SIVALINGA

We get to see a horror comedy film every month one after another because that is the trend. Though in most cases, we are not offered anything fresh from the earlier films, we still watch them if they are entertaining. This week too, we have a horror comedy flick but this time from the experienced trendsetters of the genre in Tamil cinema. If not for P Vasu's Chandramukhi and Raghava Lawrence's Muni, Kanchana series, this genre wouldn't have been the much celebrated one in the last 3 years. Now 2 masters of horror comedy genre have come together for Sivalinga and let's see how this combination has churned out. Let's start with the positives. A script that holds the suspense element till the end is what majorly makes you watch the film. Secondly, comedian Vadivelu who after a long time gets a role that gives him enough scope to strike. Though it's no way close to his best, Vadivelu does give us some moments to laugh. Raghava Lawrence's role is adequate to show both his mass screen presence as well as his comedy sense. The story takes its own time to take off. The first half moves at slow pace amidst few fun scenes. The second half is more engaging and intense as that is where the story actually unfolds though. We get some functional acting from Ritika Singh for the aggressive character she gets to play but her romance portions could have been enacted better. Few might feel, her expressions look like as if she is trying to imitate Jyothika's role in Chandramukhi. Sivalinga would be Sakthi Vasudevan's good role after Ninaithale Inikkum and he has done full justice to it. SS Thaman's music works well especially the BGM. The song placement, however, looks weak. Even CG works that were used occasionally could have been done better, but the one in the climax fight was exciting visually. Sivalinga is more of a mass commercial film than a horror comedy. P Vasu has played it to the gallery and the film might find its share of audiences who do not mind watching a loud action investigative horror thriller.