PORIYAALAN MOVIE REVIEW

Vetrimaaran's production company Grass Root Film Company, has produced this medium budget flick, interestingly titled as 'Poriyaalan', meaning an engineer ! The film's plot is based on civil engineering projects and the protagonist plays a civil engineer (Vetrimaaran and Dhanush, seem to be on the same wavelength !). Written by Manimaran, who previously wielded the megaphone for Vetri's 'Udhayam NH4' and directed by debutante Thanukumar, can Vetrimaaran produce a quality output ?

Harish Kalyan looks comfortable and at ease in essaying his role. But he lacks screen presence and charisma to hold our attention, which he should improve, if he's to do more protagonist roles. Rakshitha/Hasika/Anandhi (hope she zeroes a name, very soon !) looks demure and fits the bill. She has a pleasing personality and comes out with subtle performances. With better directors and scripts, she can go places. Achutha Kumar was functional was the atypical Tamizh cinema villain, whereas its veteran artiste Mohan Raman, who surprises us with a terrifically nonchalant performance ! The rest of the cast includes 'Delhi' Ganesh, Naren, Mayilsamy, Ajay Rathnam, 'Munnar' Ramesh, Udhayabanu Maheshwaran, 'Crane' Manohar, Bava Lakshmanan and etc.

'Tiger' Babu's action choreography may seem to be functional, but it just did not suit the personality of Harish Kalyan, and gives out an exaggerated feel, which definitely, is a turn off. G.B Venkatesh's editing is slick and he keeps the pace of racy, especially in the second half, bar some unwanted songs and stunt scenes. R.K Vijay Murugan's art work sufficed the needs of the script. His set properties were very apt, especially for the middle-class homes depicted in the film. R.Velraj is in charge of cinematography and though the ace cinematographer tries his best to come up with good visuals, the quality is obviously missing. The songs look lackluster and even his forte of night shots, look dull. 

M.S Jones' music is below average and none of the songs, manage to stick with our minds. "Porappu Erappu" is the introductory song for the protagonist and the song has a celebration theme, with low-cost flats, as its background. Gana Bala makes a cameo appearance in this song. "Kan Rendum" sung by G.V Prakash Kumar and Saindhavi, is a melody shot on the lead pair and has full of montage sequences, which doesn't really leave any impressive impression on us. "Yedhedho Sila" is another melody shot on the lead pair and this romance track was shot on the backwaters of Alleppy, Kerala and has its famous houseboats, as a venue. "Haryana Devathai" is an item number, which was unfortunately, very boring. The background score was overwhelming and often drowns the proceeding of the screenplay. M.S Jones, should be more careful with his rerecording and try not to overdo his work.

Manimaran's story is a very simple thriller plot line, which has the typical scandals and scams being the main theme. The screenplay was neat and plays safe by incorporating all the commercial elements into it, but the story picks up pace in the second half and the detailing is worth mentioning. We get to see the other side of civil engineers, real estate projects, brokers & agents and all the hanky-panky issues of that side of the world, which we might not know. Though the film is filled with realistic approaches, the negative points of the film, brings down the thrill quotient. The film lacks energy and strong characterizations. The characters have a basic sketch about them, but other than that, the characters lack depth and is pretty insipid. Mohan Raman's character was a surprise exception ! The romance, comedy and song sequences really pulls down the momentum of screenplay but Manimaran tries to keep us engaged with some poignant touches here and there, especially in the manner the protagonist faced and managed his love affair, once it becomes an open secret. The dialogues are crisp in those portions, but the execution in the direction department by Thanukumar is not up to mark. The film has a good content and subject matter but it faltered in the making.

'Poriyaalan' - A B-grade thriller, not going right !


Ratings: 2.25/5 STARS

BY:TAMIL