Reviewed by Kamal
The release of Poda Podi has been quite a wait for the entire unit. The movie failed to start in 2009 leading to few rumors about the movie being dropped but Gemini rubbished the reports and they have finally come out it with it this diwali.
We have seen quite a number of movies down south where an NRI heroine comes down to her hometown and the hero ends up teaching her the Tamil culture. The story of poda podi is somewhat on the same lines only that this happens in London.
Nisha (Varalakshmi) is a happy -go- lucky girl whose only aim in life is to win a dance competition. She meets Arjun(STR) a Tamil guy in London and falls for him and they get married. The first half is about how they complicate each other’s life and the second half is about how Arjun helps Nisha with the competition.
With a very thin story line like this the director has to be given his due for making a movie which is fairly engaging and I guess his short film making has helped him here. STR as Arjun gets a role which hardly requires anything out of him. He makes a decent effort, though it’s high time the star changes his dialogue delivery and stops talking about his previous movies. For Varu sarathkumar this movie has been quiet a debut. She gets a mojor chunk of screen pace and does a neat job. Dubbing her own lines in her first movie is commendable but having stalwarts like Chinmayee, Deepa Venkat, Suchi in the business I wouldn’t recommend her doing it. VTV Ganesh as STR’s uncle is good. He is funny and will make u laugh by mouthing dialogues in his quirky voice. Shobana as Varu’s guardian has been wasted.
On the technical side, Duncan Telford as the DOP is brilliant. He is definitely the movie’s biggest plus point. The movie looks super colourful is a treat to the eyes. Anthony plays his role by keeping the movie short (2hours) though continuity lacks at some places. Thaman’s music has already been topping the charts and with “Love panlama” and “Un Paarvaiyila” he makes us hum along.
After giving us movies like VTV and Vanam Simbhu fails to impress us here. An Average debut for Vignesh who gives us few good moments. Poda podi would have worked if it had a strong storyline. Another big letdown is the dialogues and the climax (which defies logic in every sense).
Poda podi on the whole is enjoyable in parts but largely forgettable.
Rating: 2.5 of 5
