Kunguma Pottu Goundar has the distinction of being the most ill-suited name for a movie this year. The name belonged to the semi-villainous character that Satyaraj portrayed in one of his early hits Mudhal Vasantham and was quite popular owing to his good performance. Probably intending to capitalise on the familiarity of that name with his fans, the director has used that as the title of this film. But the character by that name occurs for less than ten minutes in the entire film, leaving anyone who does not know the origins of the name wondering as to why the movie was named thus.

Even worse, the unattractive title obfuscates the fact that the movie actually tries to convey a valid message. By emphasising the importance of education and pointing out the flaw in the policies of some schools which require that the parents of their students be educated, the movie can boast of containing messages that are valid today. But a name like Kunguma Pottu Goundar definitely does not raise visions of a movie that contains a message of any kind. While far worse movies like Paarvai Ondre Pothumey had lyrical titles, this movie's biggest drawback is its title which will probably put off several viewers.

Kandasamy(Satyaraj) is uneducated and works as a salesman in a saree store. Owing to a lesson his father Kunguma Pottu Goundar learned the hard way, Kandasamy's one aim in life is to make sure that his son is educated. He wants to admit his son in the most prestigious school in the area but the school has the policy that atleast one parent of every one of its students must be educated. Since his wife Alamelu(Rambha) is also uneducated, Kandasamy asks his colleague Saraswati(Kousalya), a BA graduate, to pose as his son's mother. But problems arise when Alamelu and Siva(Karan), Saraswati's lover, spot Kandasamy and Saraswati together.

After the recent string of predominantly light, fluffy movies with either romance or violence as their strengths, it is nice to see a movie that tackles something more substantial. Education has never been a top priority among the issues handled in Tamil movies and the dialogs in support of the longterm effects of a good education sound good. The advice Kunguma Pottu Goundar gives to his son is sensible but it is never clear why, even after understanding the need for education, he takes no steps at all to educate his son, who is definitely not beyond the age for learning.

While it is admittedly difficult to craft an entertaining movie by focussing on education alone, the director spends the majority of the movie on issues completely unrelated to the topic. And these issues are far from being entertaining. Problems that could be resolved with just a few clear words are dragged on due to contrivances and the cliched behavior of both Karan and Rambha. Sentiments are also thrust into the mix with the kid's accident and an emotional climax. The song sequence with Satyaraj and Rambha seems completely out of place.

Satyaraj and Koundamani were an effective pair a while back with the comedy tracks in several of the movies where they appeared together being successful. They maintain their track record here too. Koundamani, making an appearance after a long time, has several lines delivered in his own style. Most of these happen when he is taking digs at Satyaraj and not in a separate comedy track and that makes the lines funnier.

Satyaraj appears confused over how to portray his character. He ends up seeming innocent and naieve at times while trying to earn our sympathy at other times. Rambha, creeping past her sex symbol state, appears old and seems to have resigned herself to playing the nagging wife and mother. Kousalya doesn't have many chances to overact. Radhika Choudhary has a cameo as Miss India and gives Aishwarya Rai enough ammunition to sue for defamation! Sirpy doesn't make much use of his chance.