Vijay Sethupathi, today rules the roost as one of the most bankable stars in Kollywood who is blessed with immense acting talent as well as the star power. ‘Puriyatha Puthir’ known earlier as ‘Mellisai’ is one of his earlier films that has released after going through production woes for many years and whether it would strike the right chord with the VJS fans remains to be seen.
The film opens interestingly enough as a young girl, presumably the heroine commits suicide by falling of a multi storey building. We are then introduced to Kathir (Vijay Sethupathi) a music director who works part time in a musical instrument showroom and happens to meet Meera (Gayathree) looking for a violin. Without much ado the Kathir falls for Meera and she too accepts him immediately. Then horrible things start happening to Kathir’s friends and an unknown person wreaks havoc on the his life by sending him video clips of Meera in her private moments. The mystery deepens and Kathir becomes an emotional wreck, unable to deduct who he and Meera are against until the climax provides him and us the answers.
A younger Vijay Sethupathi shows glimpses of his future self, emoting beautifully in any given scene, but saddled with a badly etched character he is unable to rise above the script like he usually does. Gayathree with the girl next door look is a perfect fit for the role of Meera and she has brought in the vulnerability that is required throughout the story convincingly. Arjunan as one of Vijay Sethupathi’s friend has nothing much to do while Ramesh Tilak is wasted in a deceptive character that has no justification.
The director has tried to tell a relevant message through ‘Puriyatha Puthir’ which is really a burning issue even now. The film has no vulgarity and most of the scenes are filled with pleasant backgrounds and shot without giving any stress to the eyes. The suspense element is also maintained till the end, which sort of gets one going through the otherwise drab film.
On the downside the film fails mostly because of bad characterizations and also does not build the relationships between the hero and heroine or the hero and his friends for the audience to invest their emotions in them to care about what happens . The songs are placed at the most inappropriate junctures not only hampering the screenplay but also robbing them of their listening values. The suspense is broken in the most absurd way and Mahima Nambiar’s important cameo fails to create the desired impact on the viewers. On the whole the film does have a good idea that could have been woven into a much engaging screenplay rather than giving the impression of an overly stretched short film. The message in the end comes a few year too late as quite a few films have tackled the same issue in recent times.
Sam C.S who made ears and heads turn towards him in ‘Vikram Vedha’ is the saving grace of ‘Puriyatha Puthir’ showing great promise in the background score which provides the emotional impetus in many sequences where the script has failed to do so. Dinesh Krishnan’s cinematography is neat and unhurried and Bhavan Sreekumar for his part has given clean cuts with whatever footage he has been given. Rebel Studio and JSK Film Corporation have gone through a lot of trouble in bringing this film to the screens. One thing Ranjit Jayakodi could have in his defense is the production hassles the film went through that might have hampered his creative execution and so we can only wish him better luck next time.
Verdict : Go for it if you are a fan of Vijay Sethupathi or Gayathree
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