Paagan Review

Comedy sells. 'Paagan' is one such film. It is a light-hearted take on a youth, who is obsessed with his bicycle. It is no nonsense stuff as debutant filmmaker Aslam has tried to weave a strong message through the flick.

There are no shortcuts to success. Work hard and achieve your goal. This may sound a moral preaching. But thankfully, Aslam has laced it with impressive events to make it an interesting watch. The title may be little confusing, as Paagan means the caretaker of an elephant. But here the synonym for elephant is the male proganist's bicycle. The intelligence of the filmmaker is visible as he chose to narrate the movie through the eyes of a bicycle.

Srikanth, the 'Nanban' star, shoulders all the burden in 'Paagan'. He lives the role of a simpleton youth Subramani. There is fun, anger, agony and anguish which Srikanth diplays well. But with his chocolate boy looks, he looks a little alien for the role at few places.

Janani Iyer who impressed one and all with a superlative performance in 'Avan Ivan', seems to have continued it well here. At the same time, her character is too cliched restricting her scope to perform.

Subramani (Srikanth) is a fun-loving youth. His life is his bicycle. He lives for and loves his bicycle the most. He wants to succeed in life in the quickest possible way with no hard labour. He along with his friends Velliyangiri (Paotta Suri) and  Makali (Pandi) try to become rich. All their efforts get busted and also lands them in trouble.

Now they plan a big one. That is to catch a big fish. The idea is to ensure that Subramani must fall in love with the local bigwig's daughter Mahalakshmi (Janani Iyer), whose riches he would naturally inherit. They try to execute their plans. When things seems to go their way, all hell breaks loose and Subramani lands into bigger troubles.

Srikanth should be thankful that there is no big mouthed dialogues or mass commercial elements that takes away the sheen form the story. He understands his character and gives his best. Parotta Suri is good and evokes laughter. A Venkatesh plays a cameo. Though appears in very few scenes, Kovai Sarala walks away with honours.

James Vasanthan's music is average with just a couple of hummable tunes. J Laxman's cinematography is pleasant. He captures Thirupur and Pollachi bright and beautiful. Kevin's editing is okay.

'Paagan' has its lacunae too. The second half is little draggy. The script at places provides a deja vu feel and lengthy dialogues mar the flow.

In the end, 'Paagan' is a film that is entertaining in most parts.