THAI PORANTHACHU

Director:R.K. Kalaimani

Cast:Prabhu, Karthik, Kausalya, Vivek, Vyapuri, K.R. Vatsala, Ponnambalam.

It is a love triangle with both the heroes wanting to play martyrs, shuttling the poor girl between them. And with two top heroes on the scene one waits to see which of them gets the edge. And, of course, it is Karthik who wins the game being one up, by losing his girl.

The film is fairly interesting in the earlier portions but soon falls into the familiar pattern. Prabhu plays a house-broker who saves all his money, so that he can return to his village and marry his niece. The same girl who was his childhood playmate and for whose sake he had even gone to jail. It is a couple of decades since he had set eyes on the girl. So, when she comes to his very neighbourhood looking out for a place to stay, he naturally does not recognise her, nor does she do so. Prabhu to make some fast buck on the side, rents out to her a portion of his place where he himself was a tenant. He learns that she had escaped from home to avoid a bad marriage, the marriage to this same uncle. Never mind that the family hadn't seem him for decades, nor known his whereabouts. The guy had come into inheritance since, and thus his sister's new found interest in him.

Villain Ponnambalam enters the scene. The neighbourhood dada, he grabs any girl he fancies & his goons carry her away for the rape-scene. But married girls are forbidden fruits for him. When he makes a grab for Kausalya, Prabhu gets her out of his clutches by feigning to be her husband. He turns saviour many times, but why he doesn't tell her about the villain's fetish is a puzzle. Ponnambalam meanwhile snarls, curls his lips, narrows his eyes and plays the bad man to the hilt. Can't really blame him, for the poor guy has all along been playing henchman to the boss or the two-bit villain. Naturally he didn't want to let go this opportunity! As for Vivek the bum-chum of Prabhu, one liked him in earlier films. He was the saviour then, a great relief from the monotonous scenario. But now one wishes someone would save us from him, for he is plainly unbearable with his double entendres and overacting. Since he has started writing his own comedy track, he is taking more footage to the detriment of the film.

Kausalya and Karthik finally meet after the many 'narrow misses' in the story. Prabhu, happy for her, even guides her in matters of the heart, till he realises who she is. Heartbroken, he however decides to play martyr. But he hadn't reckoned with the exuberant Karthik who speeds up his martyr act, by feigning indifference to the girl, and putting on a bad man act. The ruse works, the girl realises the greatness of her uncle, and promptly switches sides. Give Karthik a cameo role, that of a genial carefree youth, and he'll bring back memories of 'Mouna Ragam'. Prabhu's role is like the one he had played in 'Ponmanam'. Kausalya is slowly picking up the nuances of acting, and it will take her a few more films before she can comprehend it fully.
 

Malini

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