Charles Enterprises Review - The God Of Brain Could Have Put More Brain To It

Subhash Lalitha Subrahmanian's Charles Enterprises is a wannabe comedy turned into a religious drama and social satire, which stars Balu Varghese, Urvashi, and Kalaiyarasan. In the last 10 years, Malayalam cinema has stood out as the best content-producing industry among the top 5 or 6 cinema industries in India. So obviously, expectations are always high from a Malayalam movie, but it's not possible to deliver high-level content every time. Charles Enterprises lags behind in comedy, causing a non-entertaining watch, but somehow gets religious faith right by the end—especially the last 10 minutes. The problem is that we are used to happy endings so much that we start assuming them at the intermission point only. So, the excitement and surprising elements lose some of their basic values. The film revolves around an idol of Lord Ganesha, also known as the God of Brain, God of Intellect, but the film doesn't have much intelligence in its writing.Charles Enterprises is about Ravi (Balu Varghese), who has night blindness. His mother, Gomathi (Urvashi), is a profound devotee of Hindu gods—particularly Lord Ganesha. They have an ancient idol of Lord Ganesha at home, which is worth crores for the smugglers. Ravi becomes friends with Charles (Kalaiyarasan Harikrishnan), a part-time thief whom he has saved from the police. When nothing is going well in Ravi's life, from financial set-up to personal life issues such as love, marriage, and ambition, he gets a big offer for selling out the idol of Lord Ganesha. He then steals it from the house but is unable to take it to the dealers. That's where Charles comes in to help him, and together they try to get the idol out of the colony. But will it be that simple?Charles Enterprises is a simple script with no intricacy attached, even to its tail. The simplicity somehow becomes a big bore after a while, as you feel like nothing's happening. Why can't they just fast-forward things and take us to the conclusion? That's what I asked myself at least five times during those two hours. What days are we living when even a two-hour runtime feels longer? It's maybe because the writer didn't have anything else to say, so he just kept the show going on until he found the right scene to describe its title, Charles Enterprises, at the end. Remove those last 10 minutes that have terrific religious values and goosebumps moments, and this would have been a snooze fest. Had it been any other industry but Malayalam, I would not have minded much. But come on, it's Mollywood; I expect a lot better from you guys because you have been topping my list of favourites every year for almost a decade now. 2023 just didn't click the way I wanted. Charles Enterprises's satire portion is strictly for local audiences who can understand what "Hey Tamil Boy" means. Our Hindi ghetto could just find a joke, laugh, and forget about it the very next moment.The film is saved more by performances than anything else. Balu Varghese is too childish sometimes, especially with those blind walks and kiddish expressions. But the rest of the time, he packs a solid punch. Urvashi enters with a funny walk—a lady Hanuman kind of vibe—but it's cute. Her character is such, and that remains the same throughout the film. But she's so lovable as a caring mother that you just can't hate her. Her experience counts here. Kalaiyarasan Harikrishnan is the soul of the film, and he does not disappoint. He also has a surprising twist for you in the end, which I believe is the best part of the film. The supporting cast of Guru Somasundaram, Shebin Benson, Anand Bbal, Harish Penghan, Sudheer Paravoor, Abhija Sivakala, Manikandan R., and Geethi Sangeetha is very fine.Subramanian K.V.'s music isn't that good, but it's nothing bad either. One rap-pattern song has vibes, but I'm not sure how English subtitles can help me understand the main essence and impact of the same. The editing by Achu Vijayan is dragged out in the second half, and Swaroop Philip's cinematography is strictly okay. The film is still in very good shape on the technical front, despite a moderate budget. Subhash Lalitha Subrahmanian's vision is narrow and slim. The way he wanted to tell the story, theft and all, doesn't really add any metaphors to its religious and spiritual ending. The basic idea was good, but the crafting and execution were below par. As a whole, Charles Enterprises may not disappoint you fully, but it doesn't entertain you that much either. When you talk about the God of intellect, you expect some chunk of it in the film. That doesn't happen here. But yes, it will awaken your devotional beliefs again, for sure.