaran
Director: M. Rajesh
Story: M. Rajesh
Cast: Arya, Nayantara, Santhanam
Music: Yuvan Shankar Raja
Time: 161 minutes
Bottom-line: Watch for Santhanam’s performance

M. Rajesh gives a pure-fun film in Boss Engira Bhaskaran. There is no real story, not much of acting either, but just more and more jokes. This film stars Arya, Santhanam and Nayantara in the lead roles. Unlike Santhanam’s many films, where he has only a small role as a comedian, in this film he plays main role, and in my view, this is his best film till date. Santhanam’s famous line ‘Nee Enna Avlo Periya Appatakkara?’ and Arya’s ‘Nanbenda!’ have gained a huge following from the local public.

Bhaskaran (Arya) is a casual fun-loving man, who is struggling to complete his arrears to get his B.A degree. His only friend is Nallathambi (Santhanam), who owns a barber shop. While writing one such arrear exam, Bhaskaran meets a young lecturer, Chandrika (Nayantara), and immediately falls in love with her. However, she disapproves of him because he tried to copy in the exam. Bhaskaran lives with his brother - who eventually marries Chandrika’s sister - and his mother. Yet, when it comes to his marriage, everyone talks about his unemployment, which causes him to leave his house. Determined to prove himself, he begins a tutorial centre for class 10 students, along with Nallathambi, all in the hope that Chandrika will reciprocate his love. What follows forms the rest of the film.

Nayantara as Chandrika (left) and Arya as
Bhaskaran

The film does not have any story. Just the same old ‘boy meets girl, girl doesn’t approve of boy, boy tries to win her favour’ story. What makes it different is that from the start, the film is a laughter ride. Laughter comes mostly from dialogue, so on that front, the film is awesome. Of course, few songs could have been cut, but as there is anyway no story, the songs are really not that much of a distraction. The ending of the story is horrible. I’m guessing Rajesh must have thought, “If there is no story, how do I end the film??” And so he brings another guess star, fools around a little, and ends the film very poorly in my view.

Santhanam as Nallathambi

However, almost throughout the story, the jokes keep the audience entertained. Santhanam’s and Arya’s memorable lines, including the two taglines that became viral among the local public – ‘Nee Enna Avlo Periya Appatakkara’ (can’t find a suitable English translation!!) and ‘Nanbenda!’ – and tons of other memorable and laughable lines make the film interesting. Bhaskaran’s lines when he writes the arrear exam, the scenes where they try to find the meaning of the word ‘pardon’, Nallathambi’s drunken behaviour at Chandrika’s father’s ceremony and many scenes at the tutorial centre are some of the funniest scenes of the film.

Santhanam and Arya with Ashwin Raja as
Paalpandi (second from left), another important character.

The acting is pretty average from Nayantara and Arya. Santhanam is not usually noticed for his acting, and in this film, you don’t need to. His jokes and one-liners are enough to keep you entertained. Few jokes that Arya and Santhanam say may be old and clichéd, but many others are new. As I said before, this is a film where Santhanam plays the lead role, and not just the role of a side-track comedian. His jovial mood and dialogues make his role the main driving force of the film. As I said before, the story is not new; so obviously, the thing that makes Boss Engira Bhaskaran different is the character of Nallathambi.

One funny sequence: Santhanam with Chitra
Lakshmanan, who plays Chandrika's father

To sum up, M. Rajesh’s Boss Engira Bhaskaran is a great family entertainer, only if you watch the film expecting jokes and more jokes, and nothing else. If you expect almost anything else: be it acting, or story etc, you will be disappointed. Few scenes are memorable, I admit; but whether you will remember the entire film for its comedy or stupidity is up to you, depending on your mentality. Overall, a shallow story, along with some very laughable and entertaining jokes constitute Boss Engira Bhaskaran.

My Rating: 3/5