Film: Azhagiya Pandipuram
Director: N Rayan
Cast: Ilango, Anjana, M S Bhaskar, Manobala, Subbu Panju
Tamil cinema might have taken great strides with the new generation of filmmakers experimenting with varied themes. But for some makers, it’s as if time has stood still. Taking up stale plots, they don’t try to infuse any freshness either in the screenplay or in the presentation. Azhagiya Pandipuram is one such time-warped fare.
The plot centres on a feud between two families. With their houses set opposite each other’s, the members pry, instigate and provoke each other. The film is like a stage play, at times like a low-end TV serial. There is no distinct characterisation, with the whole lot behaving in a juvenile manner. It’s a tirade of non-stop dialogues with no respite. With an unmarried son in one household and a teenage daughter in another, it doesn’t take any mental effort to infer what would follow. The daughter arrives after a decade’s stay at a boarding school. Her family takes immense effort to make sure that the boy doesn’t get to see her. But the inevitable happens.
The lacklustre performance by the lead actors, who are debutantes, doesn’t make it any better. All that the audience can do is wait patiently for the inevitable to happen — the couple realising their love for each other and the families reconciling and reuniting.