Mookuthi Amman starts off with an alluring promise. Over 43 km of land is being bought by a so-called swami, much like Osho did in the US back in the 1970s. RJ Balaji plays a reporter named Engels (named after yes, Engels, co-writer of the Communist Manifesto). At this point, I thought we were off to a great start. Balaji's going to tackle both religion and snidely attack political ideologies. But, that's not where the rest of the movie goes.
From the minute, the titular Mookuthi Amman arrives onscreen, the whole movie witnesses a tonal shift. Till the end, I never knew if they were still doing this with satire on their minds. By they and their, I refer to the makers. Whatever the case may be, I was not pleased with the post-production. The dubbing and lip-sync is terrible in a lot of places. Balaji's over-the-top comic-riddled performance didn't help either.
There are some interesting things to talk about but the question remains "is the movie any good?" The answer, after a lot of hesitation, is no. Mookuthi Amman is largely a misfire. I assume this was because of a lack of focus. With LKG, they seemed to have a script that knew what it was talking about. Here, it feels like a hotchpotch of many ideas stuffed into a piggy bank made out of clay.
