I went to see 'Mugizh' without any expectations, i didn't wanted to wait outdoors while it rained perpetually. To add to the misery there was no other movies showing and had to buy tickets for this one. I was well aware of VJS recent ventures which has garnered disastrous results, I have skipped them all. Entered the cinema hall and it felt like me and my friend will have the whole place to ourselves.
As soon as it ended i had one question, why was this film even made? It could have worked a lot better as a short film with 15 minutes runtime. There was a pinch of honesty that is spoiled by same stock expressions and mannerism. It felt like 10-year-old reading their lines from a piece of paper, complete lack of facial and body emotion, the background score seemed so out of place. Vijay Sethupathi looks like he regrets being part of the project, dissociates himself with abrupt tonal shifts. The wife and child are totally miscast and there is no way they could've carried off such a minimalistic role even under a more able director.
For a grief story to work, this film does a terrible job communicating with the audience and asks for emotional investment but never earns it. It's sad to see VJS acting journey started from good and it was followed by "bad to worst".
I can say only few good things about this film; 1) Scooby- it was fun and pet lovers will feel wholesome 2) BGM, but this mellow acoustic score fails to make up for the shortcomings and it feels forced/repetitive to chug viewers heartstrings.
OTT could've been a better choice but i can I can foresee few shallow cinephiles coming with their points/reasons to confuse this film for a brilliant and bittersweet art. Some people term it ''Worth Watching Once'' but I can say it is slightly okay than VJS's recent insipid outings but that's about it.
Overall, it's 4 stars, only for the scenes that involve the pet. But even Scooby couldn't save this movie.
