Chimbudevan is a film maker who have experimented well through path untraversed in Tollywood,may it be his debut movie 'Imsai Arasan 23aam Pulikesi' or the Raghava Lawrence starrer cowboy comedy 'Irumbukkottai Murattu Singam' which were interesting and well-received attempts by both the critics and the common audience .But sadly,the skillfulness of Chimbudevan in handling fantasy adventures is missing in Puli and the most anticipated Tollyood film of 2015 ended as a forgettable affair,being an epitome of mediocre film-making from all the departments.
10 minutes into the film one can easily perceive the half-heartedness from the team and the helpless fate of a movie which is bound to land in a mud-pool of boredom and over-confidence from where a recovery is literally impossible.With a lifeless screenplay and indifferent narration,Puli never tries to indulge the viewers into the story or excite them with something novel,but instead follows the usual clichés of a hero-oriented tamil film,the stereotyped hero,his fight with the evil,obligatory heroine number one,the unavoidable heroine number two etc to name a few.
The storyline has blatant similarities with films like Baahubali & Kochadayaan and ironically some of the instances like the Lilliputian population reminded me of films by Malayalam director Vinayan whom I felt handled it with better grip and perfection,noticeably on a shoe-string budget in comparison with this big budget blunder.
A watchable second half saved the movie from being a total washout,but the end result is still lame.By the time the movie showed some improvement it was too late to look back.The romance track between Shruti and Vijay was amateurish and the most tiring part of the narration.Action Choreography and Cinematography were impressive whereas the Vfx,Art Direction and Editing were substandard.
Coming to the performances,Ilaiya Dalapathy disappointed big time after a brilliant performance in 'Katthi'.Overacting was evident in his performance throughout the narration and his dubbing part looked unfit in countable number of sequences.Shruti Hassan & Hansika had nothing to perform than boosting the glamour quotient with their skin show.
When was the last time DSP scored something memorable is a big question and the so called 'Rockstar Of South India' disappoints again with his tiring repetitive rythms which are made worse by awkward placing in the storyline.'Yendi Yendi; is the only hummable number which has been sang well by Shruti and Vijay.
Overall,Ilaiya Dalapthi's Puli is a lavishly made blooper that's sure to be panned by critics,the diehards of the actor and the normal mass audience alike.
