Director: RJ Balaji, N J Saravanan

Cast: RJ Balaji, Nayanthara, Urvashi, Moulee, Ajay Ghosh

Language: Tamil

In Soorarai Pottru, Urvashi was the proud and stubborn mother of a dreamer. In Putham Pudhu Kaalai, she was an older woman who found love, and in Mookuthi Amman, she is a blind believer of all things religious. If at all there is a takeaway from this OTT season of Tamil films, it is that Urvashi is a treat to watch in almost all genres.

One of the redeeming factors about Mookuthi Amman is Urvashi and her absolute riot of a character who easily sways from sadness to comedy. Her son, ‘Engels’ Ramasamy (RJ Balaji) is a simpleton living the over-burdened life as a small-time reporter. Even as his search for a bride goes futile, his mother (Urvashi) and three sisters depend on him for their livelihoods. Enter the titular goddess appearance played by Nayanthara who wants a human’s help to make her temple famous… as famous as Tirupathi. Add to the mix a money-crazy godman and voila, we have a typical ‘moral science’ film that teaches us lessons about spirituality and how to believe in God… all from a goddess. Amid all these God tactics we have a struggling family helmed by Urvashi and Engels’ three sisters and the struggle of a young woman becoming a homemaker at a young age.

When Mookuthi Amman appears in all her glory in front of Engels, he does not believe her. He wants to ‘test’ the Amman and asks her to guess the song that he is thinking of. The song is …’enakkum unakkum than porutham’ from the iconic Anda Ezhu Naatkal by Bagyaraj and it keeps making an appearance in the film. It is a hoot every time. Mookuthi Amman has a few gags like this that are well-placed and make us LOL. There is another hilarious scene based on a post-wedding photoshoot; Urvashi walking the talk as Rajnikanth in Baasha and a few more. But that’s about it. Just scenes with too much of unnecessary drama and veering away from the comedy scape into the moral scape. The story seems too simplistic and at one point you can’t help rolling your eyes when Amman appears on TV screens and preaches how to pray and how the middleman should be put away for good. The plot could have used a few more slapstick comedy sequences that Balaji is known for… instead it spouts out statements on politics of religion.

Nayanthara as Amman is regal. She is to-the-point and when Engels asks her about her hair colour, she says it is because of the abhishekam water used on her! (We could have used more of this kind of humour in Mookuthi Amman). RJ Balaji sticks to what he knows but we still miss the full-on humour sequences he had in movies like Naanum Rowdy Thaan. Moulee is wasted as a grandfather who appears and disappears much like the Amman.

In the end, just like Engels receives a Goddess-given boost of self-confidence, the meandering script could have used some as well.

Mookuthi Amman is currently streaming on Disney + Hotstar.

Rating: 2/5