Pokkiri Raja Tamil Movie
Pokkiri Raja is an ambitious effort from director Ramprakash Rayappa, who made heads turn with his surefooted debut in 'Tamiluku En Ondrai Aluthavum'. But, the ambitions in his intentions and on paper don't get transformed on screen with the same verve.
Though one feels the urge to shower praise on Ramprakash for producing a genre-bending film by infusing a zany fantasy element, within the confines of romance-comedy routine, it is evidently plagued by the erratic story-telling that loses its footing in the first half itself. After a slipshod flow of events in the first half to establish the character set-up, Ramprakash gradually tries to connect with the audience by giving wings to the fantasy element few minutes before the interval block. But, it becomes too late by then.
Sanjeevi (Jiiva), a happy-go-lucky guy, suffers from a peculiar medical condition - excessive yawning. However, when this medical condition turns into an unusual superhuman strength as the story progresses, the movie picks steam in the second half. Hansika (Sunitha) falls in love with Sanjeevi solely because the director has asked her to do so. There's no other reason that could be found in the movie as well. Once Sanjeevi's yawning becomes contagious and starts to affect his fellow colleagues in the office, everyone views him as a hostile human being but Sunitha.
Meanwhile, there is a parallel track for Cooling Glass Guna (played by a complete miscast Sibiraj); a gangster who everyone is scared of in the city because he has gone to jail several times and has recklessly spearheaded twelve murders. When Sanjeevi comes face to face with Guna due to an unfortunate incident, the cat and mouse game between the two begins.
Ramprakash has totally relied on comedy as a single driving factor for the film and he has failed miserably and let the audiences, whom he earned immensely with his directorial debut, down in his journey for his second movie. The comedies are awfully staged with amateurish narrative techniques that are replete with deadpan humor. The only enjoyable stretch in the film is the slapstick situation in the second half between Guna and his henchmen, especially Munishkanth, who particularly walks the talk in the scene.
Overall, Pokkiri Raja, which is billed as a fantasy comedy, is a missed opportunity and quite an expensive experiment at the behest of a fairly good lead cast.
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