REVIEW PONMAGAL VANDHAL (Tamil)

Producer- Suriya

Director- J. J. Fredrick

Star Cast- Jyotika, Bhagyaraj, Parthieban, Pratap Pothan, Thiagarajan and Pandiarajan

Genre- Drama

STRIKES AN STRONG EMOTIONAL CHORD

 Rating- ***

Jyothi Venkatesh

After the corona virus- induced lockdown led to the closing of all theaters across the country, the first Tamil film to be dropped on the OTT platform Amazon Prime Video is .Ponmagal Vandhal. It is an unapologetic message movie in the guise of a courtroom drama and banks solely on the crusader zeal of its lead protagonist to help make it a palatable and relatable court room drama. The basic premise of this complex court room drama is about a rookie lawyer Venba (Jyothika) who leads to the reopening of a notorious 15-year-old case of a dead psycho killer, alleged to have kidnapped and murdered little girls.

The film begins with tranquil visuals of a misty mountain scape, with the quiet shattered by gun shots. Jyothi, a North Indian woman, is supposed to have murdered a couple of young men who were trying to rescue a girl whom she has kidnapped. Reports claim that she is a psycho killer who revels in kidnapping and murdering little girls and has been shot dead in a police encounter. The film then cuts to 15 years later when Venba asks the court to reopen Jyothi's case and argues her side.

In a thankful departure from the usual tried and tested vigilante justice plots, the film seeks answers within the legal system though the journey is not without its bumps; especially the screenplay fails to answer several questions as it has loopholes. Like take for instance the character of Vinodhini Vaidyanathan. Though in the flashback, Petition Pethuraj (Bhagyaraj) is shown to be married to someone else, in the present, he is shown as married to Vinodhini's character.

While Jyotika lives her dual roles not only as Venba the lawyer but also Jyothi the psycho murderer and lends her own niche and dignity to the roles, Bhagyaraj enlivens the film with his wit. Pathiepan as the defense lawyer Rajarathinam scores with his dialogues and Pratap Pothan’s half baked role hardly has any role worth the salt and it is illogical that he is shown seeking gratification from the culprit when he is the judge of a case involving him. Thiagarajan as the influential rich man Varadarajan brings eeriness to his character with effortless ease. Pandiaraj as the court clerk has been wasted

After Venba tells the judge in the climax that she has “nothing substantial to submit as evidence except truth and tears” – signifying that the movie has lost its battle, the writer-director hastens to unravel the knot with the culprit confessing that the onus of the murder is on him, making you squirm in your seat. J.J. Frederick shows promise as a debutant director and what still works in its favor is the fact that the film succeeds in striking a strong emotional chord with its back-story, that too without preaching like in the other films of Jyotika, though it hardly provides any relief needs slick editing, especially the scene where the Judge and the court clerk have a bout of drinking. On the whole, Ponmagal Vandhyal is worth a watch for Jyotika who plays a lawyer for the first time in her career in this film which has been produced by her husband actor Suriya.