I was out of mouthshut for more than three months I guess, and now I come up with this review and hope to write a few more in the coming months and i’m planning to be more regular with my reviews.
It was after a week’s wait did I watch this movie yesterday. I was having my own expectations about the movie. All through the first week read many raving reviews about the movie and people comparing it with works of likes ranging from Quentin tarantino, Ram gopal verma and Maniratnam. So obviously the expectation grew even more. With such huge expectations when you go for a movie even a very good work would rather disappoint you, but Pattiyal does not.
Pattiyal is a good movie made brilliant by some awesome acting by the lead pair. There is as such nothing very special in the story. It is about two youngsters who work as assassins and who share a great bond of friendship between them. But the slick direction, fast paced screenplay and very good BGM that makes the story applaudable. It would be first time for the Tamil audience to experience such rawness on screen in terms of gruesome murders and brutal killings. Watched time and again in ram gopal verma movies, cant really help in getting reminded of his movies. And moreover the frienship between the lead two also shows a few traces of ’Pithamgan’.
The movie as such is a fresh from the present crop of masala movies and monotonous love stories. It is a promising sign we have new directors like Vishnu vardhan who are daring to risk a bit by touching new themes in Tamil cinema. Full marks to him for his effort. Special mention should be done for his cast selection. It couldn’t have been better. Arya and Bharath score in each of the frames they share. Arya is getting better and better as each movie goes by. Given a proper script and director who could extract the best out of him, soon we will see him reaching places. He has casually done his character with finesse. He excels in the scene where he gets drunk and explains to Bharath that no one is there for the two and that other people are just those who pass by in phase of their life. Bharath reveals his acting prowess after Kadhal. Donning the role of deaf and mute he plays apt foil for Arya. He looks cool and carries the character very well. The scene where he reacts with frustration and disappointment after Pooja shuts the door on his face , shows the touch of brilliance within him. Pooja looks beautiful. Padma priya fits her role to perfect. Though the two leading ladies have less meaty roles, they have proven their worth and have done full justice to their roles.
Though a few songs looks like as if they don’t gel with the movie, they are beautifully shot. Yuvan Shankar raja again is brilliant with songs. Though The BGM at times reminds of Manmadhan and Kakha Kakha keeps pace with the fast paced screenplay.
When we come out of the theatre hall after watching movies like Satya or company you have a feel of shock left in you. When Manoj Bajpai gets killed in Satya by his own peers you feel a sense of chillness within you, but unfortunately Pattiyal doesn’t give you the same effect have the same impact as those movies. Probably i’m being unfair to the director who has shown great promise in his very third movie in the industry. The director here tires to strike a balance between three different tracks, one which stresses on the friendship between Arya and Bharath, two the love life of the lead pair and three the assassin life that the two lead. I kind of feel that this is probably the movies strength as well as a acts a set back too, probably that is why we don’t come out of the movie with a shock but with a mixture of thoughts with a feel l over for their friendship, their love life and their assassins life. On the whole it is indeed a very good movie and definitely worth watching.
P. S:
Read a review of a movie called ‘Bangkok Dangerous’ which strikingly had the same story line of Pattiyal, wonder the extent of inspiration as I haven’t watched that movie. Hope it’s just an inspiration and not a scene to scene copy of the English one.