Review: Good Day

Film: Good Day
Direction: Aravindhan
Cast: Prithiviraj Ramalingam, Kaali Venkat, Myna Nandhini, Bose Venkat, Bagavathi Perumal (Bucks), Aadukalam Murugadoss, Vela Ramamurthy, Jeeva & others.
Script Writer: Porrna JS Michael
Producer: Prithiviraj Ramalingam
Co director : Porrna Js Michael
D.O.P & Editor : Mathan Gunadev
Music: Govind Vasantha
Rating: 2.5 stars

Director Aravindhan’s ‘Good Day’, which is inspired by a couple of real incidents that occurred in the life of lyricist Karthik Netha, is a fairly engaging comedy drama that looks to shine the light on why men, who take to alcoholism, do so.

It shows the pain and humiliation that men silently face and endure in their places of work on a daily basis for the sake of their families.

Synopsis:
The film revolves around Santha Kumar (Prithviraj Ramalingam) who works in a garment unit in Tirupur. Santha Kumar, who is anxiously awaiting his salary, is in for a disappointment as it is not credited to his account. What’s more, he realises he is the only one who hasn’t got his salary.

Already, his wife has called him and picked up a quarrel over money not being credited to her account. He has to pay off his house owner, settle debts, send money to his mom… the list is endless. He is desperate. He needs the money.

He goes to office only to be humiliated by his boss who treats him like a slave. The reason his salary hasn’t been credited? He dared to question the owner’s son-in-law for misbehaving with a woman employee.

Swallowing his pride, he waits until office ends, and pleads with the man who slapped him. Eventually, his salary gets credited. He immediately transfers funds to his wife, who again picks up a quarrel with him for sending money to his mother. After all the expenses, he has Rs 3000 for himself for the entire month. He heads straight to the alcohol shop and buys himself a couple of drinks. What happens then is what the film is all about…

The film is funny in parts. Some comedy sequences work better because of experienced actors playing certain roles. Kaali Venkat as an auto driver, Bucks as a drinking partner/elder brother, Myna Nandhini and Aadukalam Murugadoss all add to the comedy element in the film.

Prithviraj Raamalingam himself is quite convincing in the lead role and does a fairly neat job of playing a man, who tolerates his pain for the sake of those he loves.

He scores in the initial phase of the film as a serious, hard working man with a conscience. Later, when he turns into an alcoholic, he is convincing. However, his character frequently consuming alcohol kind of puts you off and brings in a sense of redundancy that doesn’t help the cause of the filmmakers.

Nevertheless, he deserves full credit for coming up with a noteworthy performance that is by and large impressive.

For a film whose makers had little or no resources, ‘Good Day’ comes across as a decent attempt at filmmaking and definitely deserves appreciation.

The film’s technical crew also deserves to be commended for its contribution to the film. The first department that deserves appreciation is the music of Govind Vasantha, which elevates the narration to another level.

Mathan Gunadev’s photography is as good as his editing and both play a crucial role in helping Good Day make the cut.