Kaaki Sattai

Once Raj Kapoor took the audience on a world tour in his Around The World and Sangam. Decades later, some Tamil producers and directors (also a few Bollywood mandarins) think that Indian cinema ticket-paying patrons still desire the likes of Kapoor's romps across continents -- romps that can materialise just by sitting on a chair. And, believe it or not, Tamil films transport their heroes and heroines to some of the most exotic locales -- like New Zealand, Australia, Switzerland, Vienna and Italy -- in the wink of an eye. Never mind, the song sequences set in these yonder lands cost a bomb, and worse, stick out like a sore thumb -- neither pushing the plot nor making any meaning at all. ...