Pudupettai - Not for the faint hearted

Gangster movies seem to be the flavour of the season in tamil cinema. After the massacre riot of pattial - just when you thought it could not get more violent or gory than that - comes pudupettai painted in red. Its not a movie for the faint hearted.

Selvaragavan, yet again, puts dhanush in a character you can neither dislike or dis-hate. But unlike kaadhal kondaen where there was a strong undercurrent of love, this one is purely about - well... bloodshed. The movie has a cliched storyline: a young boy influenced by circumstances to become bad. But the execution is different from other movies. Unlike its predecessors which try and sugarcoat the life of a gangster, this one shows it in all its blood and pain. No dream lands, no duets..i like him for that. Sometimes the movie reflects the noir undertone of the story and feels like one is reading the pages of a well written script. Was even reminded of max payne at times - an unheard deep bass voice taking you through the story. The movie proceeds like a melange of events each fading into the next conveying a meaning, each depicting dhanush in new light and each a stepping stone for him in the dark and murderous world of killers and thugs.

What makes this movie enjoyable(at least for me) is the awesome sound track and incredible camera work. As always selvaragavan has integrated the songs into the movie so beautifully that you wont even realise that a song has gone by. Even the background score is amazing in combo with the scenes. Apart from the music, the camera work is just awesome. The scene that stands out is the sword fight on the street. The entire scene looks like it happens in the night, essentially in black and white, except for the red blood. It was an amazing fight sequence with some excellent slow mo captures that felt like a matrix duel. Hats off! Even in other scenes, the artful use of light tones - i could distinctly remember green, yellow and grayscale tones - made it enjoyable watching.

However this is not a movie that will go down well with everyone. The gore and violence is perhaps too much and it was probably intentional. Dhanush fits like a glove to his role as in all selvaragavan movies. Post interval, he gets cranky and begins to do all sorts of crazy stuff. This is the point you feel that the director has spoilt all his good work though this follows a small prelude from Dhanush's ramblings in the cell where he says

"Its just the first murder that scares you. After you have done it once, you begin to like it. You are intoxicated by your own power and begin to feel what you do is right"

That in essence captures the entire story line.