'Pollachi Maapillai' (Tamil, Comedy, 2010)
Director: R Lakshmanan
Cast: Satyaraj, Susan, Goundamani, Vinu Chakravarthy, TP Gajendran and Manivannan
The Satyaraj-Goundamani duo is back again after a long gap, bringing with them their standard brand of humour.
The comedy is loud (literally), both slapstick and verbal. The debutant director seems to have taken a leaf from the duo’s earlier joint capers, targeting his film at the lowest denominator in the audience.
The plot revolves around two tricksters and a horde of characters weaved around them. The duo, Singalappa and his crony (Satyaraj, Goundamani), rubs a cop the wrong way in Pollachi. They escape to an adjacent village where the local zamindar Muthu Gounder (Chakravarty), a childless widower is in search of a suitable heir for his huge fortune.
On the advice of his trusted astrologer who has his own hidden agenda (Gajendran suiting in well), Gounder decides to adopt Singalappa as his heir, and decides to marry him to his friend’s daughter. In no mood for marriage, Singalappa hires a pickpocket he had met earlier (Susan) to play his fiancé. As the marriage preparations are on, the various characters plot and scheme to outwit each other in conning the unsuspecting Gounder. Goundamani on a few occasions livens up the narration and keeps it going. Satyaraj has done many memorable roles and films. And some forgettable ones too. This film falls in the latter category.