May 31, 2006

Pudhupettai


Pudhupettai was one of the most eagerly-awaited movies of this year for a) its soundtrack, which was a hit as soon as it was released late last year; b) the Yuvan-Selva-Dhanush combo which happened after a hugely successful and critically acclaimed ‘Kaadhal konden’; c) high expectations that Selva would have something special for his struggling bro Dhanush.

Story: ‘Kokki’ Kumar’s (Dhanush) late-teen period is a recipe for disaster.. no interest in studies, fighting parents, rowdy dad and, in addition, his mother gets killed. He has to run for his life and resort to begging for his food. He is wrongly framed by police in a ‘Ganja’ case and there begins his journey in the underworld of Chennai. In the topsy-turvy ride, he faces lust, treachery, politics and, love.

Screenplay: The first half is very engaging.. the journey of a nobody towards becoming a dreaded rowdy is well-portrayed.. Once Sonia Agarwal enters, the director loses his plot and the events turn jerky.. The biggest let-down was the climax.. Though it was acceptable and believable in today’s politics, the events leading to it are quite jarring. The movie seemed to be ending atleast twice before the actual climax arrived. Viewers’ patience is tested and one gets relieved that the movie ended at last. On the plus side, Dhanush’s ‘training period’ has some interesting moments.

Performances: Dhanush is there on the screen 99% of the time.. So, even though he delivers a strong performance, I got tired of seeing him. He overacts in a few scenes, and some other scenes remind of his previous movies like Kaadhal kondEn, SullAn and Adhu oru kanAkAlam. Sneha does well in a few scenes. Sonia sleepwalks through her role.. Most of the male actors keep shouting all the time.. it gets irritatingly too loud.

Direction: IMHO, ‘Sathya’ (Hindi) was the best Indian movie on Metro-gangsters.. Even Ramgopal Varma couldn’t get away from its hangover in his subsequent films ‘Company’ and ‘Sarkar’. In ‘Pudhupettai’, Dhanush looks too skinny to be such a fiery gangster.. so, many of the fight scenes turn out to be unbelievable and over-the-top. As I said earlier, the second half had too many unnecessary scenes. On these accounts, Pudhupettai was inferior to ‘Kadhal Konden; and ‘7G..’ The songs seem very forced and one song ‘Oru naaLil’ is not even there.. as though the director didn’t know how to fit it into the movie.

Music and cinematography: Yuvan and Aravind Krishna (camera) are two strong pillars to the movie. Yuvan’s theme songs and background music fit well into the movie. Aravind has some interesting angles and his fast and less-intrusive camera capture the events quite well.

Overall, it is too gory and violent with lots of blood. It starts of well, promising a lot, only to deceive. Could have been better..

14 comments:

Blabber-blogger said...

Thank you for this very thorough insight on the movie. I can now save my precious time doing something better (like sleep).. :P

Raju said...

Nyneishia, I think girls have even less things to like in this movie.. better stay away..
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Nag, hey, I am not a full-time movie review-writer.. :)
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Veda, he was right.. Seekkiram 'Indhia tholaikatchigalil muthal muraiyaga' indha padathai parkkalam..

Anonymous said...

wow, a fast review. How did u get to see it? r they showing it at any theatres in NY. i see both negative and positive reviews about the movie on the net.

Anonymous said...

Just saw Pudhupettai, i agree with you Raju, the first half was just too good, then after sonia agarwal came into the picture, it became all politics, but I guess that was unavoidable, i knew by watching the trailer, there are goin to be some parts just like wat madhavan played in ayutha ezhuthu. but on the whole, i was satisfied with the movie, the music was well done, and well placed, little sadness that they cut half the song that kamal sang, but other than that it is another victory for Selvaraghavan, good actin by dhanush and sneha, sonia agarwal so so.

tt_giant said...

I had big hopes on this movie.. pootacase..

PV narasimha rao's grand-daughter had no use in the movie..

Raju said...

Nitin, amam.. Inge rendu halls-le oduthu padam..

Though gangster-politics nexus was unavoidable and a natural extension, things seemed a lot hurried and out of place towards the end.. Hope the movie doesnt end up as a flop.. Overall, it was good - better than Thiruppachi and Sivakasi of Vijay..
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Deepak, I had big hopes too..
LOL on ur II line.. true.. what an irony to have a 'Punnagai Ilavarasi' and 'Punnagaikkaatha Bommai' in the same movie...!!

Anonymous said...

yeah, if thirupachi and sivakasi, and even aathi can be hits, then definitely this movie is a hit, its definitely better than pattiyal

Me too said...

Poor Dhanush!! Otel dhaana??

Anonymous said...

Hey GP...I follow only 2 blogs...yours by choice..and sanjay's by force :)
Movies and sports are my bread and butter too...I came this time to specifically read about pudhupettai...and our west indies tour :( after following kaif's never ending gaaj and dhoni's batting....this series sukks...waste my whole day refreshing the damn scoreboard, but nothing changes!!
I've hrd mixed reviews about pudhupettai too....about how the first half is exceptional and second half doesn't deliver.....probably due to such high expectations. Haven't seen it yet..love the music though. I've seen lotsa spielberg's movies that begin well..build the story but end with a thud..AI and war of the worlds for ex....
anyways....hope u're doing well in NYC
BTW...who's PV narasimharao's grand daughter?
and who're 'Punnagai Ilavarasi' and 'Punnagaikkaatha Bommai'...care to shed some light? I love the way ppl name our stars!!!

மு.கார்த்திகேயன் said...

I too heard the same what you have posted here. Pudhupettai could be much better than what it is

Raju said...

Nitin, yeah.. the box office is favorable to the movie so far..
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Aparna, his brother's name seems to have saved the movie.. it is running fairly well.. And, I heard of atleast 2 new movies of his.. Thiruvilayadal and one more.. otel business has to wait..
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Anurag, hey, welcome here.. Nice to know that you visit my blog.. Sanjay is doing a great job...

About Pudhupettai.. yes.. the first half is great.. and thats what has saved the movie.. War of the worlds' climax was among the worst sothappals I have ever seen.. so disappointing..

Sonia Agarwal has been tagged 'PVN's granddaughter'.. for u know what PVN was most (in)famous..

'Punnagai Ilavarasi' is the 'Pattam' for Sneha.. (KR Vijaya was the 'Punnagai arasi')... 'Punnagaikkatha Bommai', again, was Sonia.
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Karthikeyan, yeah.. true.. with so many gangster movies coming nowadays, Selvaraghavan had to do better than what he did in the second half.. Had this movie been released 2 years go, it might have been OK..

Raju said...

Prasanna, yeah.. it was technicallly great.. Overall, I wouldnt say it was a bad one.. surely above average, but below expectations (both pre-movie and mid-time)

Anonymous said...

Best regards from NY! » »

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