Pattam Pole

My review: Pattam Pole

There are certain movies that appear very interesting and riveting on paper but sadly when made into a feature film somewhere things gets muddled and fails to create the same impact onscreen. Ace cinematographer Alagappan's directorial debut "Pattam Pole" is a classic example to the adage getting "lost in translation". Honeymoon is over Dulquer Salmaan for he needs to get careful in choosing his movies henceforth. "Pattam Pole" is weakest of his till date.

It is not that the movie is a total wash out but the interesting moments which are few and far in between get marred by cutesy effort from the director. A simple story that could have been made in a more riveting manner gets diluted by the maker's overindulgence in his passion which is totally sucks out the soul from the narrative. In his pursuit to make a stylish movie, Alagappan ends up making a soulless movie. 

Story is nothing new. Oft repeated theme of two youngsters from different religious background falling in love with each other and the problem that ensues. The relief here is that the problem doesn't come from neither the families nor the religious community. It is the egoistic and self-centered lovers themselves who become spoke in their own wheels. Interesting premise that but cliched screenplay with beaten to bushes scenes and dialogues mars the flow of the movie. To make the matters worse the screenplay is sluggish and the pace abysmal.

Dulquer Salman is all at sea with his performance as Karthik, a Tamil Brahmin who falls in love with a  head-strong christian girl. It is probably for the first time that Dulquer is so careless with his performance. Only solace is his rendition of Tamil dialogues which don't carry an accent. Malavika Mohanan is a refreshing face but has a long way to go as an actress. Support cast is made of solid actors all of whom are under-utilized by the director. 

Movie's strengths are its music and visuals. M.Jayachandran's musical score is very good with movie having good number of melodious numbers. The cinematography is astounding and is a visual treat. 

On the whole, "Pattam pole" is a soulless, synthetic and boring movie with music and cinematography offering some solace. 

Bottomline: Artificial

2/5