PAAGAN LOSES THE PATH MIDWAY

by Bharath Vijayakumar

Post 'Nanban', Srikanth had promised that he would be choosing his scripts more carefully. 'Paagan' his latest release, that hit the screens shows Srikanth’s conscious effort to foray into comedy. It works well till the movie is high on the humour quotient. Only when things turn a little serious, ‘Paagan’ seems to lose a bit of its steam.

While the basic premise seems to portray the friendship between a youngster and his bicycle in a novel way, the movie tries to chew in more than it can swallow in the second half. The first half is quite enjoyable with more emphasis on humour. The movie could have worked better if it had maintained this feel throughout.  The second half has a dry feel to it with not many interesting or entertaining elements. And the biggest letdown is the climax. It seems unwarranted and fails in its intention to bring a poetic ending. It looks disjointed from the rest of the film. The initial half hour nearly makes you sit up and you even wonder if this is a movie that is going to stand out from the crowd.  The emotional bond between the kid and his bicycle is brought out beautifully in this period. The main plot then unfolds before us in the viewpoint of the bicycle itself - A novel attempt indeed.

Plot

The movie is about a how a youngster who comes to understand the value of hard work through his love. Initially Srikanth and his friends come up with a lot of silly plans to make it big in life overnight. None of it works. One such idea is to marry a rich girl and settle in life the easy way, a la Dhanush in Thiruvilaiyaadal Aarambam. But things turn topsy-turvy when the girl decides to elope with Srikanth against the wish of her father.

Performance

Srikanth looks fresh and appealing. His subtle performance has always been quite good. It is in the humour sequences that he has always looked a bit over the top (remember Bambara Kannaley). That seems to be corrected in Paagan and he is at home in the comic portions. This is a neat and convincing performance from the hero. Janani Iyer who made an impression in Avan Ivan plays the heroine.  She needs to be appreciated for dubbing in her own voice and there is nothing you can fault in her performance. However her character seems poorly etched and reminds us of heroines who were seen more than a decade ago. Soori and Paandi who play Srikanth’s friends along with Kovai Sarala play their part well in evoking laughter. Some people might find some of the comical scenes a little contrived and loud mouthed but on the whole there are a quite a lot of scenes that bring out genuine laughter. Watch out for Kovai Sarala’s performance in the scene where she comes to know that Janani has come empty handed to their home. George as Srikanth’s father also impresses both in humour and sentiment. Director Venkatesh’s role as the heroine’s dad is very shallow and incomplete.

Songs by James Vasanthan do not hurt your ear. At the same time, you are not drawn to them either in the first listen. Though the duets sound melodious their unimaginative and monotonous picturisation hampers the flow of the film.

Bottomline

Despite apprenticing under Ameer, debutant director Sultan needs to be appreciated for making a movie that is entirely different from his master’s style of film making. Paagan starts of as a feel good entertainer and it does entertain you until it is that.  It is the second half with a lot of beaten to death scenes and a climax that play spoilsport on Paagan.