Pudupettai - The Review.

The decision:
I was so bored in life (and office of course) that by 6:15PM i was saying to myself "This is just not working". Yesterday morning, i happened to see few clips from the movie in some TV review and i was itching to see the movie since then. I saw my To-Do list. I had to do some minor changes in a doc and send it to my colleague and then i was done. I checked out the site of satyam cinemas and found that the bookings were still open.

I rushed through this doc (time 6:30), collected my stuff and ran out of office (6:35 PM) walked the distance from my office to Satyam (6:45PM) and there was this big Queue. Got the tickets and entered the theatre a good 10mins late i guess. I had missed the first song (Enga Area - the choreo for which i had liked and really wanted to see), but got to see the movie from the point where the story begins. So no complaints. Let's move on...

The audience:
Surprise, Surprise - or was it only for me. The theatre was almost 60% empty!!! There were empty seats all over the place. I walked down the dark lane, found my seat and sat down - not knowing how the next 3 hrs were gonna be and i was really afraid now, seeing the strength of the audience. That's when Danush (or Kokki Kumar) comes back from a movie and sees the body of his mother, who was killed by Kokki's dad. No no - this is not gonna be anywhere close to story telling. That is one thing i don't intend to do.

The cast:
It can simply be said that this is a Danush movie - from scene 1 (or atleast the first scene i saw) till the credentials (which was quite funny), the movie had Danush all over the place. While his show in Kadhal Konden was pretty good, Danush seems to have lost things a bit since then. Perhaps a bit too confused on differentiating between over acting (remember sullan???) and amplified acting (remember that rain dance in KK???). How he fares in Pudupettai, that comes later. Now to the others.

The next important actor is Sneha, as a prositute who later becomes Danush's wife. And then there are all those ppl Danush kills, his friends and his foes, his guide and yeah, his wink-i-come-wink-i-go wife Sonia. The movie has few of the budding and talented (and by now proven) technicians of kollywood on its credit rolls. Direction, Music, Cinematography are definitely worth mentioning.

The movie:
It is, first of all, a story abt a ruffian. So be prepared for a blood bath. The story, is about how Danush enters the gang world, rises up and falls down. The movie has some interesting happenings surrounding this story line. Does the movie try to convey any message or something??? No and Yes. Go see for yourself :)

Now - the things i feel abt the movie. Let's start with the lead characters. I came out of the theatre with this feeling that Danush had not used this opportunity to the level he cud have. Looks like brother Selva has churned out scene after scene where Danush has scope for performing, and Danush hasn't gone to the heights he can. Let's accept it - Danush can act, provided the role fits his physique. Here, the role is tailor made for him. Physically, he fits the underworld slum dwelling ruffian to the dot.

As i mentioned above, i guess he is in a confused state as to how much he can fly. I'd have been satisfied if he'd just flown a bit more. He hasn't done bad at all - but there is jus this diff between master class and an attempt to be one. There are scenes where he is very good, especially the jail monologues, and he's pretty impressive in the way he uses his eyes. But danush, u shud have pushed urself just that bit more. I don't think this performance is gonna change ur present market situation in a big way. Let us just get done with Danush saying "He was good, better than few of his recent films, but definitely not his best".

Next - Sneha. Damsel in distress, deep distress. Looks like Danush's elder sister in the movie, but it does not appear odd to me coz such families, where the qife is a lot bigger than the lean wiry husband, are quite common in these kinda places. She really hasn't much to do, apart from giving that "I'm in distress" look in very scene. There is one scene where she had the opportunity to perform and she does extremely well - two thumbs up. Overall - limited opportunities, well used.

The rest of the cast do their job. There are so many characters, and the movie does go at a good pace, that u fail to keep track of many characters. But it is to be accepted that the remaining members of the cast have done their job without much fuss and, hence, no major screw ups, and this is one of the strengths of the movie. Credit goes to Selva ofcourse, for drawing out such clean performances from his cast.

The movie is raw, but classy. Eventhough violence has been glorified, as is obvious from the tag line "survival of the fittest", it is not unnecessary since the movie deals with ruffians anyway. The use of graphics in fight scenes has worked well and is perhaps not too obvious (except for ppl like me) at all. The cinematography does need special mention - it is just too good and the colors in the movie are really vibrant. Music, by Yuvan, needs no speaking about and is already a BIG hit. Yuvan scores in BGM too.

Summary:
I loved the movie, but hated the unnecessary cuts made by the theatre (why u satyam???). The storyline and charectorisation is something new (and hence appealing), the movie is technically too good and has performances which wud fall between "decent" and "good" ratings, with some rare "that's better" scenes. I keep cribbing coz i keep seeing a "wow" possibility in every scene :)

To sum it all - definitely worth seeing once. I might even have a second look.
I'm impressed. I'd give 4 on 5.

Good effort fellas!!! Congrats...