REVIEW: Mugamoodi (2012)
By Albert Valentin
This Indian Tamil take on the costumed hero features some nifty fight choreography from Hong Kong legend Tony Leung Siu-Hung.
Anand (Jiiva) is a young martial artist whose family and friends christen him “Bruce Lee”. However, Lee spends his time with his friends and getting into fights. When one of his fights nearly gets him in trouble with the law, he gets the attention of Shakthi (Pooja Hegde), the daughter of the newly appointed police chief Gaurav (Nasser).
Meanwhile, a band of robbers have been causing chaos in town. When Lee is framed for shooting the chief, he also discovers his best friend murdered. With nowhere else to go, Lee decides to use his martial arts for good. With the support of his grandfather, Lee creates an outfit with mask and becomes known as Mugamoodi.
As Mugamoodi’s popularity soars, the robbers, who are revealed to be members of a martial arts school, are none too pleased. Lee learns a secret from his teacher Sifu Chandru (Selvaan) that connects him to the robbers. In order to stop the robbers once and for all, Lee must master a new style and soon finds himself the town’s only hope.
A near three hour film that combines action, comedy, and romance, it is interesting that the producers dedicated this film to Bruce Lee. Perhaps the two biggest influences with the film are two recent films connected with Lee. The most obvious is LEGEND OF THE FIST: THE RETURN OF CHEN ZHEN (2010) due to the protagonist being sma masked kung fu expert. The second is clearly IP MAN (2008), with Wing Chun being Lee’s main style and for the fact that Tony Leung Siu-Hung choreographed both that film and this film’s action sequences.
The action is well handled by Leung and his stunt team. Lead actor Jiiva may not be a trained martial artist but the hard work he had done training for the film pays off nicely as he looks quite good as a screen fighter. Despite some obvious wirework, the action is well done here, as mentioned, utilizing Wing Chun.
The film’s only and major flaw is the mandatory live story often played out in Indian cinema. Here, the chemistry between Lee and Shakthi not only drags at times, but seems somewhat non-existent. Even more, there doesn’t seem to be any real chemistry between the two. In this case, its best to use your fast forward button.
MUGAMOODI is a mixed bag. While it suffers from a virtually non-existent romance angle, the action sequences brings major redemption to the film. Worth a rental and an appreciation for the fast forward button through the “crappy” romance scenes.
The lead female's musical routine is actually quite good. Heck all of them are done well.
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Originally Posted by GeneChing
