Pugazh Tamil Movie

Feature Film | 2016 | U | Drama, Political
Critics:
Pugazh is a film which brims with great intentions up its sleeve but the narration goes haywire with an array of passive dialogues.
Mar 18, 2016 By SMK


Director Manimaaran's Pugazh, his second outing after a relatively long-hiatus from his debut film Udhayam NH4, has its intentions in the right place. But, the volatile screenplay combined with an incompetent lead cast makes it a pedestrian political drama with run-of-the-mill affairs.


The film is set in the backdrop of non-descript town Wallaja in the Vellore district. Pugazh (Jai) is a short-tempered youngster who regularly hangs out with his friends in the nearby play ground, which is the symbol of the town and everyone's hotspot to let their nerves loose. It's quite synonymous to the tea shop in the film Anjala. Here, when a threat looms large to convert the playground into a factory for political purposes, Pugazh stands in the front line of a team of youngsters who express their disapproval and put up a fight to get back the playground.


Jai comes across as naïve at many places and Manimaaran's choice to cast him in the lead role doesn't pass muster. Though he fits the bill as the angry young man and gets to grips with the antagonist (played by Maarimuthu), his stone-faced expressions and plain-spoken dialogues don't help much.


Manimaaran has a bevy of interesting supporting characters in Karunas, who plays a caring brother to Pugazh and singer-turned-actor Piraisoodan, who plays an ardent communist fighting against the state all through his life. Piraisoodan's anti-government, leftist dialogues are, certainly, claps-worthy, but they don't feel coherent in the screenplay. Instead, the dialogues give you a feeling that it's forced just to make us feel victimized about the plight of mid-town areas that are trapped in the cobweb of politics.


The first half moves on finely with fairly engaging contemporary events on politics. However, it loses pace towards the interval and the supporting actor who has played Jai's friend is not up to the mark. RJ Balaji's wisecracks are partly enjoyable and partly monotonous, though he doesn't have much of a role to boast.


Pugazh is a film which brims with great intentions up its sleeve but the narration goes haywire with an array of passive dialogues.


SMK

   

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