Director Azhugam Perumal takes a more discursive approach to some social questions and it is all the more engaging for that. The theme of arranged versus love marriage was woven in, but the film doesn’t belt you round the ears with one viewpoint. This back story made things feel vaguely credible.
There were layers of resentment that were exacerbated by the engagement. They were friendly until an incident, and following that Veluthambi was seen as getting above his station. Ganga’s father has moved up in village social ranks and was treated courteously by his senior, Adi’s dad (Delhi Kumar). The various family members are all quite good, and the dynamic between the two fathers is interesting. His performance is well modulated and he seems to have fun tormenting Adi. Manivannan as criminal lawyer Sivaji is very good, playing it for laughs but also providing some quiet common sense at times. Vivek as Adi’s friend Jim is annoying, goes slightly evil and is rarely (intentionally) amusing. The schemes and obstacles to the relationship fall into filmi cliché but the story keeps things moving along even when the limits of coincidence were straining.
#Dum dum dum song tamil free
Here is a little sample for you – feel free to ‘name that mood’ via the comments section. While this is a typical nice guy role, it did give him the opportunity to show many moods of Madhavan.
Ganga sees a less confident and polished side of Adi emerge, and begins to appreciate him. Maddy does very well at showing the change in Adi’s feelings for Ganga over time, and their relationship grows as they get to understand each other. Adi is all talk for most of the story, and what action he takes seems to go awry. He does take to manipulation like a duck to water (he is a lawyer after all) but he lacks the necessary commitment to letting people believe the worst of him so most of his plans fall through. Adityan is self centred but not unpleasant – just a bit privileged and aware he is a catch. Maddy plays that familiar character – the good middle class boy that every mother wants as a son-in-law. It was nice to see a female character be fairly low key, nice, intelligent, and handle her life and relationships in a thoughtful way. Having Suja on hand certainly gave us more insight! Ganga pushes Adi to take more responsibility in his life and to stand up for what he wants – and to make it clear if what he wants includes her. Jyothika is a curvaceous but athletic looking woman and this was much commented upon in the film with characters referring to her as a pumpkin girl amongst other interesting epithets. Her father Veluthambi (Murali) is so proud of his daughter’s academic achievements that it surprises Ganga to find her imminent marriage arranged without her knowledge.
Ganga is a good girl who doesn’t want to upset her family but she is also determined to make a life for herself and to support her sisters in their education. Jyothika portrays Ganga as strong, not a squeaky voiced air head, and she has presence. How this on/off relationship is resolved is the story. But all the time they spend on plotting brings them close together and when they are separated, they realise they have made a mistake. In order to avoid family disgrace, they try many ridiculous tactics to have the engagement dissolved. He has women to chase and true love to find, and she has a seat at an engineering college.
In a nutshell, Adityan (Madhavan) and Ganga (Jyothika) have their marriage arranged by family but neither is ready to settle down. You should read her work anyway if you have an interest in Carnatic music as well as some filmi music. Suja will be writing in more detail about the music of Dumm Dumm Dumm, so you must go read her blog post. The production values are high, as to be expected from a Madras Talkies production (Mani Ratnam also gets a writing credit), and the film looks beautiful. I have seen the film before and it’s one I enjoy because of the charm of the actors rather than the plot, although some intelligent writing makes the rom-com a bit more interesting and believable. We chose Dumm Dumm Dumm on the basis of the cast, lead by Madhavan and Jyothika, the music by Karthik Raja and the beautiful rural settings. And to top it off – she is an excellent cook! Suja was generous in sharing her knowledge of Tamil language and culture as well as music so we got to appreciate a bit more of the subtlety than is possible just from subtitles. It was so nice to meet her and natter about films we love. The charming and fun Suja of Music to My Ears has been in Melbourne and very kindly invited us over to watch a film.