By Vivek Ramz

M Sasikumar made heads turn when his debut film 'Subramaniapuram' become blockbuster. It became a trend setter of sorts and Tamil film industry has seen numerous Madurai based realistic movies after that but only a very few worked at box-office. Company Productions' "Sundarapandiyan" is another film with the same milieu. Read on to find whether it worked this time.

What's it about?

Sundarapandiyan (Sasikumar) is a die-hard Rajnikanth fan and ready to go any distance for his friends. One of his friend (Inigo Prabakaran) seeks his help to win over his lady love Archana (Lakshmi Menon). When they reach out to Archana, they get to know that there is one more guy (Appukutty) who is trying to woo her. Seeing this so called complex situation (?), Sundarapandiyan gives one month time for Appukutty & if he succeeds in his love, Inigo won't enter their life and vice-versa. But Archana has other plans, likes Sundarapandiyan's straight forward character and falls for him. Things go smooth in their life until Appukutty re-enters the scene and tortures Archana for loving Sundarapandiyan. It irks Sundarapandiyan and he kills him by accident. What happens to Sundarapandiyan after that, whether Appukutty's friend takes revenge, how he marries Archana, etc are all answered with more twists and turns.

Débutante director SR Prabhakaran deserves a pat on his back for coming up with a nice entertainer without compromising on the logic or the technical aspects of the movie. His characterization is so strong not only for the leads but also for the secondary ones, be it Sasikumar's 'Murai Ponnu' or Lakshmi's friend. Casting too is perfect to the T and adds credibility to the characters. His narration is beautiful and sets the right tone at the start with an intriguing introduction of typical Madurai happenings. The film engages the viewer till the last scene with its clever screenplay.

Sasikumar has come up with yet another nice performance, Newcomer Lakshmi shines as Archana and has bright future in the industry. 'Parotta' Soori rocked in his role as Sundarapandiyan's friend with neat body language and typical madurai slang. All other secondary cast like Inigo Prabakaran, Vijay Sethupathi, etc have done justice to their roles.

Background score by N.R.Raghunanthan gives the required effect on screen and songs are good too. 'Rekkai Mulaithaen' sung by Shreya Ghoshal & G.V.Prakash Kumar stands out of the lot. The songs in the movie are kept to minimum and in the background which is a major plus. Premkumar has done a nice job with his camera-work especially in the climax sequence.

On the downside, nothing much except the 'Nadodigal' feel initially as the plot looks somewhat similar. Also the action sequences in the latter part of the film goes a bit overboard.

What to do?

Sundarapandiyan is a well made commercial flick with right dose of comedy, sentiment and thrills. Go for it!

Rating - 3.5/5