Rajni’s 80’s superhit ‘Pollaathavan’ has lent its name to the fledgling actor- Son in law!!
The film showcases the criminal underbelly of Chennai in such a chilling manner that it becomes repulsive at times! Some examples are stolen bikes wrapped neatly in plastic sheets and buried a few inches below ground level inside a hut, to be transported stealthily in trailers to states as distant as Assam, the casual usage of ‘pOtturu’ and ‘pOttuth thaLLu’ to refer to contract killing, a ‘professionally’ immature younger brother (Ravi, played by Daniel Balaji) killing his own elder brother Dada (Selvam, played by Kishore Kumar) as he prevents him from settling scores with the hero etc., (Selvam has a sound logic that you can kill as part of your ‘profession’ but killing a common ‘public’ for personal revenge is a clear No! No!!!)
Characters which stand out, in spite of small roles, are Dada Selvam’s wife Anju , his trusted lieutenant ‘Outtu’ *and Dhanush’s father (Murali of Malayalam films). The scene where Anju wails and slaps Selvam’s dead body and orders his subordinates to go for all out revenge for his murder is worth remembering! *‘Outtu’ is another character etched very meticulously! Selvam’s strong faith in ‘Outtu’ and his loyalty in turn to Selvam as against the blatant betrayal by Selvam’s own younger brother Ravi are crisply brought out without longish dialogues! Dhanush’s father excellently portrays the anguish typically experienced by the father of an unemployed spoilt kid! The role of Dhanush’s boss is tailor- made for mega serial fame Chethan !
Other than the initial scenes where Dhanush is an unemployed graduate, there is absolutely no scope for comedy (despite the presence of Karunas, who plays a rather serious role!) which makes the film very heavy and dry, with viewers gasping for some relief!
Though the hard work put in by Dhanush is visible all over, the viewer can’t help getting the feeling of ‘ kuruvi thalaiyil panangaay’!! His passion for his ‘Pulsar’ bike, typical of today’s Gen-X, ( a vee bit larger than his love for the heroine ‘Kuththu’ Ramya nee Divya!) has come out poetically. At one point of time, ‘Kuththu’ Ramya says her father will, in all probability, refuse to acknowledge their love and Dhanush says everything will be all right in due course. That is the last time you get to see Ramya and thereafter, their love story is left hanging without properly tying up either way in the end (perhaps because the unduly gory climax didn’t permit any soft sentiments to be inserted in the last scene!!). Talking of glamour, you get a liberal dose of it, with the glamour artiste in the dance sequence ‘alibaba thangam’ stealing the show leaving ‘Kuththu’ Ramya prancing with Dhanush pale in comparison!
With music by GV Prakash, the songs are peppy and racy (and noisy!!), especially the numbers ‘ padichchup paaththEn ERavilla, kudichchup paaththEn ERidichchu!’ , ‘engEyum eppOthum’ remix and ‘alibaba thangam’. Background score also fits in neatly with the violent backdrop of a Chennai Dada story!! Kudos to Cameraman Velraj and the editor who have done a commendable job in bringing alive the dark gulleys of North Chennai, an ideal breeding ground for gang wars of Dadas!
One wonders why the director gave up the two different first person narratives abruptly half way thro’! To be fair to him, he was doing a reasonably good job of it!! Madras Bhashai used throughout the film is very authentic!
When you come out of the theatre, you feel as if you had witnessed one of those famous encounters in which many a Chennai history sheeter was finished off by the police!
On the whole, director Vetrimaaran definitely deserves to be commended for his courage in taking up a very tough subject in his maiden venture itself!!!