ORU PAKKA KATHAI (2020)

 

Critic - No. 187

Director: Balaji Tharaneetharan

Produced by: Vasan’s Visual Ventures

Casts: Kalidas Jayaram, Megha Akash

Language: Tamil

Music: Govind Vasantha

Genre: Drama

 

SYNOPSIS: 

A young couple, Meera (Megha) and Saravanan (Kalidas), are all set to get married after their parents approve of their long-standing love. But all hell breaks loose when Meera reveals a secret.

 

REVIEW:

Balaji Tharaneetharan is one upcoming director in Indian cinema who has finely gripped on the idea of dark comedy quite well, delivering exciting ideas through his stories. Even though Oru Pakka Kathai is a film that was in cans for 6 years, the film’s originality makes it fresh and engaging throughout.

 

The film follows Saravanan and Meera who are madly in love with the approval of their respective families. All is well in their lives until Meera ends up pregnant but there is some mystery behind it that the family is left to handle. The film’s main strength is how the director embeds a bizarre, larger than life concept within a realistic middle class society, which brings the stakes closer to the audience. Like Balaji’s previous films, the director takes on a tragic incident and coats it with a dark comedy.

 

The film deals with a sensitive topic of superstations that have engulfed the Indian society and portrays how merciless people can get due to their blind belief of it. I really liked how Balaji inserts a parallel story about a boy who claims that he is a God himself. That parallel track beautifully evolves at the side with the main story and finishes off with a punch that tells us the director’s main aim of making this film. Kalidas and Megha who are quite a star now, started off with this film and they would have made a stellar debut if this film was released in 2014. Govind Vasantha (96 fame) also got introduced in this film and his haunting score is as arresting as the concept of the film.

 

On the flipside, the Balaji’s trademark long-expression shots even though work well to mirror the audience’s confusion with the point of view of the characters in the first half, they become repetitive in the second half. The pace also takes a toll on us towards the end where the narrative becomes stagnant for a while. Despite the minor flaws, Balaji should be commended for making yet another unique film that will very well qualify as one of the best Tamil films in 2020.



VERDICT:

Director Balaji comes up with another out of the box dark comedy, addressing the catastrophic nature of blind superstition.

 

 

CELLULOID METER- 3.5/5: 

 


Watch the full film at ZEE5: https://www.zee5.com/global/movies/details/oru-pakka-kathai/0-0-285534

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

NEETHANE EN PONVASANTHAM FILM REVIEW

Image
NEETHANE EN PONVASANTHAM (2012) Director: Gautham Vasudev Menon Casts: Jiiva, Samantha, Santhanam Music: Ilayaraja Language: Tamil Genre: Romance Life gets defined by the mind altering moments which occurs at the most unexpected circumstances in life. Gautham Vasudev Menon continues to explore such moments in his distinctive style in Neethaane En Ponvasantham, where he refines the threads he already used in Vaaranam Aayiram and Vinnai Thaandi Varuvaaya . Neethane En Ponvasantham fits the bill perfectly as a so called ‘concluding’ part of the trilogy. Synopsis Gautham Menon experiments in a ‘moment’ driven story this time by surfacing through four chapters of Varun (Jiiva) and Nithya (Samantha), from the age of 8 to 23 years old. Childhood buddies, Varun and Nithya share an unconditional bond since school days. Even when tested by ego clashes and misunderstanding, destiny always brings them together at different stages of life. But what happens wh
Read more

PULIKKUTHI PANDI (2021)

Image
Critic - No. 191 Director : M Muthiah Produced by: SUN Entertainment Casts: Vikram Prabhu, Lakshmi Menon, Samuthirakani, Vela Ramamoorthy, R.K.Suresh, Singam Puli, Dheena, Bala Language: Tamil Music: N.R. Raghunathan Genre: Action, Drama   SYNOPSIS:  Pulikkuthi Pandi (Vikram Prabhu), a ruthless youngster who fights for justice, transforms into a kind and humble husband for his wife, Pechi (Lakshmi Menon). But as fate turns brutal, his patience is tested.   REVIEW: After a decent streak of 5 rural dramas, director Muthaiah has anchored his trademark and filmmaking voice within the genre. Out of his previous films, I liked his treatment for Komban (2015) and Marudhu (2016) where he has centered his story against relationship conflicts and stakes, in a very earnest manner. Despite being quite inconsistent in character building, Muthiah’s films typically work to tell a message in the end for the audience (fully convincing or not is another issue). Shot during the pandemic period, Puli
Read more

KADHALUM KADANTHU POGUM (2016)

Image
KADHALUM KADANTHU POGUM (2016) Director: Nalan Kumarasamy Casts: Vijay Sethupathi, Madonna Sebastian, Samuthirakani Music: Santosh Narayanan Language: Tamil Genre: Comedy Kollywood has seen a remarkable, healthy change in the past 3 years and Nalan Kumarasamy is one of the significant game changer. After the stupendous success of ‘Soodhu Kavvum’ , all eyes were on his next and to everyone’s excitement, Vijay Sethupathi teamed up with him for the second time. Being a remake of a Korean film, ‘My Dear Desperado’, ‘ Kadhalum Kadanthu Pogum’ (Ka Ka Po) is one of the most expected films of the year. So will the duo strike gold again? Synopsis Yazhini (Madonna), a fresh graduate, sets off from Vizhipuram to Chennai in search of a stable job. She resides in an apartment where she meets a carefree, sharp-tongued henchman, Kathir (Vijay Sethupathi). Sparking with a rift at first, their relationship starts to bloom from sour to a sweet companionship. Story – Screenplay
Read more