You know what to expect when you enter a Hari film. With a proven track record as a safe bet filmmaker there is a reasonable amount of buzz around Poojai. Does the film have enough to lighten up the festive mood?

Plot:

You might not give much importance to it and it looks like the director too felt the same. Vishal plays an angry young man who safeguards his family from a hardcore criminal with his fist power.

Cast:

After his recent films that were a little closer to reality Vishal goes back to doing what defined him in his initial days. While that might not be a huge dampener the film offers very little scope for him to make an impression. Shruthi Haasan is adequate and does what is expected of her in such a film. Sathyaraj is completely wasted. Soori hams it up throughout the film. While it is extremely irritating at the beginning we get used to it and he does offer a few smiles later.

Crew:

Yuvan’s music is nowhere close to his best. The stunts are laughable with Vishal’s physique being the saving grace as it offers some authenticity to it. The editing was probably done as fast as the film moves. Scenes are cut so quickly and we hardly have time to think.

Direction:

Pace is Hari’s strength and Poojai has that intact. While almost every scene in the film is trollable Hari succeeds by giving us no time for it. But that apart the film is a dampener. You do not invest your time with any of the characters in the film. The decibel levels are kept to the maximum from the start and there is no respite even during the supposedly comical portions. Vishal and Shruthi keep talking about something called as ‘moral’ and ‘ethical’ love. But what is that exactly?  Given that we assume what it is usually in these sort of films then it is conveniently forgotten during the song sequences.

Bottomline:

A standard template Hari flick with pace being the only saving grace. Why the film is called Poojai? No idea but it would have hardly mattered even it had been named anything under the sun.

Rating:2.25/5