Pacchaikili Muthucharam (Tamil)

Director Gautam has succeeded in carving a niche for himself in Kodambakkam. His name is now associated with brisk paced thrillers , with plotlines or shot compostitions borrowed from hollywood.

This movie can well have a warning label attached to it "Infidelity is injurious to health!" The hero Venkatesh ( Sharath Kumar) finds out the hard way that it is injurious not only to physical health but also to psychological health and economic health.

As the initial scenes unfold, one is amazed . Till now, a hero caught between two women always pleaded "vidhi sathi seiduvittadu" as his defense, trying to garner audience sympathy . But here, the man and the woman, both married to others, get into an affair knowingly, open-eyed and fully conscious of what they are doing. Sharath has conveyed the slipping very convincingly. He is not the Supreme Hero here. He's an ordinary middleclass man , caring towards his family but giving in to temptation.

The look and feel of the film is slick and very Gauthamish. Even the music is Gauthamish, all reminiscent of Harris Jeyaraj's previous hits.

The story has shades of Basic Instinct and The Original Sin. Still, it is engrossing. The domestic scenes are believable. The little boy is very natural.
Jyothika has taken on a role few image-conscious leading ladies would accept. There are moments when she dazzles, but at places, she sleepwalks. The new comer, cast as the Hero's wife ,is convincing.
The hunky Milind Soman makes a menacing villain, but they could have given him a better voice.

There are, of course, a few holes in logic, but it is an eminently watchable movie.

Manjula

 

Yes Kamla, I agree , Jyothika has verve. She's always bubbling with enthusiasm and is vivacious, though not a beauty. She packs a lot of life into her roles.

Pacchaikili had panache. And shorn of unnecessary melodrama and tedious homilies in the name of dialogues, it had a "real" feel to it. The only thing I found jarring was the rather loud make-up Jo had on, in the initial scenes - the Sania Mirza brand of nose-ring dint suit her at all, nor the heavy Kajal.

Yet to see Mozhi.

Manjula