Padhavi Paduthum Paadu surprises us. With an unappealing title, an uncharismatic hero, a first-time director(I think) and publicity stills that showed Ranjith(in a horrible brown wig) and Anamika(in a vulgarly skimpy dress) cavorting in water, it didnt seem to have much going for it. But it turns out to be a good political satire that lays bare the politics of the land. It just doesn't realise that too much of a good thing can end up being bad too. Some judicious editing and better marketing might have improved its fortunes at the box-office.

Malaiyappan(Ranjith), a robber who operates from the forest, kidnaps Tamizharasan(Ravichandran), the leader of the opposition party. But Veerabadran('Pyramid' Natrajan), the Chief Minister, is happy that he is gone and is in no hurry to get him out. Eventually, the good-hearted Malaiyappan releases Tamizharasan and gets a pardon from the government too. So he decides to jump into politics himself.

PPP seems a bit too much like a Mahaanadigan clone. Apart from the fact that the protagonist here is a robber rather than an actor, the storylines in both movies are the same as the hero gets into politics and has other politicians vying to join hands with him. Unfortunately, PPP too is afflicted with the same farfetchedness that marked the Satyaraj-starrer. Scenes like Ravichandran launching into a song with Ranjith and Ranjith's party winning every constituency constantly remind us that the movie has no touch with reality. This blunts the effect of some of the satire.

PPP pulls no punches when it comes to satiring politics. Its wit is not quite as sharp as Mahaanadigan and it sticks to politics only but when it trains its guns on politics, the shots find their mark more often than not. The parasitic nature of politicians, their lack of loyalty whether to their party or its leaders, their greed for money and power, their reliance on jalras, etc. are all showcased with a comic touch. Some of the lines(like having a TV channel affiliated with the party) had me admiring the guts of the director and the script writer. The occasional jabs at other things(like distributing freebies with magazines to increase circulation) made me wish there were more targets like those too.

Having chosen attack on politics as his only agenda, the director has struggled to find enough events to fill the two and a half hour running time. As a result, he stretches some sequences way past the tolerance limit. The entire segment with the kidnapped CM's daughter(which includes Ranjith performing the familiar aathaa dance!) is an example. Similarly, there are simply too many scenes of the politicians switching allegiance when their party loses. Yes, we know politicians lack loyalty and will abandon a sinking ship to side with a winning party. Enough already! The ending is feel-good and Utopian but works for exactly those reasons.

Ranjith seems quite comfortable with the dialect(Coimbatore?) though its not always consistent. Anamika is around simply for the two unnecessary and vulgar duets. Ravichandran gets some laughs with his scared act when he is kidnapped while 'Pyramid' Natrajan gets by with his now-familiar, sarcastic dialog delivery.