Many classic Malayalam movies(Kuselan was the latest example) have been mauled beyond recognition as they were remade into vehicles for our image-conscious superstars. Dindukkal Sarathy, like Chidambarathil Oru Appasamy before it, proves that smaller Malayalam movies, when remade with equally small, image-free actors, could still end up as bad remakes. The film takes the storyline of Srinivasan's Vadakku Nokki Yanthram but shears away the subtlety and sentivity that the movie's subject deserves.

Sarathy(Karunas), who runs a printing press in Dindukkal, has been rejected by a line of prospective brides for being too dark and rather unattractive. So he gets a shock when a fair, good-looking woman Vasanthi(Karthika) agrees to wed him. But post-wedding, Sarathy is plagued by insecurities about his looks and begins to look at every man with suspicion.

The movie starts off like a comic version of Raman Thediya Seethai and maintains the comic vein for a while. As Karunas takes steps to shield his wife from men he considers as threats and does things to impress her, it is possible to laugh at his antics as things haven't become serious yet.

The movie does have a message about the dangers of having an inferiority complex and does succeed in showing that, when not eliminated, it could be every bit as dangerous as drugs and all those other addictions that turn one's life into a living hell. But like most Tamil movies, it equates loudness and lack of subtlety with effectiveness at conveying the message. So we get cinematic incidents(like the scenes of Karunas' brother interacting with Karthika) to show us Karunas' problem. But realism is what makes any message effective and when the happenings on screen are unbelievable, the impact of what is being said is diluted. So, while some scenes, like Karunas' spontaneous fight with his brother, are convincing, the artificiality of what led to it lessen its impact.

Apart from the artificial nature of the proceedings, the other factor that reduces the movie's impact is the director's refusal to consistently treat the subject with the seriousness it deserves. So incidents of a serious nature, like Karunas' split from his family, are followed by long sequences, like the one where Karunas thinks Ajith has paid a visit to his house, aimed at tickling our funny bone. While some of the jokes - thanks, mostly, to Livingston - in these sequences do make us laugh, they also trivialize Karunas' problem and lessen its seriousness in our eyes. If the director himself doesn't take it seriously, why should we?

But keeping in mind the adage that its better late than never, we can be happy that the film finally realizes that it has to stop being a comedy. Once Karunas goes from merely doubting the intentions of others to having a deep-rooted suspicion of everybody around him, things cease to be funny and the movie understands this. So it abandons trying to make us laugh and focuses on showing us the depths to which he has sunk. It works since we stop laughing at Karunas and start to feel sorry for him.

Karunas slips between the comic and serious versions of his character well enough. He is a bit too loud when trying to make us laugh but is surprisingly effective in the serious scenes. Its still not easy seeing him sing and dance though. Karthika suits the role of the quiet wife who is unable to understand the reasons behind her husband's behavior. Saranya is perfect as the acid-tongued mom and makes us laugh with some comments just as well as she makes us cringe with others. M.S.Bhaskar always manages to make us laugh with his two-line poems but many of other jokes aren't as funny.