PAATTAALI

A movie review by Balaji Balasubramaniam

K.S.Ravikumar and Sarathkumar have had a fruitful relationship in tamil cinema. The pair has been responsible for hits like Cheran Paandiyan, Naattaamai and Natpukkaaga in the past. While the performance of these movies helped propel KSR into the frontline of tamil movie directors(enabling him to work with stars like Rajnikanth and Kamalhassan), their timely successes helped maintain Sarathkumar's standing in Kodambakkam inspite of innumerable flops. But the magic has not worked this time. Paattali is a cliched tale with several unacceptable turns in the storyline.

Kulasekharan(Vinu Chakravarthy) is a staunch casteist. His son, who has secretly married a girl from a lower caste and has a year-old son too, commits suicide fearing his father's wrath. Following this, Kulasekharan also kills himself, leaving all his wealth to his grandson. The kid Shanmugam, is brought up by his aunt(Sujatha) and her husband(Anandraj). Fearing for Shanmugam's life, Sujatha lies to her husband that she, and not Shanmugam, is the recipient of her dead father's riches and the kid is raised as a servant in their household. Shanmugam(Sarathkumar) thus grows up unaware of the fact that he is the true owner of all the riches. Sakunthala(Devayani), a lower caste girl, loves him while his aunt wants him to marry her own daughter Kannammaa(Ramya Krishnan). But Kannammaa wishes to marry Raja(Bharat Kalyan), her classmate and the wedding is finalised.

The movie is typical KSR fare with the lighthearted initial portions giving way to an overload of sentiments towards the end. As in Minsaara Kannaa, the movie carries itself well when the mood is light. Sarathkumar's antics, when he learns that his aunt wants him to marry Ramya Krishnan, and Devayani's jealous reactions to this are fun to watch. Ramya's character development is also a pleasant surprise. Foreign-returned heroines generally tend to be haughty and arrogant(see Roja in Azhagarsaami, even though she is only from the city), treating the servants and especially the hero, like dirt. But Ramya is more natural in her treatment of everyone around her.

The movie starts to derail once it gets serious. The plight of a man caught between two women has been handled several times before. But it has typically been used for comedy in movies like Veera. KSR takes a different route here and it just doesn't work. The tone is serious and this leads to Sarathkumar's actions seeming unfair to both women. His behaviour does not reflect well on his character. Things also get more ludicrous as the movie progresses. The solution to Devayani's problem is something that no one in their right minds would do. The lie uttered by Sarathkumar and Ramya to Sujatha is completely unnecessary and the following song sequence, even more so.

The cliched climax (which includes stock climax items like a pregnant heroine, a hero rising to the occasion when his loved one is hurt and the traditional turn-around by the villain) is boring and the ending itself should have feminists up in arms. KSR has tried to be different by not employing the usual formula for ending movies of this kind but the solution he has chosen is absurd. This is one of the few cases where following the norm might have been better, even if predictable.

The separate comedy track, which has Vadivelu dressed up as a female to lay his hands on Manivannan's box, is extremely vulgar(as indicated by the numerous snippets of dialogs that have have been scissored by the censors) and unfunny. With scenes like Vadivelu taking a bath and later, 'Kovai' Sarala undressing him, the so-called comedy leaves a bad taste and makes us wish K.S.Ravikumar hadn't sunk so low. Though Manivannan makes himself useful with some serious moments later on, 'Kovai' Sarala and Anumohan are wasted.

Ramya Krishnan comes up with another fine performance after Padaiyappa. She delivers her dialogs naturally and with flair. Her encounters with two people on the temple stairs and her monologue during her first night are her best scenes(the first night scene is terrific with razor-sharp dialogs). She also impresses during her outburst at her parents during the climax. Sarathkumar is adequate. Devayani, for a change appears in several modern outfits(though it is only for the song sequences and one other scene, a setup for a fight). Surprisingly, it doesn't look too odd. S.A.Rajkumar has a couple of good tunes. But the song sequences stand out like sore thumbs with the locations in Malaysia for a movie that is set in a village throughout.