Oru Oorla Rendu Raja Review: Message in a Bottle

Amidst all the chaos, there’s a tiny silver lining in Oru Oorla Rendu Raja. Or so I’d thought. The leading lady – Priya Anand (as Priya) is introduced as she hustles past the men at a local TASMAC bar, grabs her bottle of rum, and makes a dash for the train. Alongside Vemal (as Azhagu) who had just done the same thing. An exaggerated 10-second shot of them running – just running – to board the train, a few banal, suggestive exchanges about women drinking and morals later (courtesy Soori), the reason emerges:

That she’s a doctor.

And that she had set out to buy the stuff for a noble cause.

That it was only because she had tried to save a life.

That she didn’t get it for herself.

A song follows:

Ennai mannipaaya illai dhandipaaya
Konjam thavaraaga unnai ninaithaenae
Thiru neerai saambal parithaenae

All, barely ten minutes in.

*****

But Oru Oorla Rendu Raja is not mere commercial fare, the director emphasizes an hour later. No, it isn’t. There’s a message woven in amidst all the chaos and crass humour. The film addresses factory hazards and narrates a tale closer home – of naïve factory workers, an inhuman, villainous owner (Nasser), his equally villainous wife (Anupama Kumar), and a benevolent-to-a-fault heroine. The hero, meanwhile, vainly tries to raise a chuckle by trying to earn a qualification.

Just so that he could wed the doctor.

*****

For a 132-minute long movie, Oru Oorla Rendu Raja raises a few pertinent questions. It does make one think, as the director intends. But not about the message (“Save Human”) that he tries to hastily squeeze in. It raises questions about the ambiguous judiciary the movie showcases, which dismisses a case amounting to culpable homicide as not within its jurisdiction; it raises questions about the larger intent of the film (political?) – and more importantly, it poses one about the more ambiguous title.

Oru Oorla Rendu Raja?

I would never know who they are.

The Oru Oorla Rendu Raja review is a Silverscreen original article. It was not paid for or commissioned by anyone associated with the movie. Silverscreen.in and its writers do not have an advertising relationship with movies that are reviewed on the site.