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EDITOR'S PICK
Rating: **
So what does Samuthirakkani as a director want to convey? Encouraging child
prodigies? Treating the mentally-challenged with dignity? The greatness of doing
good for others? The complications of the second marriage of a man who has a
10-year-old son?
Well. Samuthirakkani wants to tell everything and he does tell them with some
emphasis. But the script is written in such a way that mass killing is the
ultimate solution for everything.
Porali speaks about a man haunted by his greedy relatives. He has to
kill a few to avoid getting killed and take shelter in a mental asylum to escape
from the police (how simple!). Then he has to kill a few more to settle the
score once and for all. That is Porali (warrior) in a nutshell.
The Samuthirakkani and Sasikumar combination had tasted success in Subramaniyapuram
(directed by Sasi) and Nadodigal (directed by Samuthirakkani). While
Subramaniyapuram was one of the finest efforts in recent years,
Nadodigal turned out to be a hit despite being raw and shallow.
Now the combo comes back with Samuthirakkani wielding the megaphone and Sasi
playing the protagonist and the result is the same.
Porali, produced by Sasikumar, begins with Kumaran (Sasikumar) and
Nallavan (Allari Naresh) seeking shelter in Chennai in Pulikutty`s (Ganja
Karuppu) room inside a compound that has many houses and a variety of residents.
This variety gives the director a chance to present some fun-filled scenes in
the beginning. Kumaran and Nallavan slowly become the favourites of the compound
with their friendly nature.
Kumaran and Nallavan, working in a petrol bunk, start a side business, which
grows at a dramatic pace (portrayed through montage shots in a song, as usual!).
They soon find the neighbouring girls fall for them for different reasons
though.
Kumaran for some mysterious reasons runs away from Bharathi`s (Swathi) love. But
he finally obliges seeing the stubbornness of her love.
You guessed it right. The twist comes here, when everything seems to be going on
well. A group of people lands in Chennai in search of Kumaran and the friends
are on the run to escape from them.
The group says these two have serious mental illness and that they have escaped
from a mental asylum. Bharathi refuses to believe this and Kumaran tells her his
past that has some bitter and bloody incidents in his native place involving his
step mother`s family and their cruel acts.
The flashback also shows how he landed up in a mental asylum. Now the same
people are hunting him to kill him.
The rest of the movie shows how he faces the challenge.
The director hasn`t cared for any finesse or reasoning in his narrative but he
was very keen that it should be fast paced. The movie does move fast but it is
found wanting in presenting the story convincingly.
Everything happens like a magic. The fun element seen in the first half is raw
and repetitive. The director gives little space for imagination in the climax
and the scenes leading to it. He simply makes his hero a one-man army to settle
scores.
The scenes portraying the happenings in mental asylum and those involving
Vasundhara have been executed well.
Sasikumar handles the warrior part with ease. But he has got a long way to go
when it comes to handle soft emotions. Allari Naresh is competent. His portrayal
of mental illness is stunning. Swathi adds some colour to the narrative. Kanja
Karuppu and Suri provide some fun.
Kathir`s cinematography is good. Sundar C. Babu`s music is loud.
The film is for those who would like to get entertained without bothering about
finer elements and reasoning.