Pandigai Movie Review - Pandigai is gripping!!!

PUBLISHED DATE : 14/Jul/2017

Pandigai Movie Review - Pandigai is gripping!!!

Pandigai Movie Review - Pandigai is gripping!!!

Bharath Vijayakumar


Few minutes into Pandigai and you anticipate it to be the story of Velu (a solid Kreshna), a short tempered youngster who is on a self imposed restriction to not get into fights. No, he is not the usual mass hero with a heroic past waiting for the interval block to explode. He suffers from a troubled childhood involving a lot of violence (he is at the giving end most of the time). He sort of abhors violence though he is very good at it. Throw in this situation an underground street-fighting sort of a tournament run by the most notorious criminal in town. Sounds exactly like a premise where the hero would lose his temper at some point to pile up the baddies in a heap. Pandigai does travel partly in this direction but director Feroz keeps changing tracks and throws little surprises in a solid narrative.

 

Pandigai does not have a lot of flab. But there is this romantic track that is a mixed bag. It isn't entirely novel and involves the usually immature girl (to be read as cute in mainstream Tamil cinema) that we are so accustomed to. But it has interesting moments and a certain warmth to it.Most importantly it has a certain relevance to the way in which the plot unfolds. It is the trigger for the hero to get tempted to make some quick money through the street-fighting tournament which apparently has no rules and endless dangers.

 

The most impressive trait of Feroze seems to be his ability to hold back.The action sequences are superbly choreographed but there are at the most 3 action blocks, each with a solid purpose. He has a certain style as well. But this again is quite understated. You never get the impression that the director is trying to emphasize -' Look what a cool filmmaker I am' but he does have a signature style. The film actually shifts genres midway but this almost goes unnoticed. What you thought was essentially a film about underworld street-fighting turns into a heist thriller in the second half. You think of it and the plot does have similarities to 'Raajathandhiram' and even to the recent 'Maanagaram' in parts, in the sense that these two films too had the weak take on a ruthless villain. But each of these films work for different reasons and these are definitely interesting times for Tamil cinema.

 

The actors do a good job. This is probably Kreshna's most convincing performance. It is Pandi who plays the hero's sidekick who is sort of a misfit. It is not about his performance but more about the characterization. His brand of comedy sticks out in this rather serious film. But this is a very minor complaint as there are very few such scenes.

 

Bottomline:


 

Feroz makes a solid impression in his first outing. Pandigai is well made and gripping film mounted on an interesting backdrop.

 

Rating:3/5


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