Pattaas

It’s quite bizarre that even the best actors come across as tamed puppets if the movie’s content doesn’t resonate as well as the director wanted it to. It has hardly been a 100-day run for Dhanush’s ‘Asuran’ wherein the actor delivers a powerful performance in a role that was unconventional in every aspect for a ‘Kollywood hero’.

However, for Pongal 2020, Dhanush has decided to have some fun with ‘Pattaas’ that tried to create sparks even with its first look poster when the film was announced. It is widely rumored that Dhanush has made this movie to compensate for the losses incurred due to his previous movie, ‘Thodari’ with Sathya Jyothi Films, who are the producers of this one too. So, to keep things safe and sound, ‘masala’ appeared profound!

‘Pattaas’ is a heavily templated version of so many revenge sagas of the past. More precisely, the revenge is by the son of the victimized father. The new underpinning here is ‘Adi Murai’, the ancient Tamil martial art. The first half had scenes where ‘Pattaas’ (Dhanush, the son) tried to ignite the screen with his sidekicks, KPY Sathish and Munishkanth. The moments and lines hardly worked.

In the second half, we get a predictable flashback of Thiraviya Perumal (Dhanush, the father), who was an ‘Adi Murai’ expert and how he was unceremoniously cleaned up. Need we say more on what would happen next and who will win the battle and how?

Dhanush as the father and son was able to sell his respective roles convincingly as always. However, as a martial arts expert, he was much more convincing with his looks and performance. That was also due to an engaging backstory and his pairing with Sneha.

Another convincing performance was from Sneha as Kanyakumari. In the action sequences, she was more than convincing and her performance, in general, was seasoned as predicted.

The characters of others and their performance was average. The villain was a grim-faced stereotype who was meant to be beaten to a pulp by a guy like Dhanush who is half his size. Nassar, as the martial arts chief, had a cliched role!

And, finally, the heroine was a typical selection for this movie - a brainless and dumb ‘bubbly’ female. Thankfully there were no duets with Dhanush. However, the less said about the music, the better. It was below average.

Director Durai Senthilkumar who has churned out engaging flicks like ‘Ethir Neechal’ and ‘Kodi’ should realize that making a commercial masala is not about leaving the brains before penning the screenplay, but letting go of the apprehension that substance in the script doesn't do any harm to the ‘masala’ and ‘commercial’ elements. They can coexist and intertwine at a much more harmonious degree!

I feel sorry for Dhanush and Sneha as their efforts stand wasted!


Average: Below average!

Rating: 2 / 5