Movie review: Bottle Radha
Cast: Guru Somasundaram, Sanchana Natarajan, John Vijay
Director: Dhinakaran Sivalingam
Rating: 8/10
THE title Bottle Radha is rather misleading as it does not belong to a female but a simple family man, Radha Mani (Guru Somasundaram), who lives in small town with his wife Anjalam (Sanchana Natarajan) and their two adorable preadolescent children, a boy and a girl.
They lead a simple life and live on the earnings of Radha Mani, who works as a builder. But all is not well with the family. Radha Mani is an alcoholic, who squanders his hard-earned money on daily drinks after work with his drinking buddies.
Radha Mani is well-known in his home town as a drunkard and is nicknamed Bottle Radha. His wife lives a stressed life as she has to manage her household with the remnants of Radha Man income. He feels right at home with his drinking buddies and pays scant regard for the running of his home or taking care of his young family. In addition, he behaves like so-called millionaire and tough guy in public but turns into a wimp when he is bullied.
Radha Mani abuses his wife and mentally tortures her with his erratic and barbaric behaviour. Their children are traumatised as they beg their dad to give up drinking.
With nothing to lose but her sanity, Anjalam musters her courage and under the pretext of getting Bottle Radha a big work contract with a construction company, a group of men from Alcoholics Anonymous arrive at their home to collect Radha Mani to take him to the so-called construction site, which in reality is a drug rehabilitation facility.
When he arrives at the rehabilitation center, he is is dumb-founded when he is told the will help with his addiction to alcohol and banned substances.
Withdrawal symptoms set in when Radha Mani is forced to refrain from alcohol. He thinks of a novel way to escape this so-called prison. He and fellow patients then watch the movie The Shawshank Redemption and the prison break segment plays in a loop in his mind.
Does Radha Mani escape? Does his rehabilitation succeed? Does the family reunite? You must watch the movie for the answers.
Debut director Dhinakaran Sivalingam has offered a gem of a comedy drama. The message of alcoholism and its dastardly effects on society is expertly handled.
Somasundaram plays his character finesse and he proves yet again why he is the favourite of many Kollywood directors. John Vijay, as the CEO of the rehabilitation centre, plays his role to perfection.
Bottle Radha is a hard but must watch Kollywood movie. Sean Rolden is exemplary in the music department and the soul-stirring song Punnagai Thanikodi by visually-impaired singer Vaikom Vijayalakshmi will for a long time replay in your mind.
Michael Lachimiah is an MC. He has worked in community radio and on internet radio platforms.