Hello all. This is my first review of a Tamil film, called "Papanasam", which could probably be one of the most different, interesting and a wonderful Tamil film I've seen in quite sometime.
In my opinion, a movie should be seen in its original language, or if you don't understand the original language, then in whatever language you understand. Papanasam is a remake of the original Malayalam film called Drishyam. There was also a Hindi version of this which was released long after Papanasam released. So despite there being all these versions, I decided to see the Tamil version, as I don't understand Malayalam :P.
(SPOILERS follow)
This was a really good and thrilling film. The acting by Kamal Hassan and Gautami was simply brilliant. Kamal Sir always always puts in his full dedication and effort whenever he plays any character, and this movie is one such prime example of it.
So moving on to some intricate details:
The initial setup to familiarize us with the family - the honest and hard working man (Suyambulingam) who has worked beyond bounds to be in his current position, his innocent wife (Rani) and two kids (Selvi and Meena) - I like it when movies spend sometime establishing the characters, the setup for what's to come and have a great payoff. The director spends about 40 to 45 minutes on this. Then came the dramatic turning point that changed the lives of this family of 4!
Enter this extremely sick-minded guy (Varun) from the elder daughter's (Selvi's) nature camp, who has done the horrible act of recording the elder daughter taking bath (Yikes!). Although we have seen how villains like this are being played over-the-top in some situations, it was done in a believable manner here. It's sad to see such persons exist in real life, probably because of their improper upbringing? The scene with him, the mother and the elder daughter where he threatens to leak the video if he does not get what he wanted, was done in such a convincing manner, that I decided, "Man, he just needs to die", and guess what, he just did! Selvi just wanted to hit the phone in which the video was there, and ended up hitting his head and killing him! The acting during that scene made it so believable that I could feel that this was a complete shocker and a dramatic change of events for the family; when they realised that going to the police was useless as the man was the IG's son, and they would be subject to continuous questioning.
This brings up to my favourite thing about this movie in my opinion. The thrills in the investigation carried out by the IG (Geeta Prabhakaran) to find her lost son were simply amazing. It was clearly shown how much thought was put into storytelling for this movie, without creating too many plotholes. The way they thought of each and every possible angle to cover up the murder (such as disposing off the car and the SIM card, the valid but not so valid hotel, travelling and movie ticket bills), the way how Kamal trained everyone to tell a lie and make it the truth, the way Kamal despite almost getting caught driving away with that boy's yellow car by Mariappan (a policeman who hated Kamal for various personal reasons), acted friendly, kept saying the lie to everyone that it became the truth, trained his wife and two kids to lie, and the various things and events that would perfectly cover up his story of travelling to Thenkasi.
The way how the IG had to go to extreme measures to get the truth out of Kamal and his family, to go to such extreme extents of even hitting the younger daughter (I seriously thought they won't do it), made up for such a thrilling story that shows how sometimes things just don't work the way they are supposed to work.
So the little girl gives in, everyone goes to Suyambulingam's house to dig up the body, and the great twist is revealed! Its just a dead calf's carcass. Everyone is shocked, IG and her husband quit their jobs in shame, Kamal goes to the media, saying they beat his daughter, and it forces IG to quit her job, and be ashamed for what she has done.
One would think this was a fitting ending for the IG for what she did to Suyambulingam and his family, but one should also realise that she was just doing her job, and that when it comes to their own children, parents become frantic and act differently.
And then we cut back to the present, we see Kamal in police station signing some register, and all this while it keeps you wondering when and where did Kamal shift the body? And here comes such an awesome twist that made me go "WOWW! They will never be able to find out!!! Good job, Suyambulingam!!". He buried the body right under the police station before it was being fully constructed. Wow! It feels nice when movies end with such good, great twists that makes you want to talk more about the movie later on too!
Overall, a fantastic thriller that is rare to find now-a-days. This movie was a different type of thriller too, and it sure was very good!
- Sudarshan M Adhyapak
In my opinion, a movie should be seen in its original language, or if you don't understand the original language, then in whatever language you understand. Papanasam is a remake of the original Malayalam film called Drishyam. There was also a Hindi version of this which was released long after Papanasam released. So despite there being all these versions, I decided to see the Tamil version, as I don't understand Malayalam :P.
(SPOILERS follow)
This was a really good and thrilling film. The acting by Kamal Hassan and Gautami was simply brilliant. Kamal Sir always always puts in his full dedication and effort whenever he plays any character, and this movie is one such prime example of it.
So moving on to some intricate details:
The initial setup to familiarize us with the family - the honest and hard working man (Suyambulingam) who has worked beyond bounds to be in his current position, his innocent wife (Rani) and two kids (Selvi and Meena) - I like it when movies spend sometime establishing the characters, the setup for what's to come and have a great payoff. The director spends about 40 to 45 minutes on this. Then came the dramatic turning point that changed the lives of this family of 4!
Enter this extremely sick-minded guy (Varun) from the elder daughter's (Selvi's) nature camp, who has done the horrible act of recording the elder daughter taking bath (Yikes!). Although we have seen how villains like this are being played over-the-top in some situations, it was done in a believable manner here. It's sad to see such persons exist in real life, probably because of their improper upbringing? The scene with him, the mother and the elder daughter where he threatens to leak the video if he does not get what he wanted, was done in such a convincing manner, that I decided, "Man, he just needs to die", and guess what, he just did! Selvi just wanted to hit the phone in which the video was there, and ended up hitting his head and killing him! The acting during that scene made it so believable that I could feel that this was a complete shocker and a dramatic change of events for the family; when they realised that going to the police was useless as the man was the IG's son, and they would be subject to continuous questioning.
This brings up to my favourite thing about this movie in my opinion. The thrills in the investigation carried out by the IG (Geeta Prabhakaran) to find her lost son were simply amazing. It was clearly shown how much thought was put into storytelling for this movie, without creating too many plotholes. The way they thought of each and every possible angle to cover up the murder (such as disposing off the car and the SIM card, the valid but not so valid hotel, travelling and movie ticket bills), the way how Kamal trained everyone to tell a lie and make it the truth, the way Kamal despite almost getting caught driving away with that boy's yellow car by Mariappan (a policeman who hated Kamal for various personal reasons), acted friendly, kept saying the lie to everyone that it became the truth, trained his wife and two kids to lie, and the various things and events that would perfectly cover up his story of travelling to Thenkasi.
The way how the IG had to go to extreme measures to get the truth out of Kamal and his family, to go to such extreme extents of even hitting the younger daughter (I seriously thought they won't do it), made up for such a thrilling story that shows how sometimes things just don't work the way they are supposed to work.
So the little girl gives in, everyone goes to Suyambulingam's house to dig up the body, and the great twist is revealed! Its just a dead calf's carcass. Everyone is shocked, IG and her husband quit their jobs in shame, Kamal goes to the media, saying they beat his daughter, and it forces IG to quit her job, and be ashamed for what she has done.
One would think this was a fitting ending for the IG for what she did to Suyambulingam and his family, but one should also realise that she was just doing her job, and that when it comes to their own children, parents become frantic and act differently.
And then we cut back to the present, we see Kamal in police station signing some register, and all this while it keeps you wondering when and where did Kamal shift the body? And here comes such an awesome twist that made me go "WOWW! They will never be able to find out!!! Good job, Suyambulingam!!". He buried the body right under the police station before it was being fully constructed. Wow! It feels nice when movies end with such good, great twists that makes you want to talk more about the movie later on too!
Overall, a fantastic thriller that is rare to find now-a-days. This movie was a different type of thriller too, and it sure was very good!
- Sudarshan M Adhyapak
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