Poo

Director Sasi who gave films like ‘Sollamale’, ‘Rojakkoottam’ and ‘Dishyum’ within a span of last 10years has got a good success rate so far. Those three films were theme wise different and it gave good name for actors like Livingston, Sreekanth, Jeeva respectively. Now the director has given his latest film ‘Poo’, which is a heroine oriented subject. He chose a new heroine to do the pivotal role. Malayalam actress Parvathy who acted in films like ‘Notebook’, ‘Flash’ etc has done the lead part here. Sreekanth has also done a main character.

In the 8o’s and the early 90’s we have seen many films in tamil which gave importance for village subjects. Directors like Bharathiraja, Mahendran etc belongs to those set of directors that has given much value for traditions and cultures in the rural areas of Tamil Nadu through their realistic stories. Through last many years, such a sensible style has changed and these days the importance has gone for the visuals and the presentation of the stories and the environment is changed to the city backdrop for most of the films. Hence the film ‘Poo’ is different, since the director has chosen the interior parts of central Tamilnadu to tell the story.

This is a love story in the real village back drop. The heroine Maari (Parvathy) who stays in a nearby village with his husband, who is a shop owner, reaches her native for the festival season. At that time she wishes to see her relative and ex-lover, Thangaraasu (Sreekanth). What happened till that moment is shown through a flashback. She wished to marry him even from the childhood. Though the two families agreed, later due to oppose from the boy’s father, the marriage didn’t happened. Whether such a parting has benefited both is what we are shown here.

What is different in ‘Poo’ is that, the way in which the story is told. The heroine character that stays in a village is presented in a very dull make up. She has got every attitude of the real tamil village girl. Also other than the hero-heroine, all the characters are done by new faces. The writer-director Sasi should be appreciated for taking such a risk and to come up with a good performance from all of them. The location used as a backdrop gives us a real taste of the culture in the interior part of the Tamil Nadu. The area in which the heroine works, the explosive manufacturer unit shown is also new to us.

Moreover there is no gimmicks used here and we can’t spot out a single shot which contains computer graphics. The simplicity in the presentation is the notable thing here (some of you might feel lagging due to this). New heroine, Parvathy who has done modern characters in her previous films in malayalam has performed exceptionally well in such a dull costume and make-up here. Sreekanth has also done well. New music director S.S.Kumaran has given some nice songs which match the situation well.

‘Poo’ is not an entertainer, but it is a portrait of the tamil village culture on celluloid using many new faces.

Rating : 3.5 / 5