Certain films will catch your attention instantly with the title itself. Undoubtedly ‘Pichaikkaran’ comes under that category. Would anyone keep such an inauspicious word as a title for a film in an industry considered to be highly superficial in everything? Apart from the titular attraction, the names of hero, music director and producer Vijay Antony and director Sasi associated with the film are also obviously the reason for a good buzz around the film strengthened by an interesting trailer. Has the film lived up to the expectations created by these factors?
Arul (Vijay Antony) is the only scion of a multi-millionaire mill owner family in Coimbatore. He comes back to hometown to take over the administration of the family business from his widowed mother. Hells break lose as his mother falls down in coma due to an accident and the medical treatments fail to improve her condition. Heeding to the words of a seer who comes like a sudden divine intervention, Arul decides to live as a beggar for a period of 48 days for the recovery of his mother.
The rest deals with Arul’s life as a beggar in Chennai and whether his efforts of getting back his mother that completely relies on a loose thread of hope, pays off.
Director Sasi’s forte has been selecting a story with human values and emotions and creating powerful scenes with touching dialogues. We have seen this in his previous films ‘Sollamaley’, ‘Dishyum’ and ‘Poo’ and this comes to the in fore 'Pichaikkaran'. That way, 'Pichaikkaran' can be considered as a worthy comeback of Sasi.
The film starts with typical mother-son sentiment scenes and we get the fear that is we are going to be treated with a regular run of the mill melodramatic fare. But once the hero reaches Chennai and starts living as a beggar the film shifts gears and travels neatly throughout of course with a few bumps here and there.
Getting inspired by a real story, Sasi has packaged the film as a good commercial package, with equal dosage of sentiment, romance, action and comedy. All the areas have worked out decently if not brilliantly.
Especially the sentiment part despite touching the lines of cliché and melodrama at times leaves a lump on throat in a few scenes especially in the climax. There are a moments to laugh out loud and clap. The action sequences add a ‘larger than life’ tag for the hero but they don’t mock your sensibilities.
Sasi has dwelled into the day to day lives of beggars who are crossed by most of us by shelling a penny or two if we are in good mindset and by offering free food and gain the satisfaction of having done a "social service" on special occasions like birthdays. The film definitely sheds some light into the real lives of the beggars and also deals with their problems. The beggars do not keep begging 24 hours a day. They have a life. They beg only for quenching their hunger and they have a mind that has thoughts, desires and aspirations. Sasi captures these moments and makes an impact with that. This can be said as the best part of ‘Pichaikkaran’.
The transformation of a millionaire as a beggar has also been neatly and convincingly portrayed and we should appreciate Sasi for not resorting to the easy way out options.
Sasi's dialogues are another big plus of the film. "Oru Rooba podrathukku namakku rendu kannum irukkakoodadhu nu nenaipanga" (For shelling out one rupee they will expect that both of our eyes should be blind) and captures the general mindset that works out behind helping the beggars. There are many such impactful dialogues like this in the film and they get the claps from the audience. Especially the exchanges between the hero and his friend in the pre-climax scene are so neatly written in a way that conveys a convincing reason for the decision of the hero which might have looked highly superficial, initially.
Yes, like every other commercial entertainer this film has its usual problems. There are clichés and commercial compromises. The character sketches are also archaic. The hero's mother is extremely kind, heroine is kinder than her and the hero is kindness and valor personified. He is a man who can beat any powerful goon and make him fall down with his fists and at the same time be compassionate to the good hearted people and the destitute. One might feel that there are quite too many fights scenes for a film like this and the running time is a bit lengthy.
We also get the feeling that the director could have dwelled more deeply in to the lives of beggars and given a holistic picture about them. The writer-director could have also given some screen time for differentiating begging out of desperation and begging out of laziness.
The hero’s Periyappa character could have been done away with though it serves the comedy purpose to an extent. It looks like an addition to create an unexpected problem towards the climax.
Vijay Antony has been showing good progress as a commercial hero in film after film and he follows the trend with 'Pichaikkaran'. He is impeccable in sentiment and action scenes while he could concentrate romance sequences may be a area of improvement for him. Satna Titus in a typical ‘good-hearted girl falling for the hero’ character does make a mark with her good looks and right expressions. Bhagavathy Perumal as the friend cum manager of Vijay Antony gives a neat performance. The artist who has acted as Vijay Anotny’s mother is adequate for her role. The actor who could not control his laughter while his colleagues get beaten up by the hero is a scream.
'Nenjorathil' stands out among the songs of Vijay Antony while the others are passable. Re-recording matches the mood of the scene in most parts. Prasanna Kumar’s cinematography and Veera Senthilkumar’s Editing are adequate for the film.
Verdict: 'Pichaikkaran' makes the right impact as a wholesome entertainer with emotional scenes as his strong base. Go for it.
