148. Sundaram Master; movie review

 

SUNDARAM MASTER

Cert 12A

119 mins

BBFC advice: Contains infrequent strong language, brief drug misuse

Sundaram Master eventually has a good heart but, in common with so many movies, takes far too long to make its point.

In the meantime, there is a succession of misunderstandings and slapstick that didn't do it for me.

Kalyan Santhosh's movie stars Harsha Chemudu as Sundar Rao, an English teacher who wants to fleece the biggest dowry possible from a potential bride.

His biggest driver is money, so he accepts instruction from a hard-nosed politician (Harshavardhan) to act as a stand-in teacher at the most remote village in India because of the lure of a more lucrative post.

The people are notoriously unfriendly, and within a day, he is tied to a tree and threatened with his life.

But, after this tricky start, he wins the locals over and then takes advantage of them and tries to steal their treasure.

Chemudu plays the title character as partly dizzy and partly scheming to get what he wants on several levels.

As the story progresses, the stark contrast between the lead character's worldliness and the locals' naivety about the outside world becomes increasingly apparent.

Sundaram Master is an offbeat comedy that weaves buffoonery, farce, and giggles around the lead character's hopelessness.

The moral messages around material motivations against the natural environment were too overt.

For example, the tribe doesn't have a system of money, but their new teacher is obsessed with it.

Who is wrong and who is right? The conclusions are too obvious and simplistic.

Reasons to watch: Offbeat comedy

Reasons to avoid: Too slapstick for some

Laughs: None for me

Jumps: None

Vomit: None

Nudity: None

Overall rating: 4.5/10

Did you know? The Sentinelese people of North Sentinel Island in the Indian Ocean reject contact. Attempts to make contact are rebuffed with lethal force.

The final word. Harsha Chemudu: "When Kalyan came to me with the story, I just sat down to listen to it and boy, was I impressed? I loved the story so much that I begged Kalyan to not narrate it to anyone else, to not even consider anyone else for the film from then on." Cinema Express

Share this post