Charles Enterprises Movie Review: Interesting story let down by weak storytelling

Review: Charles Enterprises is a watchable movie, but towards the end felt like a reprise of a lot of movies connected to faith that we have already seen.

Urvashi plays the role of Gomathi, a woman who is a staunch devotee. Her son Ravi, played by Balu Varghese has night blindness. Gomathi is separated from her husband, played by Guru Somasundaram.

Gomathi’s family has an ancestral treasure, an idol of Lord Ganesha. What happens when Ravi, falling for temptations, decides to steal and sell the idol forms the crux of the movie. The relationship between Ravi and his mother, him and his colleague, the traditional pennu kanal and what follows are all moments that stood out in the movie which makes it worth the while.

While Balu, Urvashi, Guru and Kalaiyarasan who is the namesake of the movie did well in their roles, there is nothing that will hold us to the seat and have us watching this comparatively short movie attentively. Even the two hours felt like eternity after a while because it was just Balu’s despair and listlessness that we see for a while. The portrayal of the Tamil community in Kochi, is interesting and actually makes the movie better to an extent. What doesn’t work is the sluggishness with which the plot moves and the many scenes that had no place in the actual story.

The quick resolutions towards the end and the not-so-surprising climax felt like a letdown. It actually takes almost an hour before we get to the interesting bits. The first half is therefore very calm and we wait for something – anything – to happen. In the end, it was a good premise wasted with uninteresting, dull storytelling and a surprisingly over-dramatic villain.

The songs in the movie are interesting, especially the ones in the opening credits and at the wedding held in Charles’s locality. The graphics used in the movie are also interesting. Subhash Lalitha Subramanian manages to get us hooked with an interesting premise, characters and even the locality in which the film is shot. However, there was not much built on this good foundation.