Pallikoodam
Cast: Naren, Sneha, Thangar Bachchan, Shreya Reddy, Seeman
Direction: Thangar Bachchan
Music: Bharadwaj
Production: Vishwas Sundar
In the Thankar Bachaan’s genre of movie making, emotions play hide and seek between the characters with an undertone. The subtlety of such characterization of feelings has always remained the success quotient for him. Pallikoodam follows the same genre Azhagi paved way for, only with a tad different plot.
The movie is about a school that faces troubles with the owner of the land and how the characters try and get help from the old students to prevent the school from being seized. Thus starts this nostalgic emotional ride. It’s about four classmates Vetrivel, Muthu, Kumaraswami and Kokila who had studied at that school and how the school changes their life forever.
Vetrivel, a son of a potter, is the most intelligent of the lot and loves Kokila who is the daughter of a rich Jamindar who owns the school land. And their common friends are Muthu and Kumaraswami. Kumaraswami, very bad at studies, avoids school; however, his father makes all efforts to send him back to school and succeeds in doing so.
A young and beautiful Doctor, Jhansi (Shreya) arrives at the village and befriends the foursome. Jhansi slowly becomes the godfather figure to all the four. And when Muthu loses his father and becomes an orphan, Jhansi takes him into his custody. Vetrivel and Kokila’s love is made public and the villagers blame Jhansi. They throw her out of the Village and Muthu accompanies her.
What follows is the disentanglement of the plot on the plight of Jhansi, Muthu, Kumaraswami, Vetrivel, and Kokila. Eventually the rest of the story and the climax also unravel whether the school escapes the wrath of the landowner.
The movie is based on a novel “Kalavadiya Pozhudhugal” which is immaculately translated into the big screen by Thankar Bhachan who is also taking care of the cinematography, screenplay, and direction besides playing a character in the film. Cinematography has little to talk about but Thankar scores with his screenplay, direction and acting.
There are a few eyesores like the opening scene where students sing the national anthem in the rain. The patriotic angle is very much appreciable, however, it doesn’t need any emphasis and proves to be tad unrealistic.
Also, the duet between the young Vetrivel and young Kokila is a total let down. But the movie is successful in bringing out the nostalgic feeling. Some of the scenes like the meeting of Kumaraswami, who is a farmer now; meeting Vetrivel - the collector, are directed very well.
The performance in the movie is of high order and all the actors compete with one another for the glory. Naren as Vetrivel has done a wonderful job. Sneha as Kokila steals every heart with her simplicity, and Thankar Bachaan as Kumaraswamy lives his part. Shreya Reddy as Jhansi impresses everyone with her dignified acting. Seeman as Muthu makes a confident debut. The actor who comes as the younger Kumaraswamy is a revelation with his superb comic timing and quick wit. The scene in which he drops his pen to see Shreya’s legs will surely bring the house down.
Baradwaj’s music is soothing to the ears especially the “Meendum Pallikoodam pogalam” track, which lingers in one’s heart long after the leaving the theatre. Gana Ulaganathan comes up with a remix of the old song “Nanamoo” which can achieve a hit status if marketed properly. Sathish does a good job as the Editor but the pace of the movie drops in the second half, which if taken care of, would have made a big difference in the outcome of the movie.
Overall the movie is well made and will be lapped up by the urban audience. If you thought Azhagi was a fantastic effort, chances are that you would have the same feeling with Tahnkar Bachaan’s new effort as well. Besides, the emotional aspect of the movie is sure to go down well with the female audience.
