‘Chutney Sambar’ web series review: Yogi Babu and Radha Mohan cook up a delectable hodgepodge

A still from ‘Chutney Sambar’
| Photo Credit: @disneyplusHSTam/YouTube

After the underrated Malaysia To Amnesia and the underwhelming Bommai, director Radha Mohan is back in his comfort zone with Chutney Sambar. The series, which marks a streaming debut for him as well as its lead actor Yogi Babu, takes a leaf out of the filmmaker’s hits like Mozhi and Abhiyum Naanum, and concentrates on interpersonal relationships and resolving conflicts within a familial backdrop.

In Chutney Sambar, an ailing restaurateur Rathnasamy (Nizhalgal Ravi), opens up to his son Karthi (Chandran) about his darkest secret. Before his marriage, he had had a relationship with a woman who had given birth to a son. As his dying wish, Rathnasamy appeals to Karthi to find this son and make sure he is also a part of his final rites. When Karthi finds that Sachu (Yogi Babu), a roadside food shop owner, is his stepbrother, a series of incidents bring them closer than what they initially expected to be.

Barring a few films, Radha Mohan’s works have never had an antagonist; the situations and misunderstandings between genuinely righteous people have often been the conflict in his scripts, and Chutney Sambar is no different: it talks about acceptance and the importance of family bonds. What also makes the series stand apart is how the makers have tried to exploit the available runtime with multiple characters and numerous side plots which, though haphazard in some cases, tie up decently with the overarching story.

Despite a packed supporting cast, it’s Yogi Babu who singlehandedly bears the series. It’s not new for Radha Mohan to mount a film around a comedian — he had helmedUppu Karuvaaduwith Karunakaran before and it would not be a stretch to call Brindavanam’s Vivek and Malaysia To Amnesia’sMS Bhaskar to be as important, if not even more, than the respective protagonists of the movies. The filmmaker ensured he presented another perspective of this talented bunch’s artistry in those films and here, he does the same with Babu. While there’s no doubt about his comical talents, films like Bommai Nayagi and Karnan tapped into the serious performer in him and Chutney Sambar gives him the space to showcase both those aspects. Babu’s one-liners are hilarious, and as with his movies, it’s obvious that he has added many of them during dubbing; but given how they accentuate the scenes, that’s anything but a complaint.

There are multiple jabs at Babu’s appearance but a character asks another one to not indulge in body-shaming; another character shuns a kid for singing gaana songs but Sachu retorts to it with a ‘Why can’t convent kids sing gaana? These are examples of how the makers astonish you with their self-awareness and it’s a pleasant surprise how they’ve gone the extra mile to appeal to new-gen audiences who might not be acquainted with the filmmaker’s biggest hits.

A still from ‘Chutney Sambar’
| Photo Credit:
@disneyplusHSTam

Apart from the predictable story, what does not work in favour of the series are its multiple subplots; there’s one involving Sophie (Vani Bhojan) and her drunkard father Subha (Charle), another with the town’s bigwig and her son who’s out on parole, Karthi’s love story featuring ‘Katchi Sera’ fame Samyuktha Viswanathan and the flashback scenes featuring a younger Sachu with his mother Amudha (Deepa Shankar). Though the makers have tried their best to bring them all together seamlessly, these uninteresting subplots add little value to the core plot. The fact that the secondary characters feel one-dimensional doesn’t help either. The comedic scenes that unravel in the absence of Babu also have little to no impact; there’s a running gag about a child’s bathroom escapades, a man “joking” about his marriage, and his wife’s ability or the lack of it to cook… you get the gist.

Thankfully, it is Yogi Babu and the feel-good nature the series strives to be that almost iron out these niggles. At a time when makers are painting the screen red with violence and bloodshed, this series — on the lines of Uppu Puli Kaaram and Sweet Kaaram Coffee — is a much-welcome change. Probably naming series after eatables is the trick! In the series, Rathnasamy’s restaurant is famous for its sambar while Sachu’s eatery is renowned for its chutney, but it’s actually Radha Mohan and Yogi Babu whose collaboration — like chutney and sambar — make Chutney Sambar a delectable watch.

Chutney Sambar is currently streaming on Disney+ Hotstar