PAPANASAM - The 'VINTAGE KAMAL' is BACK!

Papanasam - The 'vintage' Kamal is back~ 

Cast - Kamal is Suyambulingam, Gautami as Rani, Nivedita Thomas as Selvi, Esther Anil as PulliMeena, Kalabhavan Mani - Contable Perumal, Asha Sarath as IG Geetha Prabhakar, Ananth Mahadevan as Prabhakar, Delhi Ganesh as Rani's Father, Arul Doss as Inspector Ramesh Babu and many others

&Crew - Dir/Story/S.P - Jeethu Joseph, D.O.P - Sujith Vassudev, Music- M.Ghibran, Edit- Ayoob Khan, Dialogue - Jeyamohan

Producers - Wide Angle Creations & Raj Kumar Theatres

Anyone would go miles to watch a vintage Kamal in action! Truly an awe inspiring performance done with such ease and aplomb which only an actor of Kamal's calibre can do! and he is truly second to none in the field of acting. All our 'so' called big time hero's have a lot to learn from this man and will still have miles to go to catch up with this actor.

The film revolves round an illiterate self made cable operator Suyambu lingam (I somehow get the feeling that this name was conceived by Kamal - to symbolise Vishnu (Swayambu) and Shiva (Lingam)) who simply dotes his family of four his wife Gauthami as Rani, daughters Nivedita as Selvi and Esther as Pullimeena other than himself. He is an ardent film buff and an encyclopaedia of sorts. He remembers every scene in detail from the films he has watched. He is a normal down to earth villager but is extremely street smart. His families peace and calm is shattered by the entry of a young boy the son of a high ranking female officer (Inspector General of police) in the life of his eldest daughter Rani who unknowingly falls prey to his lecherous desires and blackmail. 

The first half starts rather slowly and in my opinion the director rather overdoes the part of establishing the characters a tad bit. In fact a couple of scenes featuring Kamal - Gautami & Kamal and his family appear like a scene from a TV serial. A 15 min cut in the first half would have served the film better. Whereas the same 15 mins could have been added in the second half which would have enhanced the value the film in my opinion. I will explain why and how in just a bit. Coming back to the plot the film picks up pace in the second half ; the screen play, the inter locking, tying up and characterisation of the scenes, acting, cinematography editing and BG totally transforms the film into a totally watchable thriller. 

The lady police officer Geetha Prabhakar's portrayal is mostly believable. Why mostly? The way the lady officer finally deduces the way the crime was committed and explains it in such detail and clarity makes it slightly flawed. Instead the director should have left a few unsolved blanks in her assumptions which could have been later filled in by certain incidents in real time (here another 10 mins of exciting footage could have been added) or by the viewers. Second the police constable Perumal (Kalabhavan Mani) under the lady officers instructions brutally tortures Kamal and beats his family to a bloody pulp. Finally in not getting a confession she loses her cool and explodes in anger. Her husband Prabhakar (Ananth Padmanaban) takes her in to calm her down. In private she breaks down. At this point one single dialogue could have been added while expressing to her husband her reasons for breaking down that would not only have clearly explained the inner conflict of the lady officer but also her feeling for Kamal's family as a mother - ' Look! I am torn between the truth of finding the truth as a mother but at the same time saddened to use such terrible methods of torture to bring out the truth on this family, especially on the children as she (Gautami) is also a mother!". Other than these two points of contention there is very little to complain about this film!

& the climax - This is when and where a vintage Kamal takes total control of the proceedings by a mind blowing performance which no one in today's Tamil cinema can emulate! He is ably supported by Ananth Mahadevan and Asha Sharath.

Acting - Kamal at his best, Asha Sharath as the IPS officer, Ananth Padmanabhan,Kalabhavan Shajon as the police constable,Niveada Thomas and Esther Anil - very good, Gautami as the wife -good, and finally the rest of the cast have ably supported the premise very well !

Director - Has remade the film well; but I thought the media reaction to the torture was rather archaic. Today's media is  very much more proactive. The film - Truly a Malayalam director's forte - An investigative thriller - One such example  'Oru CBI diary Kurripu"

D.O.P - To the tee. Has ably supported the director. Good framing & lighting especially the 'Papanasam' locations ( though I got the feeling that they were shot in Kerala). Even the shots in the rain and the night scenes were well pictured. 

Some shots I thought looked overdone after doing the DI.

Edit - Very good! Especially the last scene when Kamal walks out of the police station. A cut of 15 mins in the first half would have served the film better.

Music - BG score good. Songs So! So!

Bottomline - Director's call; Kamal's show!

Finally a quote - "The PLOT should thrill; not the blood and gore!"

MY RATING - 3.75 minus .25 for being a remake employing seasoned actors - Total 3.5/5

Until Next Time,

Director Haricharan

3/7/2015