Monday 5 December 2011

Poraali

2011 by Samuthirakani- Tamil movie

I heard couple of opinions, read few reviews before going for this movie and all were not that positive. Nobody said it was a bad movie, but they all seemed to say this is not what we expected from Samuthirakani who made a brilliant movie in Nadodigal. Only one reviewer mentioned that it is actually nice, but it looks a bit more like a typical entertainer, with a funny first half and an action packed second half, which is quite routine stuff for entertainers.

So may be I didnt expect that much as I walked into the movie hall. And it is true, the first half is quite typical of ordinary entertainers with super star heroes, inspite of its wonderful opening scene. A very good hero who is an ideal man and bla bla. And there is a bus station song too to cherry it up. But except for that song and some comic scenes, I thought there was still a lot of excellence in the first half, for the way it was shot. Not exactly routine entertainment stuff. And all the characters we are introduced in here, are really wonderful.

But what was shocking was the second half, which was a brilliant action packed thriller. Except for the very final scene, the anti climax, this was a true master class of a thriller (I would have liked a different climax too). Most of this second half is 'flash back' of the main characters which involves some really brilliant scenes. So nicely planned, executed, shot and edited with brilliant support from the acting crew. I was really on the edge of the seat for most of these scenes. Thrilling action it was. Brilliant performance by Sasikumar and his friends. And the show stealer was a female character, the village girl Maari who is brave like a warrior princess, brilliantly played by Vasundhara. What a great show by this young actress. Just only a couple of scenes, but she will stay in the minds of every body walking out of the theatre.

If only the movie was told in a very straight forward fashion, then it would have looked quite different (as against the complainers that the first half is fun and second half is for action). But then, this would have been very different. I liked it as it is, even if both the halves are so much different. If only the first half was more short, without that first song and some comic scenes, and the climax was a little bit more planned and different, this would have been a brilliant classic entertainer. That is true, for all its thrilling second half, the climax lacks some real punch.

Samuthirakani is really an excellent director. He manages without any hero-heroine duets or item numbers, but it is perplexing why he went for the initial bus stand song. And he deserves a salute to shoot all those action scenes so nicely and to get such a brilliant performance from almost all his actors. He also manage to get couple of messages across through this entertainer, which has a routine theme, but told in a very different way. 

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