Pulimurugan

Prior to the release of this movie Pulimurugan, director Vysakh told the audience in his interviews that Pulimurugan is a man vs wild sort of story and it somewhere falls in the category of a movie like Naran. Well after watching Pulimurugan, one thing I can confidently say is that the Puli in the movie is more of a decoration and the film in its basic level is just another revenge movie with the flavours we have seen in all Udayakrishna Sibi K Thomas films (This time just Udayakrishna).

Murugan is this hunter in this village near the forest. Due to his childhood experiences, Murugan was forced to become this wild hunter as he hated the tigers which attacked humans. The love he has for his younger brother is quite deep. The film actually focuses on the outcomes of one decision Murugan took for securing the future of his brother.

There is an undeniable grace when Mohanlal dons characters of this magnitude. We have seen that elegance in his films like Narasimham, Aaram Thampuran, Naran etc. For the ultimate fan boys of the superstar, there are many moments in the movie where Vysakh captures that gracious screen presence with the help of slow motion camera moves and fast chiselled cuts. But if you take away those moments from the film it just isn’t that absorbing. It’s the “all hail Murugan” format from top to bottom. If you take a few minutes to analyze the story, there is quite literally nothing that makes Pulimurugan unique.

The making style of Pulimurugan is largely like a Telugu pot boiler. You get to see hero worshipping and over the top fight sequences at regular intervals of time. Except for the fact that Vysakh decided to use a bigger budget, there isn’t much of a style change in his way of approaching films. The misogynistic comedies built around that character played by Namitha, the plot that forgets the tiger factor after a point and many other predictable phases that happen in the story makes the script a clichéd one. The overall production design and the way some sequences are captured gives some areas of the story a grand appeal which we expect in a movie of this scale and the success of the director is in those parts. You get to see the beauty of the forest through Shaji’s lenses and they have also captured the fight sequences in a fair enough way. The music and background score from Gopi Sunder serves the purpose. The visual effects works are somewhat convincing looking at the modest budget our industry can afford. The stunts featuring many foreign actors also looks okay on screen and the fact that Mohanlal himself has done (quite evident from the visuals) most of those shots adds a kind of spice to the enjoyment factor of this mass masala entertainer.

As I already mentioned, Mohanlal has given the movie what it demanded from him. His onscreen charm and the ability to pull off stunts were utilized effectively by Vysakh. Kamalini Mukherji was a good choice to play Myna and she portrays the role with the kind of dominance required. Actor Lal was also fine as the uncle. Jagapati Babu’s inclusion in the movie as Daddy Girija would definitely help the movie in its Telugu release. Suraj Venjaramoodu sort of repeats his Pokkiri Raja performance. Bala, Vinu Mohan, Kishore, Makarand Deshpande, Siddique and a few more names are there in the star cast.

Pulimurugan in its totality is not flawless. The multiple subplots, the way screenplay couldn’t really connect Leopard/Tiger in to a revenge story between two men etc. are definitely some areas where the movie has lost it. But the overall grandeur it manages to generate mainly because of its lead actor Mohanlal gives the movie an attire of a convincing over the top action film. It is not perfect, but it is worth a watch.

Rating : 3/5