Ponniyin Selvan- A movie to remember

Intro-

Azhagiye Theeye-One of the best movies of 2004 had 3 things going for it a believable story and a strong dialogue oriented humor with little sentiments.After seeing that movie ,I reached a conclusion that here was a director to watch out for,simply beacause it was one of the most novel movie of recent times.The director,RadhaMohan hasnt disappointed us a second time around.He just uses the same combination in slightly different mixtures of a believable story,less dialogue oriented humor and more sentiments to succeed.Ofcourse the novelty of the concept impresses us this time around too.As I have always said earlier tam cinema has a simple formula to win the audience,clean entertainer with a different storyline is always a guaranteed success.It may not be a blockbuster,but it will get you the rewards and Radha Mohan has realised this.

The Story-For those with a theres nothing to look forward in life attitude

Venu is a hard working normal individual who strives to make everyone around him happy.However he has a huge inferiority complex due to a disfigurement in his face.The problems that he faces because of his appearance discomforts him to no end.His friends advise him to do a plastic surgery but the only dampener on this solution is the cost.As a result,his sole aim in life now gets devoted to saving money ,that he begins to withdraw from his normal relationship with his friends and mother.There is a seachange in his attitude and he starts becoming selfish for his own personal means.The story then boils down to a tale of sentiments and how the lust for money affects even simple relationships.

My views

A stand out performance by every one of the actors involved and the director should take a bow for this.One of the main reasons why movies like "kadhal" and "autograph" became such a huge hit was that it was more like watching reality rather than a movie.In the same manner RadhaMohan creates the same effect through conversations.The dialogues that take place between the mother -Ponni(revathi) and the son -Venu (ravi krishna) is normal every day kind of conversation about his day at work and their concern for Venu's sister.(Played by deva darshini).Gopika plays the gal next door role to perfection and the teasers and jokes that they play on each other could happen between anyone.The friends whose everyday life depends on Venu's earnings,are characters straight out of people you would see sitting at tea shops every day.Revathi and Gopika espouse a true concern as they are awestruck by the reason as to why he should change his looks.The conversation that takes place on such a serious topic between the three people is filled with humor and is one of the best scenes in the movie.

Directorial touches are few to come by since the emphasis is on dialgoue throughout the movie although one of the earlier scenes in the movie stood out for me.
An initial scene is shown where Gopika is seen singing a devotional song and Ravi krishna enquires which wedding reception she is gonna sing for.Gopikas reply to that is,didnt u hear me singing a devotional song ,ofcourse its for a temple festival and not a wedding.Then the director interplays couple of scenes which focus on entirely different aspects.Then all of a sudden you see the scene of a temple festival with people dancing to the tunes of "Appadi Podu Podu" .The camera does two quick pans now,A scene of Ravi krishna arriving on his cycle and to the singer who happens to be none other than Gopika.Without any dialogues, The humor and satire involved is conveyed.

Sanjita is the love angle portrayed.She is the cute gal(and my god a really cute gal in tam movies after a long time) who works at the pizza joint that Venu falls for.Her role though short is quite important.Saying anything more about the role would be a spoiler,but it is the basis for the theme of the movie that internal beauty is much more important than external beauty,and it is better to go for someone who likes you rather to go for someone you like.!A poignantly drafted theme that hits home hard in the final climax scenes.

However for all the positives that the movie has going for it,song sequences and picturisations stick out like a sore thumb.It actually drags down the movie albeit for one or two peppy numbers but the picturisation seems just for the idiots who wont come to the movies otherwise.

Finally,I could relate to so many things in this movie and its this bias which leads me to give it a tag of must watch

Performance:

The only thing I liked about ravi krishna in 7g was his dialog delivery,and he uses that to great effect in this movie,with his emotions of a confused man delivered in an excellent manner through dialogues.Gopika,post autograph is probably her best performance now.Revathi,for an experienced actress it seems like a cakewalk,The new face Sanjita(Sorry I was too busy checking her out to notice her acting),The friends et al are brilliant.Prakash Raj with his fundas sound more like that friend in every gang whom you turn to for advise and ends up giving you life fundas.

Climax:

Simply Astounding,watch it,shed a tear if you care to,and go home with a full heart.
Take that heartbroken friend of yours or your ex-gal and make someone else feel happy.!!