When a super hit film was to be remade in Tamil, usually a great excitement will spread all around. When the film announced to be remade was Malayalam blockbuster Drishyam` with the same director handling the mantle, the excitement was naturally huge. And when Kamal Haasan, one of the finest actors was finally brought on board to reprise the role played by Mohan Lal, another celebrated actor of the country, the excitement went beyond boundaries.

But the journey of Papanasam` which began in mid 2014 and has released after one year was not just about the excitement and positive mood. No other film, especially a film with a star as huge as Kamal Haasan, has been surrounded by such negative vibes or cynical comments of the naysayers in the recent times.

The poor response to Kamal`s previous film Uttama Villain` that released just a couple of months ago also increased the number of people who were skeptical about Papanasam`.

However, within a few hours after its worldwide release Papanasam` has received a flurry of positive reviews pouring in from various corners including overseas viewers and reviewers and also heading towards a box office success. More importantly the film has rubbished the pre-release assumptions of the naysayers. Everything that was expected to bring negativity for the film has actually been not just positive but also the most appreciable aspect of this film.

We are just listing you how the teamwork behind Papanasam` has turned banes into boons.

Only Kamal Haasan… no Geroge Kutty?

There will never be an end to the argument on who is better as an actor- Kamal Haasan or Mohan Lal?. For real movie lovers both of them are fantastic actors and treasures to Indian cinema. But the fact that Kamal interferes in almost every aspect of his films and the enthusiasm to give his master touch to whatever character he plays unlike the Malayalam superstar made a section of people feel that the essence of the lead character may be spoilt. Some even went on to say that we can see only Kamal on the screen and not the lead character.

But after the release everyone is celebrating Kamal`s acting in the film as the caring and clever middle class, middle aged father Suymabulingam. In fact, this role for which Kamal did not have to work overtime in makeup etc, is celebrated as the best performance of Kamal in recent times. Mainstream reviewers say that this is probably the best in this decade for Kamal as an actor and that is because his work in this film is limited as an actor.

This is mainly because Kamal`s Suyambulingam is different from Mohan Lal`s George Kutty in a few but important aspects. Perhaps to suit Tamil sensibilities and the specialty of Kamal`s way of acting Suyambulingam is a bit emotional while George was calm and composed. This was clearly evident in the pre-climax scene where the lead character subtly reveals the truth.

Suyambulingam cannot be called a replica of George Kutty but his apt substitute who exactly fits into the setting like a T. They have similarities as well as dissimilarities The Director and the writers deserve special credit for creating such character sketches.

Why is it needed now?

Kamal is not just an actor, but also a creator. Most of his fans love him for his writing skills as well. So a section of Kamal fans felt that what`s the need for Kamal to take up a remake, while there are hundreds of original subjects which the multi talented actor can give his master touch to?

Adding to this Unnaipol Oruvan` the last remake film of Kamal did not perform so well in the box office and critics said Nasureedin Shah`s acting in the original (A Wednesday`-Bollywood film) was better.

Now Papanasam` is being appreciated as not only the best ever remake of Kamal but also one of the best remakes in the history of Tamil cinema.

Will the script suit our taste?

Drishyam` despite being a thriller had a slow narrative style, at least in the first half. The script takes its own time to establish the character of the protagonist (that he is an uneducated but clever and street smart, cinema fanatic, economic but not miser etc) to justify the successful execution of his brilliant plans (in the second half) to destroy the proofs of occurrence of a murder in his home and make it invisible to the outside world. The film also warrants complete attention of the viewer throughout. People felt that these two aspects may be suitable for lovers of Malayalam films, but may not go down well with the Tamil movie buffs who are by and large presumed as entertainment seekers.

Papanasam` has proved that a good script neatly executed on screen will work with any kind of audience. While watching in theatre even those who were seen looking at their smart phones during the initial scenes in the first half did not take off their senses from the screen once the script moves to its main crisis.

3 hours…!!! Who has the patience???

This was the reaction of some people when it was told that Papanasam` will run up to 181 minutes and it is 17 minutes longer than the Malayalam version. The Kannada and Telugu remakes of Drishyam` that have released before were even shorter with a running time of 154 and 150 minutes respectively.

People said how come a thriller can be watched for three hours, that too at a time when the preference for shorter films is increasing?

But the critics as well as audience find only the character establishment sequences as lengthy and no one complained about the length of the film being 180 minutes. The major response of the audience has been that they could notice that the film ran for three hours only when the film actually ended. Such was the tight narration of Jeethu Joseph`s screenplay.

And the extra time over the Malayalam original has been justified as in the Tamil version a few more scenes and explanations, the inclusion of the Swamiji character, for example were added to make the alibis created by the protagonist even more reliable.

Unheard sound?

Slangs and dialects are not new in Tamil films. A few years back there was a complaint that most films are set in Madurai and its surrounding small towns and only the Madurai dialect could be heard in Tamil films. The dialect of Nellai and its nearby cities has also been used in Tamil films, albeit not as much as Madurai.
But the efforts to handle Nellai or Thirunelveli Tamizh in most of such film has been limited to addressing male characters with the letter ley` or vey` as suffix and a few other terms that are commonly famous. But Nellai dialect goes way beyond such common understandings.

Thanks to the inclusion of writer Jeyamohan (dialogue writer) and Suga (creative enhancer who trained the artists including Kam