Film Reviews

Date: 11-12-1998 :: Pg: 26 :: Col: a

``Pooveli''

A powerful love story, visualised, structured and essayed by the screenplay of seasoned director Selvaa, engages the viewer's mind right through in Kavithalayaa's, ``Pooveli''. Issues of the heart and family find reasonable answers in the well thoughtout dialogue of Murthy-Ramesh and Nagulan Ponnuchamy, an asset to the production. The dialogue touches its zenith in the segment where hero Karthik explains to his ex-girl friend, Heera, of the many changes that have taken place after his short stay with a girl for whom he is posing as her husband. The girl's family too has accepted him, and he asks Heera whether it is right to leave the place with her, Karthik being adorable here. Such sentiment- oriented scenes abound in the film, the fights and the dances only curtailing the pace. No doubt the director resorts to cinematic developments to queer the pitch, but they are unavoidable in a medium given such allowances.

Murali (Karthik), a small time model, loves Shalini (Heera) but she does not reciprocate his love. Murali accidentally meets Maha (Kausalya), his schoolmate, who has lost her lover (Abbas) in a road mishap while both were going to get their marriage registered. Maha knows that the union will not get the consent of her father Chidambaram (Radharavi). Maha's uncle Shanmugam (Ravi) mistakes Murali to be the new groom and forces them to visit the village assuring to pacify his elder brother. Maha and Murali agree to act as the newly wedded couple, but the adamant father does not fully accept the son-in-law. Each time the pair plan to earn the ire of the family, (Manorama, Satyapriya, Charly, J. Lalitha and Sindhu and two kids) so that Murali can leave the place, it only consolidates the faith of the family members in Murali. These incidents - some nicely executed like the time when Abbas' parents (Rajasekhar and Anitha Mathews) visit Maha and do an excellent face saving act for Murali - serve the purpose in opening up a new thinking between the young couple about their relationship. Both realise that they are in love and Chidambaram too agrees to celebrate the wedding again to please the mother (Manorama). That is when Shalini barges in putting a full stop to heart searing issues. Her parting shot to Maha, ``My lover can be your husband but your husband cannot be my lover'', aptly describes their stand.

The wealth of experience of playing such difficult roles comes handy for Karthik. However much Kausalya might try to give shape and substance to her character, it gets frittered with Karthik around. Heera has shed much of her glamour in this understanding part. Radharavi could have shown some restraint while going into fits of temper while Ravi gets a fine opening in a `frayed tempers pacifying' role. Abbas, Anandraj, Charly and Santhana Bharathi offer good prop. The puzzle song ``Kathai solla poraen'' (Karthik, Manorama, Ravi, Charly, Sunanda and Radharavi) is one of the highlights, the other good numbers of Bharadwaj being ``Etharkku paer thaan kaathala'' (Hariharan and Sujatha), ``O'Shalini'' (SPB) and ``Poo ezhthum kavithai'' (Unni Krishnan and Chitra). The cinematography of Raghunatha Reddy is of high standard.