Music: Vidyasagar
Direction: Karu Palaniappan
Production: Karthik Nagarajan
In a season where a growing number of directors appear to be trying to prove their mettle in front of the camera rather than behind it, yet another director debuts as hero in Tamil films. Karu Palaniappan, who has made reasonably thought-provoking films like ‘Parthiban Kanavu’ and ‘Pirivom Sandhippom’, turns hero with ‘Mandhira Punnagai’. To his credit and in all its fairness, Palaniyappan hasn’t done a bad job at all.
Directing a film itself isn’t an easy task; more so if the director happens to be playing the hero in the film, the whole preposition is fraught with dangers. He could ill-afford to show his own character in bad light and at the same time, he can’t glorify it beyond a certain point either. It’s a tightrope walking, particularly with a film of this genre. After exploring human relationships in his first two directorial ventures, Palaniyappan attempts to delve deep into the psyche of human emotions in ‘Mandhira Punnagai’.
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As per the script, Kadhir (Karu Palaniappan) is an intelligent architect known more for his disorderly life than for his work. He shies away consciously by toeing the rule book and obviously becomes the ‘pet hate’ of his neighbours in his apartment. It’s at this point of time that Nandini (Meenakshi), an executive in a car showroom, enters his life and changes it like he never thought it would be possible.
Kadhir works out the architectural plan for Nandini’s office and Nandini gets attracted to his working style and character. Kadhir believes Nandini reminds him of his own mother in certain situations, even as their love affair takes wings and blossoms. A twist takes place in the script in the film which sets the ball rolling for the rest of the film’s events.
The film takes off slowly and seems to take its own time to elicit the viewers’ interest; moreover, it’s too long and drags a bit. The slow start tends to meander in its course while peaking at some select places especially during the flashback sequences but ends up as a mediocre one, terribly disappointing those who would be expecting a ‘different’ end.
Despite having a succulent theme to handle, director Palaniappan slips up in suturing the plot in a coherent manner; it’s the second-half where his screenplay becomes shoddy as he appears to be losing his grip on it. A crisper package and treatment would have done wonders for the film’s prospects at the box-office. To cut a long story short, ‘Mandhira Punnagai’ sorely lacks a powerful screenplay.
Palaniappan and Meenakshi fit their roles. Like we have seen in Palaniappan’s earlier films, the heroine gets a meaty role and in this case, Meenakshi laps up the role and does a fairly decent job of it. Meenakshi, who took to glamour the way ants take to sweets after her ‘homely’ act in her first couple of films, reveals the actress inside her. Palaniappan as the caustic Kadhir is perfect but needs to learn to emulate in emotional sequences as his voice appears to break. Santhanam as Kadhir’s friend is his usual self and his comedy is filled liberally with vulgarish comments. After some successful outings in hi earlier movies, Santhanam’s jigs fall face-down in most places. Thambi Ramaiah, Rishi and others form the supporting cast while Dhananjeyan of Moser Baer appears in a cameo.
Dialogues are the major plusses of the film where ‘pluses’ are scarce. Bhaskar Shakthi deserves to be lauded for his sharp dialogues characterizing the protagonist. Had this ‘punch’ been effectively utilized, the film would have made more impact on the audience than it actually does now.
Vidyasagar’s music is pretty ordinary and does not increase the interest in the film. The songs appear forced ones and are best heard from quite a distance. Ramnath Shetty’s cinematography is just about passable.
Certain questions remain unanswered as to who funded Kadhir’s education enabling him to become a successful architect. ‘Mandhira Punnagai’ would have clicked had the director taken care to cut its minuses and exploit the pluses to the hilt!
