Pokkiri Mannan

The success of Prabhu Deva and Raghava Lawrence seems to have been the only reason why this film has been made. We have another choreographer, Sridhar, turning hero. The dance master was conspicuous in some songs, but he neither has the charisma nor the screen presence of his predecessors to make us root for him as a leading man. He plays Marudhu, a wastrel whose only job is to con Kaali (an unfunny Singampuli), an unwitting NRI, who dreams of becoming a councilor in his village. And as Tamil cinema cliches go, this good-for-nothing man is romanced by a good-looking girl (Spoorthi) and becomes a conscientious person when tragedy strikes in his family and goes after the villains responsible for it.

Tragically for Sridhar, the film is as infuriating as nails on a chalkboard. The plot kicks in only half an hour before the end and until then we are forced to bear with the insufferable shenanigans of Marudhu and his friends as they take Kaali for a ride. Kaali is so naive that he doles out money in cash every time Marudhu's gang asks him. This is essentially the 'comedy track' of the movie and the only thing funny about is that the director seems to believe that using an old song will make anything funny.

Even when the plot (or some semblance of it) becomes apparent to us, the writing and filmmaking are so inept. After Marudhu realizes that it is the liquor that the bridegroom consumed that has resulted in his death, we get a series of fights one after the other. He beats up a guy and gets information about his supplier, goes to that guy and beats him up and gets information on his supplier and so on until he ends up fighting with the villain and his henchmen. And as if the introductory voice-over and the statutory warnings were not enough, we get THE message once again when the film ends — drinking liquor is not only harmful to one's own health but also affects everyone around them. Given the call for prohibition happening all over the state, this is indeed a topical film (in one scene, Kaali says that he doesn't need the votes of women and will win if people who drink vote), but its relevance ends there.