In some ways, it is not difficult to sympathize with Parthiban. Whenever he has seriously and sensitively crafted movies, the response from the audience has been good.The same credit goes to Pachchakkuthirra, a film with a committed attempt by Parthiban.
The queer story is set on Pachamuthu (Parthiban), a expletive-mouthing, dark man living in the shadowy world of a slum. His life has no nicety. He even ill-treats his mother and is a man who can stoop even beyond underground.
As it happens, he runs into Poovu (Namitha) when is getting dressed up for her marriage. The manly beast in Pacha is aroused and he walks away with the girl and takes her to bed even before marrying her.
It may seem grossly grotesque. But that is Pacha for you. But Poovu is essentially a simply girl with a nice heart. In another bizarre turn of events, Pacha goes to understand how much the locals love him by pretending to be dead. But the locals rejoice over his death. So Pacha has a turn of hearts and he becomes a nice man and takes on the baddies (money lenders) who have the slum-dwellers under their thumb.
For Parthiban, this is an extension of his roles from Puthiya Pathai to Ullae Veliyae. A baddies turned nice man thanks to a girl who he marries outrageously. But there is no subtlety or nicety to his role or acting. He hams, he mouths outrageous dialogues and in general behaves larger than life.
Namitha is a revelation, in every way with a extraordinary performance. Parthiban has used her glamour parts with no sense of abashment. The scene in which Parthiban sees her for the first time (getting dressed up) is certainly quite glamorous. As an actress, Namitha is first rate. There is an actress in her and Parthiban has given full exposure to that also.
The fights with small ones dressed up like Kamal, Rajini, Vijaykanth, Vijay, Suriya is interesting.
From bad to good is quite a frequent trend of Parthiban, but Pachchakkuthirra is a better attempt to show it with a difference from the earlier movies.
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