Ripupbury review: Good performances and humour make it a breezy entertainer

The plot appears to have stretched as the director seems to have been in a hurry to highlight too many things.

ByManigandan KR

Published:Aug 18, 2023

ripupbury Na Arun Karthik
An engaging watch!
3

Ripupbury (Tamil)

  • Cast: Master Mahendran, Noble K James, Maari, Srini, Arati Podi, and Kaavya Arivumani
  • Writer-Director-Producer: Na Arun Karthik
  • Music: Diwacara Thiyagarajan
  • Runtime: 2 hours 22 minutes

Describing the genre of director Arun Karthik’s film Ripupbury could be quite a task. For, the movie begins as a horror comedy and then slowly but surely turns into a crime thriller.

It then goes on to become a revenge drama and then finally emerges again as a horror comedy.

To his credit, Arun Karthik manages to keep you interested in his film, despite its often-changing shades, from start to finish. There is not a minute of boredom and that by itself, is a commendable feat, considering Ripupbury does not have many established actors in it.

Synopsis

The story begins in a remote village in the Coimbatore district where an evil spirit is busy at work, chopping the heads of certain men and fitting them into objects that are much smaller in size.

Master Mahendran ripupbury still

Master Mahendran in a still from ‘Ripupbury’. (Supplied)

As the deaths continue, a pattern emerges. The evil spirit, the locals realise, targets only men who are looking to elope with girls outside their caste.

Not far away from this village, reside three youngsters — Sathyaraj (Master Mahendran), Baghyaraj and Pandiyaraj. The three friends lead pleasant, carefree lives and run a YouTube channel on cooking.

It so happens that one night, Sathyaraj finds an old friend of his waiting for him at his residence. The man is in the process of eloping with his girlfriend and seeks Sathyaraj’s help.

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However, he is found dead the next day. The police, while investigating the crime, question Sathyaraj and his friends.

The inspector, who is aware that the killings are the work of an evil spirit, suspects the spirit to belong to someone who must have been an ardent follower of the caste system while alive.

He seeks the help of Sathyaraj and his friends to find out whose spirit is on a killing spree and why it is doing so. How the three friends deal with the deadly evil spirit is what Ripupbury is all about.

Organic humour does the magic

For a horror-comedy to work, the horror sequences should work as well as the comedy sequences. And the horror sequences of Ripupbury do just that.

ripuupbury tamil film arati podi

Arati Podi in a still from ‘Ripupbury’. (Supplied)

The savage manner in which the victims are beheaded does send a shiver down your spine. The spirit looks real and menacing and that greatly adds to the impact the film can make.

Next, the movie has organic humour. At no point, you would feel that the jokes are forced or artificial. Most importantly, they are not insulting or humiliating in nature to any particular individual or entity and this works in favour of the film.

Ripupbury has two romantic sequences— one between Sathyaraj and his love interest and the other between the spirit and its wife. Both romantic sequences are cute and charming and make for breezy entertainment.

Laudable performances

Mahendran, who impressed us with his performance in Master, continues the good work here too. He effortlessly slips into the character of Sathyaraj and carries the film on his shoulders.

Actresses Arati Podi and Kavya Arivumani deliver commendable performances in this engaging entertainer.

Kaavya Arivumani ripupbury

Kaavya Arivumani in a still from ‘Ripupbury’. (Supplied)

Ripupbury has some good numbers from the stable of Diwacara Thiyagarajan and some nice visuals from the camera of Talapathy Ratinam.

Too stretched

The problem, if you can call it that, is how the story is narrated.

Director Arun Karthik seems to have been in a hurry to highlight too many things in his film. As a result, the story and its plot appear to be stretched.

From being a simple story about three funny youngsters, Ripupbury suddenly assumes a serious tone and looks to make a point or two about a difficult topic like caste before again turning funny.

Logic takes a backseat in certain portions of the movie and that again is a problem.

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Final take

Despite all this, the film still manages to remain a light-hearted entertainer and that is what makes Ripupbury work.

(Views expressed are personal.)