Papanasam - Movie Review

Papanasam Movie Review - Creatikaa

My Rating - 4.25 / 5

It’s been years, Kamalhassan appeared in dhoti. His last outing in traditional wear was in Mahanadhi, which released in 1994. It was super-hit national award winning movie highlighting corruption and child-trafficking. After nearly 20 years, he is back with his traditional wear in this movie Papanasam. And you know what; there is no controversy this time for his movie. Strange but TRUE! I was panic-stricken after hearing the news that Uttama Villain’s (Click here to read its review) shows has been cancelled on the first day, thank God none of the shows has been cancelled on the next day.

Papanasam is a remake of the yesteryear blockbuster Mollywood movie Dhrishyam, featuring Mohanlal as a lead. Initially, Jeethu Joseph (Director) approached Rajnikanth for this movie, which didn’t work out. Trust me, Papanasan wouldn’t have come up this way featuring Rajnikanth in lead. It is because of Kamalhassan and his casual approach to the script that made this movie charming.

Let us go deep into the movie with the main review. It is basically story, screenplay, performances and music here.

What makes you stay seated?

The story and screenplay are stand-out performers in this movie. Suyambulingam (Kamal Hassan), a movie enthusiast, is a self made middle class man.  His hard-working nature fetched him as well as his family a blissful life. Suyambu is an illiterate, yet intelligent man which was inculcated through cinema. Everything goes fine until a playful young guy Varun (Roshan) comes into the picture, who simply shatters their happiness. Varun blackmails Selvi (Nivetha), Suyambu’s daughter with a video of her, captured without her knowledge and demanding her modesty in return which cost his life. The search for his body begins as Varun happens to be the son of an IG Geetha Prabhakar (Asha Sarath). It was a riveting state of affair between the IPS officer, who is in search of her son and a common man, who is safeguarding his family.

There is more than one sub-plot in the script, i.e. family bonding, investigation, suspense, yet it has been handled well in order to keep the audience seated. The second-half of the movie was the best as the investigation is at its peak, cornering Suyambu even without any valid evidence. Dialogues were crisp and crunchy. The setting was pleasant and pleasing with lush green atmosphere, thanks to Sujith Vasudev (Cinematographer) whose has made wonders with his lens. Scene by scene transition was perfect as it keeps the clock ticking.  Appreciation must go to Jeethu Joseph, who not only conceived the story, but also presented it with a gripping screenplay.

Performance was another interesting and important element in this movie. What else can you expect from the movie featuring some heavyweights of the industry? Kamalhassan, being a religious follower of cinema, has relived as Suyambu in this movie. His unfussy attitude and effortless dialects were a valuable addition to this script. Asha Sarath as IG was remarkable. As the matter of fact, the pace picks up only after her arrival. Nivetha and baby Esther has done their part neatly to perfection.

Music was very light and soothing, just like the greeneries shown in the village. Be it a romance, calm village symphony, sad family drama, suspense-thriller note or brain-tapping investigation, this movie has offered everything in the musical department. And Gibran has done it again joining hands with Kamalhassan followed by Uttama Villain, where he had a dream run. Can we expect a hat-trick from this duo with Visvaroopam-2 on cards?

What would have been better?

The movie took time to gain momentum as the introduction of characters was not that interesting and engaging. Dialogues by Jayamohan were not so engaging in the initial 20 minutes and so the scenes were not so smooth, instead it was just grabbed towards the ultimate clash. Gautami was a clear-cut drawback in this movie as she stood disconnected with the entire script. Her portrayal of Rani wasn’t very natural that seemed to disturb the flow of the plot.

As you can see, the negatives were very meagre when compared to the positives. Papanasam is a perfect blend of love, lust and fury.

Bottomline

Watch Papanasam for its enthralling screenplay and noteworthy performances. 

My Rating

Story - 4.5 / 5

Screenplay - 4.5 / 5

Performance - 4 / 5

Music - 4 / 5

Watch the trailer here...

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