Pathu Thala (Tamil)
Rating: **
Cast: Silambarasan, Gautham Karthik, Priya Bhavani Shankar, Gautham Vasudev Menon, Kalaiyarasan, Teejay Arunasalam, Anu Sithara
Pathu Shala is one among the many misguided motion pictures of the gangster genre, that seems to suggest there is some redemptive spark in gruesome gangsters who go around killing plundering and maiming humans and property. It first demonizes the dread AGR. Then, since AGR is played by a popular actor Silambarasan, it humanizes the gangster and finally mythologizes him.
It is a dangerous route taken by many films in the West and down here in India to glamorize the despicable sociopath, make him appear as a poor victim of circumstances.
Think Atique Ahmed. Think AGR. The same line of moral reprehensibility brought into a kind of sympathetic net which is very very dangerous
Pahtu Thala is very irresponsible filmmaking. It is also a clumsily assembled crime thriller with no sense of pace. Many characters just drop into the plot without giving us the feeling that they know where they are coming from, or going.
The opening 30-35 minutes is especially unmoored, relying more on fast mindless editing than coherence in the narrative. We gather from the hot sticky mess in the plot that the CM of Tamil Nadu has been kidnapped and the chief suspect is the the CM’s party member Nanjilaar, played by filmmaker Gautham Vasudev Menon who really must stop playing villains on screen. Filmmakers may think Menon looks menacing because of his physical appearance. But surely, Menon knows better!
The same goes for the makers of this ill-conceived misguided mess where the violence is quick though alas not slick, never engaging enough to be John Wick.In one edge-of-the-teeth moment a female civil servant Leela(Priya Bhavani Shankar) stands defiantly in front of a fleet of contraband trucks which screech to a halt near her nose.
This is supposed to be edge-of-the-seat but is actually preposterously edge-of-the-teeth. The second-half gathers its limited wits to give ta sharp nudge to the narrative.An undercover cop Guna(Gautham Karthik) infiltrates the dreaded AGR’s gang…and we know the rest.
How many times have we seen the infiltrator winning the criminal’s confidence and feeling bad about stabbing him in the back?Everyone has seen Martin Scorsese’s The Departed. Pathu Thala is a very poor country cousin,directed (by Obeli N Krishna) with no sense rhythm or pace. Shoddy shootouts occur intermittently , a cheesy item song occurs at the start,a little girl is introduced in the second-half to add some cuteness to a dish that knows not its mind.The plot quickly plunges from misguided to blind.Redemption for the gangster. But none for the film.
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