Pithamagan - Tamil

A much-talked about movie poses quite a few difficulties to the reviewer. Some effort is required to bring out new angles of thought to dwell upon hitherto uncovered aspects of such a movie.

Here, the talk of the town is more about the central character than the movie itself. A man with animal instincts has, in all probability, not been provided so much focus any time before. The story itself seems incidental, helping only to describe the character as completely as possible.

The friendship between the two heroes, which is the agent of change in the story, is not elaborated enough. One yearns for more and more moments like those that form the picturisation of the ’’Elangaathu...’’ song. The lack of explanation for the protagonist’s slightly overdone beast-like behaviour and the title are even more obvious to be ignored.

As in so many other oh-so-different movies, the love story (if you don’t count the few glances involving the other pair) serves only commercial purposes -- ’commercial’ sounds very broad though. In this case, in spite of the love story, we don’t have the couple running around trees. The scenes dealing with their encounters, though funny, sometime seem too childish and unbelievable.

Even as you expect an item number when Simran makes an appearance, what you get is an interesting medley of old songs and some jibes at moviedom. Though adding no value to the story, those sequences being as realistic as possible surprise the audience and shock the drooling distributors.

Vikram proves yet again why he’s the rising star of Kollywood, with the competition nowhere in sight. Even if you try to see the star inside the actor, he ferociously foils all your attempts. With roars, groans, some singing and hardly any dialogues, he manages to keep you rivetted to the screen. His make-up too is near-perfect.

Surya possibly puts in his best performance till date, bringing out a gregarious character to break his soft-and-silent-boy image. Laila too surprises, but goes overboard at times. Sangeetha and Mahadevan leave a lasting impression with their subtle acting. Karunaas and Manobala are wasted, in spite of comedy being weaved very well into the screenplay. Unfamiliar faces for the minor roles add freshness to the movie.

Ilaiyaraja’s sounds, especially in the background score, complete the total impact on your senses even though he’s not really at his best. The few melodious songs are affected by jarring beats. Cinematography is excellent, managing to avoid any indulgence. The stunt sequences are more believable than what is usually dished out.

Bala continues with his obsession for violent themes. What deserves appreciation though is his aim to tell unusual stories in a supremely realistic manner. He fills every frame with perfectionism. His unobtrusive style of direction reminds one of Mani Ratnam; but he gets distracted sometimes, wanting to make some personal statements.

One can’t be sure if people really appreciate what the writer-director has tried to achieve or they’re just once again happy about their star-hero giving an award-worthy performance. Nevertheless, in spite of multiple flaws, I’m not able to stop at three stars for such a remarkable movie.