'Mr Rani' movie review: A weak comedy on cross-dressing

Taking cue from Kamal Haasan’s classic comedy ‘Avvai Shanmugi’ (1996), filmmaker Madhu Chandra has aspired to mimic the magic in his mirthful entertainer, ‘Mr Rani’.

That Kamal Haasan himself was inspired by the 1993 American comedy ‘Mrs Doubtfire’ starring Robin William is another matter.

While Kamal’s and William’s movies had method in their madness, the same cannot be ascribed to this pitifully, by the minute, mirth-inducing comedy.

Deepak Subramanya, as Raja, and his Man Friday aka Manager Manja (Srivatsa Shyam) are stretched to their sinews to make audiences go gaga with their tacky tomfoolery.

‘Mr Rani’ is not just a laughter inducing masala entertainer. The director inserts themes of gender parity, parental pressures, and, how audiences believe reel is “real” in their actual lives.

At the core of ‘Mr Rani’ is Raja’s childhood dream to storm the silver screen like Power Star Puneeth Rajkumar. His despotic father is dead against his dreams. He believes his hero-addicted son is destined for greater things and should become an engineer and rise above their social status.

How Raja, chasing his starry chimera, unwittingly lands a female role, and not only befools his parents and the film’s director but also the love of his life, forms the pith of the plotline.

The incredulous happenstances leading to Raja donning yin-yang personas propel towards situational comedy and suppressed guffaws.

Director Madhu Chandra, who discussed the reformation of the current education system in ‘Vascodigama’ (2015), seems to lose his way thereafter.

The film tries to infuse elements of animation, graphics and sci-fi and folksy fables to spice up the narrative’s novelty; the routine ragtag plot, simply is the pits.

Mercifully, the film is only two hours, eight minutes long. Still, one sits through disinterested, driven into a slumber benumbed by the goings-on.