LOL Enga Siri Paappom review: Vivekh, Sathish and Pugazh impress in the first season of this partly engaging series

2/5

Story:

Ten talented comedians come together in a one-of-its-kind comedy reality series to make others in the house laugh to emerge the winner. The two hosts of the show are closely monitoring the show with the help of 24 cameras. Can they entertain their housemates and the viewers?  

Review:

The first-of-its-kind Tamil comedy reality series, LOL Enga Siri Paappom, has had high expectations riding on it from the time the makers had made its announcement, thanks to the presence of the late legendary comedian Vivekh and Shiva as the hosts. What made many wait for the show is its golden rule - the contestants should make others laugh and not laugh themselves. 

More over, the 10 contestants, Premgi, Sathish, Pugazh, Maya, Aarthi, Abishek, Baggy, Vigneshkanth, Syama and Powerstar Srinivasan, competing with each other to win a prize money of 25 lakh by making others laugh in a closed space which resembles the Bigg Boss house, sounded exciting. But did they manage to make the audience laugh with their amusing acts? 

One of the prime reasons many added the series to their watchlist is because of Vivekh, who passed away earlier this year. This is one of the last projects, perhaps the last, in which the audience gets an opportunity to watch him unleash his unmatched talent in a full-fledged manner. Though he was one of the hosts and not a participant, viewers couldn't have been happier watching him laugh hard for some of the jokes others cracked and exchange funny banters with Shiva in his trademark style. 

The show resembles the format of Bigg Boss in terms of the entry of participants and the various tasks assigned to them in the house. It begins by the hosts explaining them the elimination rules - a yellow card is issued to the contestants as a warning, when their laugh for the first time - and a red card which paves way for their exit from the house if they are found laughing again.  

The efforts put up by the contestants to make others laugh were only partially enjoyable though the hosts were seen having a gala time watching their performances. Srinivasan was the first participant to be issued both yellow and red card in the house. Apart from their interactions in the house, they were also required to come up with individual stage performance, based on which their talent was judged. Though the different looks Maya and Aarthi had sported weren't impressive enough, their energy and the way they responded to others joke deserved mention. Premgi and Vigneshkanth, who displayed great enthusiasm in the beginning, were evicted when they couldn't control laughing at the one-liners of Sathish. 

Syama and Baggy, who struggled to make others laugh, too, were shown the doors when the hosts found them breaking the rules. Abishek, Sathish and Pugazh managed to stay till the end of the show by giving tough competition to each other, thanks to some of their hilarious counters and impromptu performances in tasks assigned to them. Sathish, who was issued a yellow card, was sidelined later and Abishek, along with Pugazh, were adjudges the winner of the first series. 

The contestants who entertained the audience were Sathish and Pugazh, apart from Vigneshkanth in the limited time he stayed in the house. Shiva did what is expected of him; pulling off some jokes with a poker face while Vivekh's body language and the way in which he gelled with the contestants brought the house down in some instances. His satire on celebrities foraying into social media was one of the highlights of the show. 

Verdict:

With a slew of talented comedians as the participants, and with a run time of two-and-a-half hours, audience can't be blamed if they expect rollicking fun throughout the series. However, the performance of a few, despite them trying their best, couldn't entertain the viewers, which affected its overall impact.  

LOL Enga Siri Paappom is currently streaming on Amazon Prime Video.