Accidental Farmer And Co Web Series Review

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When storytellers of Tamil cinema turn to rural setup to make a film it is more often the bloated melodrama, excessive sentiment, and barbaric violence is what comes out. Then there are filmmakers like Sugan Jay who direct their attention to explore the innocence and benevolent nature of people living in the rural side. Accidental Farmer And Co is about a happy go lucky man who desires to migrate to Finland but his inheritance of a sizable area of land alters the course of life. Actor Vaibhav Reddy who was last seen in the action crime film Buffoon is back with his comedy web series titled Accidental Farmer And Co. Actress Ramya Pandian has played the female lead role. So, how has the comedy web series Accidental Farmer And Co come out? Will it help establish a bankable lead hero image for actor Vaibhav Reddy, and catapult actress Ramya Pandian as female lead in Tamil cinema? To know that let us get into the series review. 

Accidental Farmer And Co is set at the backdrop of a village named Mannmaadha. We get a nudge to not pronounce it as Manmadha, but as Mann Maadha (land mother). It is a metaphor for the inhabitant’s perception of their agricultural land. The series follows the life of Chellakannu (Vaibhav Reddy), an innocent carefree slothful young man with big ambitions but no concrete plans to achieve them. His trepidation to break a sweat is made fun of by the entire village who nicknames him as Selladhakannu. He is in love with Sheela (Ramya Pandian), who is on the verge of a divorce after being married off at a young age. Chellakannu’s only dream in life is to settle with Sheela in Finland as the nation ranks top in the global happiness index. His laziness is challenged by the sudden demise of his grandpa, as he leaves a few acres of land, a sack of money, and a sizable debt to Chellakannu’s name. 

After much effort Chellakannu makes up his mind to cultivate the land. Being a novice farmer, he makes too many mistakes, and splurge his money on a barren land. He seeks the help of his father’s friend, Engaalu. Meanwhile, he stumbles upon a plant in his farm. Selva, a school going boy, and Moorthy (Chutti Aravind), sort of an herbalist, convince Chellakannu that it is a medicinal herb. An elated Chellakannu puts together a bunch of people in his circle Kamala (Vinodhini Vaidyanathan), a postman (Badava Gopi), and wife of Engaalu to discuss how to go about the discovered medicinal herb. Will the medicinal herb solve all problems of Chellakannu and the gang, or is there a twist in the tale, is what makes the rest of the series. 

Director Sugan Jay’s Accidental Farmer And Co has a superb quirky premise that holds ample space to become an eccentric comedy series. To be fair to creators Sugan Jay, and Balaji Mohan, their attempt to stage events to make maximum out of the innocence and situations the characters are in is the saving grace of the series. Even the character arc that they have tried to give the main characters has worked to an extent. Most of the comedy in the series banks heavily on the chemistry, timing, and reactions of the actors as they are either cliched or are in average comical sense. The series unfolds without any real plot in the initial phase piggybacking on Chellakannu’s innocence. But it soon starts to get trite. 

Realizing the aspect, the creators construct a few sub plots to drive the proceedings. We have an herbal doctor on one side doing silly things in the name of experiments, funny episodes involving the cultivation of newly found plants, and a couple of love stories. What is even better with the relationships is they are not the regular love at first sight romance. But a neatly written plot of how a divorced woman, and a middle-aged woman find love in their life. On the downside, the innocence of the group is over exploited for comedy. The exploitation works in the beginning, but it sores as the makers keep pushing the boundary for their convenience. Accidental Farmer And Co has its bright moments but does not have an effect as an overall material. 

Actor Vaibhav Reddy has got under the skin of his character. He pulls off his role effortlessly. Despite appearing for a substantial portion of the series, actress Ramya Pandian’s character does not have much bearing on the proceedings. But it does have interesting elements to it. The actress, for her part, does her role well. Actress Vinodhini Vaidyanathan lives up to her part. Actress Badava Gopi serves the purpose for why he was brought on board. Actor Kalloori Vinoth is effective as usual. Actor Chutti Aravind has done justice to his part. Actress Nakkalites Dhanam is operational. Actor Naga Vishal is functional. Actor Karate Venkatesan is adequate. The rest of the cast has delivered what was asked of them. 

On the technical front, music director Vagu Mazhan’s songs are uninspiring and do not last long in our memory. But he makes up for it with his background score that gels well with the mood of the series. Cinematographer Sathish Murugan has covered the entertainer from all the best angles. His work stands out especially in capturing the rural milieu. Editor M Niranjan Antony compliments the work of his colleague with his fine scissor cuts. 

On the whole, lack of novelty and generic writing plays spoilsport on director Sugan Jay’s highly potential Accidental Farmer And Co. 

Accidental Farmer And Co is available for streaming on Sony Liv Video OTT platform.