Starting off with the lead, actor Sathya, the younger brother of Arya, finally makes his screen debut through this film. He passes muster with a decent performance, though there are evident sequences in the film, where he tries to ape his more-popular brother. With more experience, Sathya can climb up the ladder, but definitely he has a lot to catch up, especially in the emoting and dialogue delivery. The pretty Rakul Preet Singh, makes her debut as a leading lady in Tamizh cinema, after her small role, in the decent, gritty thriller, 'Thadaiyara Thaakka'. She looks more comfortable in her role and got her lip sync (dubbing done by Renuka Kathir) right, but her final output needs more conviction. Sanjay Barathi (the son of actor-director, Santhana Barathi) and Vignesh of 'Kadhalil Sodhapuvadhu Eppadi' fame, delivered sincere and honest performances. Jagapathi Babu was nonchalant in his role as the cool private detective, and aided by a less-convincing Rachana Maurya. There's a big gang of seasoned artistes such as Suresh, Aishwarya Rajesh, Manobala, Santhana Barathi, 'Thalaivasal' Vijay, 'Crazy' Mohan, Delhi Ganesh, Uma Padhmanabhan, Fathima Babu, MJ Shriram and etc, enacting important and minor roles in the film. All of them lived up to the expectations and most of them would have just cruised in their roles, with ease.
The film carries decent work on the technical front. Gita Gurappa's audiography was spot on. Dhilip Subbarayan choreographed decent stunt sequences, which suited the characters performing those sequences, be it the nervy Sathya or the composed Jagapathi Babu. G.K's art direction was simple and neat. His detailing for the bachelors' apartment, the middle-class home interior, club settings, television channel office suits, everything was just fine and good enough for the script. Kevin's editing was flawless and he made sure that the progression from one scene to the other, was smooth. One person, who must be credited for making the film look colorful, is the cinematographer, J.Laxman. He has brought out the colorful and fun-loving life of the youngsters and at the same, maintained a dark-look theme for the more serious portions. Also, he has portrayed Rakul in a very pretty manner, through his lenses. His camera-movements, especially for the action sequences are noteworthy.
James Vasanthan's music was passable, but not good enough to hold our attentions, thoroughly. "Kondaadathaan", is a typical youngster's opening song, which had quite a few cut-shots and picturized in theme parks and a few Chennai landmarks. "Mella Pookudhe", is a typical James Vasanthan melody, which was picturized on the lead pair, romancing around a majestic looking building, in Thailand. Rakul was looking pretty in the sarees, which were designed by S.Subbarao. "Italica" is a dull and lame club song, shot with the item girl Rachana, performing in typical, night-club settings, which had decent lighting. "Say That You Love Me" was shot on the sandy and picturesque beaches of Pattaya, Thailand on the main lead artistes of the film. The final song, "Money is Funny" was shot in a music-video style, picturized on all the artistes involved in the film, with a stage and LED-screen as its backdrop, showing currencies of various countries. The song appears during the end-credits and has also some bloopers, inserted in it. The background score was a tad decent enough for the film.
Vijay Adiraj's intention was to make a taut and neat thriller. Though the intention was honest, the execution was far from being flawless. A thriller needs to be engaging and be crisp in the length of the film. But 'Puthagam' drags a lot in the first half, which makes us wonder, where is the film heading to. The suspense and thrills only begin just before interval, making us to endure all the unnecessary comedy and sentimental portions, which looked more suited for a normal television serial. Though Guhan Sreenivasan's dialogues are quirky and smart in some portions, the film had plenty of lengthy dialogue sequences, which extends the duration of the film, even longer. A knock-on effect of being a veteran of the television circle, Vijay ? Though it was cheeky of Vijay to add a small twist in the end, the audiences could have already lost interest in the film, due to its uninteresting narration. The final twist does hint us of a potentially exciting sequel, but the question of will it be worthy or not, depends on the improvisation skills of Vijay.
'Puthagam' - A flawed attempt in making a racy, crispy and taut, commercial thriller.
Ratings: 2/5 STARS
BY:TAMIL
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