'Businessman' - for the masses (Tamil Movie Review)

Film: "Businessman"; Cast: Mahesh Babu, Kajal Agarwal, Prakash Raj, Nasser, Sayaji Shinde and Brahmaji; Director: Puri Jagannadh; Rating: **

"Businessman" is the Tamil dubbed version of the Telugu film of the same name, and it is strictly intended for the masses. Any attempt to understand or dissect the film will only result in sheer disappointment, because it's senseless, yet highly entertaining. This may very well be one of the reasons behind the film's success at the Telugu box-office. Mahesh and Puri, who have come together after highly successful "Pokkiri", might have certainly given another super hit, but haven't quite managed to impress one and all.

Surya, played by Mahesh, comes to Mumbai, not with the intention of earning a livelihood, but with the sole ambition to legalise mafia. He aspires to make mafia a 'way of life' and in the process, makes his way up to the top to be eventually called 'Bhai'. It takes some uncanny ability to deceive for the protagonist to go from Surya to Surya bhai. Though he reaches the top by taking every other rowdy in the city under his wing, he earns the wrath of the police department headed by Naseer, and some members of the opposition party headed by Prakash Raj.

Prakash and Mahesh lock horns eventually, divulging reasons for enmity between the two and what follows, forms the rest of the story.

A typical masala-filled crime-drama is what we get in this over-hyped outing of Puri. Though the film has an admirably tight script, backed by powerful performance in the title role by Mahesh, it doesn't quite satisfy as much as one would've expected. Puri, who is known for catering to family audiences with healthy comedy in most of his films, has excluded them in an effort to focus on the masses with a film filled with heroism and muted cuss words.

Puri has written the script in such a way that Mahesh is found in almost every scene. Even scenes without him are scenes where the characters are talking about him - in one scene, Kajal, who has discovered that Mahesh is full of lies, argues with her friend whether to love him or not.

The film meanders at breakneck speed and thanks to that, the audiences are engaged throughout. Mahesh's dashing performance as a mafia kingpin with a hidden personal agenda is commendable and deserves high appreciation. Kajal delivers average performance in her role, while Sayaji Shinde, Nasser and Prakash Raj are good in their respective roles.

Dialogues have always been Puri's trademark and "Businessman" is no exception. A powerful combination of wit and sarcasm make words mouthed by Mahesh a treat to watch.

Thaman's music is average as his tracks, barring one or two, sound unoriginal. Shyam's cinematography is slick and apt to the setting of the film while Shekhar's editing is exceptionally good.

"Businessman" may be perverse and appeal only to the masses, yet is a winner for unexplainable reasons.