Happy Raj Review: A Wannabe Feel-Good Film That Misfires

Music director GV Prakash Kumar consistently has a few movie releases as an actor every year and this time around it is director Maria Raja Elanchezian's Happy Raj. The story revolves around Anandh Raj aka Happy Raj (GV Prakash Kumar), a happy-go-lucky young man who believes in living life on his own terms and doesn't bother much about society's expectations.

He's a character who finds joy in small things and refuses to be weighed down by failure or setbacks. Despite the failures he has in love, he is blindly optimistic and continues to live happily. But there's a twist - whatever issues Happy Raj is going through seems to be related to his miserly father, Kathamuthu (George Maryan), who's also a schoolteacher.

And a lot of the comedy here is centred around George Maryan's appearance - his physical stature and looks. So Happy Raj's father (who is called Kuthiraimuttai (horse's egg) as a joke) gets ridiculed by people and he gets bullied too for his father's looks. What makes matters worse for Happy is that one girl he likes even dumps him because of his father's nickname.

It is when Kavya (Sri Gouri) enters his life when he gets an IT job in Bengaluru that he sees a new ray of hope. He believes that he has met his soulmate but she throws a wrench into their relationship wheelhouse as she puts out one condition. Kavya states that she wants his family to formally ask for her hand in marriage. Her father Rajiv (Abbas) is a suave, sophisticated NRI unlike the village-bred Kathamuthu. So what happens when the parents meet? Does Happy Raj finally find his happy-ever-after with Kavya?

One of the biggest problems with Happy Raj is how shallow the film feels because of its crass comedy that centres around George Maryan's looks and his village-bred narrative. There are numerous scenes that feel forced into the story to bring out the contrast between Rajiv and Kathamuthu and stick out awkwardly. If on one hand you see Kathamuthu coming out of the bath half-naked, you also see him practically bring his entire village to Kavya's house for the formal meeting. Most of the scenes that are meant to entertain the audience rely on exposing these contrasts but after a point, it doesn't elicit much laughs. Several of the story points and comedy stretches make you cringe, and they dilute whatever little emotional depth the film is trying to build.

The whole film rests on George Maryan and he has done an exceptional job in performing his role as Kathamuthu. As he has done in many films, he brings a sense of realism and effortlessness to his role even though the story is very superficial. GV Prakash Kumar carries the film with an unforced performance, bringing a certain innocence to Raj. The actor-music director has the youthful, earnest face to play the young man who faces failure in love but never gives up.

Happy Raj is ultimately a film that you don't tremendously dislike, but it's also not a film that you take home with you. It makes you have a few laughs when it comes to George Maryan but the rest of the comedy that has been woven into this film by director Maria Raja Elanchezian is not much to write home about. Elanchezian has tried to make Happy Raj a light-hearted comic entertainer but the story and the writing are flawed from the get go.

He takes a long time to build up the backstory of Happy Raj and his family, and then it moves to the dramedy between Happy and Kavya's families. And of course, it gets philosophical towards the end but this is also endearing. The story's emotional stakes aren't too high and the audience doesn't get invested in any of the characters, except George Maryan. The director should have ideally layered the story with stronger emotional stakes and focused less on the cringe jokes.

Choosing happiness over society's definition of success and accepting people for who they are is what Happy Raj tries to convey but this message is lost in translation. Director Maria Raja Elanchezian's film leaves you feeling that it could have been so much more than what it turned out to eventually be.