Watching a film like POLLATHAVAN transports the viewer to an era bygone-the early 80’s! The movie is a masala filled yarn replete with romance, comedy, action and dollops of melodrama. In today’s age it doesn’t play out too well, however the movie does feature a rather subdued performance by Rajnikanth who along with Laxmi holds the film together.
The movie revolves Laxmi who is travelling with her sister’s son in a train to her new job as a nanny. In the train a sleazebag starts to harass her, yet just as she is about to move the man is shot brutally dead by an angry killer, however the viewer only gets to see the killers blood-filled eyes.
After lodging a complaint with the police, she proceeds to her job where she comes across the girl she is supposed to nanny who is spoilt and stubborn. After a not-so-great start the little girl warms up to Laxmi. At that juncture Laxmi meets the girls father-and it is none other than the killer on the train (who other than Rajnikanth). He keeps her as a hostage in his house against her will. She sees him as a ruthless man and hates him. Via a flashback Laxmi(and the viewer) find out what drove Rajnikanth to the murder.
The story is simple, and one that is predictable from the word go. These types of melodramas were dished out dime-a-dozen in the 80’s, however the difference for me is to see the story in it’s Tamil milieu rather than Hindi. In Hindi one can picture Dharmendra, Shatrughan Sinha or Vinod Khanna in the role with either any number of the 80’s actresses enacting the part played by Laxmi. The screenplay of the movie is good. The movie starts off on an exciting note and I was expecting it to be a suspense/thriller of sorts, however as the movie progressed further I realised it was a drama. The first half establishes the character of Rajnikanth and his relationship with Laxmi, while the second half unfolds his tragedy and what happened with him that led him to take revenge. The climax is predictable to the core yet in the films context makes complete sense.
Director Muktha Srivasan directs the film competently in complete masala mould. He paces his story well and engages the viewer with good doses of comedy, action, romance and melodrama. More importantly, he fleshes out a neat little performance from Rajnikanth. The pace does drop considerably at times making the viewer slightly restless however it does pick up again as well. POLLATHAVAN was made on an extremely low budget for it’s time and the movie turned out to be a surprise hit in 1980.
Rajnikanth portrays his part really well. This is a performance that is without any of his trademarks (cigarette flipping, shawl throws etc) however one that still has the Superstar in complete style in a crowd-pleasing role. His role is one that initially comes across as the films villain and Rajni plays the negative shades in his character with relish and is convincing to the core. He is just as good in the flashbacks as the happy-go-lucky guy and excels in the comic moments with élan. This is a rather subdued performance from Rajni from what I have seen in his other films, and he is just as good here. His bearded get-up and body language(cigarette smoking style, acting drunk) are all well done.
Laxmi is superb! The talented actress exudes confidence and plays her part extremely well. She emotes superbly with her expressive eyes and has great delivery and diction as well as looking beautiful on-screen. She shares superb chemistry with Rajnikanth on-screen as well. Surprisingly 19 y ears later the same Laxmi played Rajnikanths mum in PADAYAPPA.
The supporting cast all play their parts well and are apply cast.
Technically the movie is as expected for the 80’s, and the low budget production values too become all too obvious in parts.
The music of the movie is superb. The songs have been executed well on picturesque locales. The title track has to be my favourite, and one that is extremely infectious and addictive. The song features a drunk and smoking Rajnikanth and has Rajni at his mass appealing best. One feels like dancing while watching Rajni dance with his vibrant energy. I must add there is a definite Bachchan influence in not only this song, but also Rajnikanths performance here.
All up POLLATHAVAN may not prove to be an exciting watch in today’s time; however for fans of Rajnikanth as well as those who enjoy a good old-fashioned 80’s yarn the movie is easily watch able.
Overall Rating=6.5/10.0
Trivia: Rajnikanths son-in-law Dhanush is now starring in a movie titled POLLATHAVAN.
1 comments:
If this was written by you, a small correction in that. Vetrimaran is associate of Balu Mahendra and not Bhoopathi Pandian.
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