Udhayanidhi Stalin has come a long way since his OKOK days, his maturity in choosing scripts and acting scaled up from Manithan; Pothuvaga Enmanasu Thangam is the actor experimenting himself in a village centric movie. Ponram’s assistant Thalapathy Prabhu makes his debut with the blessings of his guru and brings aboard the signature effect of Ponram’s touch all over PEMT. While Udhay’s boy next door image looks very natural, Parthipen and Soori take a meaty share of the film’s humor as they continue to tickle the funny bone with their one liners.

The story is simple and a few minutes into the movie is anybody’s guess on how it will pan out. Our Hero is someone who wants to do something good for his village desperately with the help of his sidekick and not far away is a Village Zamindar like character who keenly watches the hero’s moves and plans deviously to stop his growth; what happens when the two of them collide forms the story. With a wafer thin script, director Prabhu relies on template humor that tries to build up the respective characters of the hero and villain by suitable sidekicks. Udhayanidhi Stalin and Soori roam freely with cut loose humor by mocking the villagers, while it is indeed funny at the start, goes on to become repetitive. Its no different with Parthipen as he keeps resembling a village hot shot from the retro age who accompanies a sidekick (Mayilsamy) who keeps praising his Boss throughout the duration of the film.

Prabhu has kept the screenplay of the entire movie entertaining, you have to give him that. Right from the start the good knack of humor touch between Udhay and Soori is very light hearted and clean humor at its best. There is no twists or turns, its simply two guys scheming to do something good for their village and so decide the easiest way is to get one of them marry the daughter of the richest guy in the town. Now lets ignore these flimsy situations, for scenes like these pull the movie’s aroma down. Romance has been limited to songs and a few cute scenes, it is business as usual for Tamil Cinema heroines, they just seem to fall in love with the hero’s antics without a good reason. So after building up Udhaynidhi’s intention to save his village in the first half, the director shuttles to the second half where it becomes a cat and mouse game, who wins on what level forms the story.

Udhayanidhi Stalin surely has matured over time, his natural looks certainly is the key aspect of the film. For a film that demands a simpleton to raise his standards for his village, he appears tailor made for the role. There are instances where he keeps referring to his family background, that’s kept in the best possible humor without much heroism, kudos on that. Soori tags along with the hero throughout the film, his presence is a major plus as he continues to utter one liners at the right timing. With a powerhouse actor as Parthipen, you would have expected more scope for the actor. While he exceeds his expected role, the director could have actually used him even better knowing his knack for sarcasm and wit. Still Parthipen makes the best at his disposal with ease. Nivetha after winning hearts in Oru Naal Koothu has little to entertain as a simple heroine who is weak in academics, yet she utilizes it to her best potential.

Pothuvaga Enmanasu Thangam has Ponram’s signature all over, the film is heavily influenced by Varuthapadatha Valibar sangam as the screenplay enters the cat and mouse game between Udhay and Parthipen. While the film on the whole is a watchable commercial entertainer, the predictable screenplay and repetitive humor gives away the weak script.