For all those from the young generation who are lamenting about the lack of well made mass masala entertainers in Mollywood movies, this is the answer. A movie about campus violence and family ties, with breathtaking visuals and foreign shot songs, a killer sound track, stunning action sequences and ofcourse, the most appealing hero from the younger lot Prithviraj, in top form.....What more do you expect from an youthful movie? `Puthiya Mukham' directed by Deepan, an erstwhile associate to action director Shaii Kailas, is one such film that is definitely made after realising the demands from the young viewers.
The movie's story is not much a refreshing stuff, once again the regular in the good triumphs over evil mould. Prithviraj is Krishana Kumar alias Kichan, a Brahmin boy bred in typical traditional modest backgrounds at Kalppathy. He, with an extra ordinary potential in music and in playing mridangam is living a quiet life teaching music to children and enjoying his love life with Sreedevi (Meera Nandhan), the daughter of their family friend for which they have the blessing of the elders.
Kichan joins a college in the city for pursuing his engineering degree. From the very first day he becomes the soul mate of his fellow students due to his mastery in playing music, which also makes him in the hit list of the baddies in the college headed by Sudhi (Bala), the youngest of the real estate mafia brothers in the city. Moreover Sudhi's fiancee Anjana (Priyamani) also develops an interest in his friendship, which many misunderstands as love. This leads to much suffering for Kichan from the hands of Sudhi and his gang whose continuous torture leaves him a wreck. Forced to step out of the college due to the intense thrashes, Kichan is taken for psychiatric treatments, but decides to take on the villains on his comeback trail.
Even though in this regular story, young director Deephan has managed to create a decent well knit, fast paced action entertainer. Taking the positive influences from `Sethu' to `Anniyan' and `Ghajini', almost everything in the movie is well groomed and realised, though that typical action sequences where the hero is always daring enough to thrash any number of thugs at one go is not convincing enough.
Prithviraj definitely rocks in his two avatars and clearly reminds everyone that he is in the start for another success spree as the most promising youngster in business. With his well built looks, tough voice and stare, he has managed to create the needed impact though with limited dialogues.
Every others in the cast are apt to the roles with a special mention to Bala who for the first time has shown his mettle as a serious actor. Meera Nandan as Sreedvei, Kichan's love at home does her role pretty well while Priyamani is also good as Anjana.
Bharani K Dharan has matched the best of the industry standards with the awesome cinematography, which is indeed a treat to watch. Also is music director Deepak Dev, who has not seen in the business for quite some time due to mysterious reasons. Here he has given the best of the songs, be it in the title track `Sooryamukham' sung by Prithvi himself or in `Picha Vecha Naal' which is already a big hit with the masses. His Background scores for the movie is also one the best heard in recent times in Mollywood which accentuates the tension and moods of the visuals on the screen.
The only hiccup of the movie seems to be the overdose of "gravity denying" action which goes on and on. Though well shot with excellent visual effects, the length of the sequences definitely hams the reality sense of the viewers. The editor Samjith and the art director have also done an excellent work with some graphic support from Prisms and pixel VFX team.
Over all, `Puthiya Mugham', is the movie that you, as a regular watcher of Tamil and Telugu stuffs have been raring for in Mollywood. Go and watch this with confidence, if you are the admirer of high voltage action thrillers.
