'Chennai 28' star Vijayalakshmi makes an impressive debut as a producer with 'Pandigai' directed by her husband Feroz, who also shows a lot of promise in his first venture. Hero Krishna true to his words has delivered a worthy performance on par with his 'Kazhugu' and 'Yamirukka Bayamey'.
Velu (Krishna) is an orphan with a violent past whose only aim in life is to lead a straight life. He even meets and falls for his dream girl Kaviya (Anandhi) but a random act of violence from him sucks him into the lethal world of illegal boxing which tests his resolve till the very end.
Krishna has worked really hard to nail the character of Velu through his body language and with his eyes projecting the seething rage hidden deep inside. This will be a film for him to cherish for a long time as he comes across as near flawless. Kayal Anandhi looks pretty in the few scenes she has but suffers due to the poorly written character of the typical film "loosu pony". Saravanan after a long gap gives a good account of himself as a weak man Muni, who loses everything in life looking for a quick buck. Madhusoodhanan as the deadly don, Aruldoss as the loan shark, Feeling Suresh and Nithin Sathya (if you are ok with the funny wig) are apt. Karunaas, Black Paandi, Shanmugarajan and Sabareesh are the other actors in the cast.
Cinematographer Aarvee has set the lighting to create a dark mood throughout which works well and has also brilliantly captured the barrage of violence strewn all along the way. Music director R.H. Vikram goes oriental for the buildups and then revs it up for the action, making it a promising fare. Editor Prabahar also deserves praise for a well paced narrative which hide the flawed scripting in the second half.
The first half of the film is well written and executed with the right build up of characters and events which culminate into a killer interval block which leaves us frozen to the seats in anticipation of what could come next. The underground street fight to death sequences are well set and the justified violence keeps one engrossed due to the commendable work of stunt choreographer Anbariv. The dialogues by Feroz himself are simple and at the same time effective with a few lines also translated well in Tamil from Hollywood staples. (“The rules have changed”...” Now there are no rules”).
Writer-director Feroz much like his main characters during the interval block had probably written himself into a corner and takes the easiest way out by switching the genre of the film from a taut thriller to an attempted funny heist movie. The result is like setting up a war tank and creating the expectations of a big blast, but ending up blowing a huge air baloon with it. The violence that is justified and acceptable in the first half becomes blatant in the second. New characters like the twin assassins are thrown in suddenly and the impact fizzles out too quickly. There is also a shot showing Karunaas and Pandi smoking grass during the heist, but it is not exploited neither for fun moments nor any thrills. For all its flaws Feroz has given a film which does not bore the audience or tests its patience at most of its running time.
Verdict: Go for it to witness a truly different type of film, which is thrilling and keeps you engrossed for the majority of the time.
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