The first thing I read while flicking through any magazine is the jokes column especially I cherish with the historical ones. They typically portray a cowardly King, a bootlicking Minister, gossiping Sentries and a scornful Queen. What happens when a freak like me gets a chance to watch a full length movie that has the above said hilarity as its core theme? It ends up in a non-stop boisterous laugh riot.
We can safely call Shankar as Dare Devil for encouraging such an attempt, taking a huge risk by casting a comedian as hero (though Vadivelu can handle any role) where most producers are hesitant to do historical (including Kamal) as the cost involved and viewer’s acceptance are the major concern areas of success
By this time, everybody should have known the story (unless they are born just yesterday) but, as a reviewer I am bound to brief it. Twins separated at birth; one grows up as an unruly King and the other, a skillful rebel. The rebel comes to know the blood relationship, wanting to reform the country as well as his brother switch places to hold back the enemies and to make amendments for the unscrupulous damage done so far to the kingdom.
Chimbuselvan , an accomplished joke writer in magazines, should have woven all his jokes into a full-fledged movie that brings out the child in us. He makes the mark right from the first scene with a comical disclaimer, an offbeat voice-over and a prankish introduction of immaterial characters such as sentry and lizard. The whole movie is packed with many such funny visual treats like door numbers for castle, hoardings for soft drinks, road sign for a dacoity-prone area etc, mixed with intriguing cameos by Nagesh, Thyagu.
“Pulicesi” also has a high degree of (self) parody and satire of prevalent social and political evils that it varies between comical to preaching. It also proves that a comedy movie need not be comical in serious scenes as both extremes are handled sensibly. In fact, those sequences where Vadivelu sternly reforms the chaos to restore discipline in the kingdom appears very convincing
Vadivelu rises to the occasion in spite of a huge burden of carrying the movie in his shoulders and entertains both as the lunatic Pulicesi and as the reformer Ukiraputhran (though he is at home doing the former). His fluency in Tamil language helps him to deliver the most tongue twisting dialogues with aplomb. I relished the serious dialogues with same delight as with the comical ones. The other casts members are mere walk-on with the exception of Naser, who plays as the cunning Rajaguru.
Vadivelu as Ukiraputhran, intentionally crubs his instinct to mimic MGR in body language, but I feel that he should’ve gone ahead and imitated. One because he is good in that and two because Ukiraputhran character is the weakest picturing of all and appears out of place until he switch places as Pulicesi.
The downside aspects really insult such a great movie. Screenplay is pedestrian and appears to be compromised for comedy. At times, I felt lost between scenes and wondered whether I fell asleep somewhere.
I happen to hear the audio tracks first. All songs are pretty impressive and it’s evident that they were meticulously composed to juice up the nostalgia. “Pootiya Sirayinai” raised many goose bumps as it was in the lines of “Acham enbadhu madamayada” (the arousing MGR song of all times.) But when I saw the screen treatment, Alas! It’s pathetically pictured and has cruelly let down all the good effort of composing. (The song is racy but Vadivelu drives the horse at slow pace). Only “Aadivaa” & “Panjumethai Kaniye” lives up to the expectations in picturing. The background chorus theme music is excellent but I don’t know why it’s too sparse. The special effects are also too ancient and jerky that I couldn’t believe Shankar, who is a technical nerd, ignored such a pathetic display of visualization.
Similarly, patriotism is portrayed simply as verbal abuse and face spitting on the British. There is no real scene development or emotional ingrain that we could feel. However, there is at least one occasion which could boast paying tribute to legends where Pulicesi engages in a verbal war (as in “Veerapaandiya Kattabomman”) with General Nixon
“Pulicesi” strikes the bull’s eye when it aims for comedy, parody and social message but it’s below par in screenplay and technicalities. However, it’s a milestone in Tamil Cinema and a nostalgic memento to muse with. Hail Pulicesi!