Pudupettai (2006) - Tamil Movie Review

Ranking: It is either 2/5 or 4/5 depending on who is watching the movie

Cast: Dhanush, Sneha, Soniya Agarwal
Director: Selvaraghavan
Music: Yuvan Shankar Raja

Before the movie released it was commonly assumed that the story line will be similar to Pattiyal as the word was out on the street that both of them were gangster stories. Pattiyal released and went on to become a hit and Selvaraghavan smartly moved the release date of his movie to a later date. This not only helped people to get over the Pattiyal hangover but also helped give Pudupettai its due. It is now a huge hit and there is no denying it.

The story is set in the slums of Chennai where a high school kid Kokki Kumar sees his mom dead after he comes back from watching a movie. His father the murderer is also planning to kill his son Kumar also. Kumar sensing danger runs away from home. Homeless and with no food Kumar resorts to begging until he is wrongly arrested while standing by and watching a commotion on the street. In jail he befriends handymen of a local goon who take Kumar with them and give him petty jobs to do. In a confrontation with goons of another gang Kumar kills the brother of his enemy gang thus earning the respect of his gang and making enemies for himself.

Kumar falls in love with a prostitute Krishnaveni and she moves in with him. Kumar requests his boss who is also Krishnaveni's boss freedom from being a prostitute but he refuses. In a fit of rage Kumar kills his own boss thus becoming the gang leader himself. He helps a lot of politicians during election times and becomes popular in the underworld circle.

He also meets Soniya Agarwal on the eve of her wedding and falls in love with her and marries her forcibly during her wedding ceremony. Soniya is the sister of his favorite henchman who also becomes his enemy and joins the enemy gang. Slowly Kumar starts accumulating enemies and eventually everyone start targeting Kumar's head. Does Kumar survive the wrath of his enemies? forms the rest of the story.

What I did not like about the movie is the violence and bloody gore. I do not need to see so much graphic detail to understand the life of the goons. Really! This movie is more of a hit with predominantly front benchers because of the amount of violence. Had the director done some editing it might helped the movie some more.

The story is nothing we have not heard of before. But it feels very natural. The hero though exhibits superhero qualities in a few instances is not a superhero. He is vulnerable. There are no power dialogues. The hero's thought process suits his level of education and lifestyle. He is not shown wearing boot cut jeans and Nike shoes. His costumes are very apt. The dialogues are also well penned. Dialogue delivery, characterization, casting, music, direction, lighting are all very well done.

In all I would say watch the movie but not with parents or other elders. Also watch it on a DVD so you can forward scenes that might be too visually offensive.