Uttama Villain (2015)

May 1, 2015 (IN) • Drama, Comedy • 173m

Overview

Superstar Manoranjan learns that he has only a few days to live and approaches his mentor, director Margadarisi to direct his next project — a folklore-ish comedy about a man who keeps cheating death and his role in saving a kingdom. Meanwhile, he has to sort out his personal lives, which involves an estranged son and a daughter from the love of his life.

Director

Ramesh Aravind

Writers

Kamal Haasan, Kamal Haasan

Top Billed

Kamal Haasan

Keywords

dying wish forced marriage illicit love

Where to watch

Rent

Buy

Top Billed Cast

Kamal Haasan

Uttaman/Manoranjan

K. Balachander

Margadarsi

K. Viswanath

Poornachandra Rao

Andrea Jeremiah

Arpana

Jayaram

Jacob Zachariah

Nassar

Muttharasan

Urvashi

Varalakshmi

Pooja Kumar

Karpagavalli

Parvathy Thiruvothu

Manonmani

M. S. Bhaskar

Chokku Chettiar

Ashwin Arvind

Manohar

Shanmugarajan

G. Gnanasambandam

Kaakapusundar

Vaiyapuri

Snake Charmer

Chitra Lakshmanan

PRO Lakshmanan

Ajay Rathnam

King Sadayavarman

Dheepa Ramanujam

Queen

Parvatii Nair

Indira

Ajay Raj

Parthi

Bhargavi Narayan

Dhanalakshmi

Prakash Belawadi

Senior Doctor (Cameo Appearance)

Rajesh M. Selva

Spy

Ghibran

Self (Cameo Appearance)

Subhu Arumugam

Self (Cameo Appearance)

Shamdat Sainudeen

Self (Cameo Appearance)

Vijai Sankar

Self (Cameo Appearance)

Crew

Kamal Haasan

Playback Singer

Kamal Haasan

Lyricist

Subhu Arumugam

Lyricist

Subhu Arumugam

Playback Singer

Padmalatha

Playback Singer

Yazin Nizar

Playback Singer

Ghibran

Playback Singer

K. G. Ranjith

Playback Singer

M. S. Bhaskar

Playback Singer

Kamal Haasan

Choreographer

Ramesh Aravind

Director

N. Linguswamy

Producer

Kamal Haasan

Producer

Vijai Sankar

Editor

Ghibran

Original Music Composer

Shamdat Sainudeen

Director of Photography

Kamal Haasan

Story

Kamal Haasan

Screenplay

Kunal Rajan

Sound Designer

Craig Polding

Sound Effects Editor

Sachin Sudhakaran

Sound Effects Editor

Vijay Rathinam

Sound Effects Editor

Lalitha Shobi

Choreographer

Gautami Tadimalla

Costume Design

Viveka

Lyricist

Rajesh M. Selva

First Assistant Director

G R Venkatesh

Co-Producer

Craig Mann

Sound Re-Recording Mixer

Laura Wiest

Sound Re-Recording Mixer

Diego S. Staub

Sound Mixer

Miguel Barbosa

Foley Artist

Lalgudi N. Ilayaraja

Art Direction

Mohan B. Kere

Art Direction

Nikhil Murugan

Public Relations

Asmita Bharrati

Visual Effects Producer

Madhu Sudhanan

Visual Effects Producer

Reviews

timesofindia

⭐ 7/10

July 4, 2015

Uttama Villain is one of those films with a meta narrative where the line between the reel and the real becomes hard to distinguish. It stars Kamal Haasan as a superstar, Manoranjan, who goes back to his mentor Margadarisi (played by K Balachander, the real-life Margadarisi, who shaped Kamal's career) and asks him to direct him one last time after he learns that he has only a few days to live. This ticks off his father-in-law Poorna Chandra Rao, the producer who turned him into a superstar, and his wife Varalakshmi, who move out of the house with his son, not realizing the real reason behind his move. Manoranjan also learns that he has a grown-up daughter from Yamini, the love of his life, who he had to leave to marry Varalakshmi.

Meanwhile, in the film within the film, a period comedy titled Uttama Villain, Manoranjan plays Uttaman, a man (who is also an actor — a Theeyam artist) who is mistaken to be immortal, and a devious king, Mutharasan, believing the rumour, wants him to reveal the secret behind his immortality. But with time running out for Manoranjan, can he become immortal on screen?

Uttama Villain is first and foremost a glorious showcase for Kamal the writer. The script superbly blends subtlety with slapstick and the emotional moments never descend into full-blown melodrama. There are times when we get the feeling that Kamal is dipping into his own movie star life — the opening song Loveaa Loveaa seems to be his admission of acting in roles not suited to his age, pairing up with heroines half his age; when he seeks out Margadarisi, the director tells him he cannot make a story of the star that he is now; when he is consoling his son after revealing to him the illness, it is marred by fans who invade this deeply private moment. Such acute observations add texture to the scenes and make the characters more alive for us. The Uttaman portions are quite a contrast and serve chiefly function as a means to give a break to the heavily dramatic nature of the scenes involving Manoranjan.

While the terrific score by Ghibran complements and enhances the drama, visually, the film lacks the dazzle of the writing (the Uttaman segment is mounted like a skit, with tacky visual effects) and the performances of Andrea and Pooja Kumar are strictly OK; if you wish the former had been more expressive, the later does the opposite. Among the huge list of supporting characters, it is only MS Bhaskar, who gives an affecting performance as Manoranjan's manager Chokku, and K Balachander, whose recent demise gives this story an additional emotional heft, are the only stand-outs. The slapstick portions involving Uttaman should have been crisper and given that by know we are familiar with Kamal's tics, his performance as Uttaman doesn't hold any surprise. But the actor more than makes up for it with Manoranjan; he doesn't strain to make the role more empathetic and it is a remarkably restrained, heart-tugging performance from an actor who, at times, has a tendency to overplay his roles. We come to care so much for this character that by the time the film ends, we realize our eyes have become misty.

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Uttama Villain (2015)

Kamal Haasan, Kamal Haasan

Where to watch

Top Billed Cast

Crew

Reviews

timesofindia

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