Movie Review: Mozhi - Hype Kills the Movie

It’s the dignified flash of Jyothika’s wrists that gives the first clue that Mozhi won’t be an ordinary Tamil movie. Confronting an angry Prithiviraj, Jyothika quickly signals that she can neither hear nor speak. It’s done so smartly that you would miss it if you blinked. But still this being a Tamil movie, we get a replay 30 seconds later. Minutes later, Prithiviraj also explains the significance of the movements to his dear friend played by Prakash Raj. The sign language she employs conveys her dignity and independence, he tells his friend.

The two are musicians working in the film industry and Jyothika’s character Archana can’t hear. Director Radhamohan doesn’t miss a single opportunity to keep pointing out the philosophical implications of this. One of his characters whose passion for music can perhaps never be understood by the one true love of his life. But Karthik (Prithiviraj) believes that she can understand. He believes good music is felt as much as heard. And all through Vidyasagar’s standout track for the film, Jyothika is repeatedly seen listening to music, trying to understand the sounds Karthik makes.

Going by the furore it created upon release, I expected a movie entirely devoid of clichés. This is unfortunately not so. Sometimes Mozhi sinks to alarmingly pedestrian levels. A Pomeranian chases Karthik all the way from Adyar to Beasant Nagar as Prithvi run much like the Malayalam superstar Mohanlal would have decades ago. A neighbour of the two friends and the secretary of the up market apartment falls off the balcony after being frightened by a dead cockroach. The sequences are many when Radhamohan opens up the movie for laughs and panders to audiences. Even if he had chopped those sequences out, Mozhi’s dialogues are witty and sharp enough to prompt many laughs.

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