Language: Tamil
Director: G.L. Sethuraman
Cast: Santhanam, Vivek, Vaibhavi
Santhanam's latest attempt to position himself as a matinee idol pivots on an utterly original plot: the hero falls for a gangster's sister. Yazhini (Vaibhavi Shandilya) is a number. She is given the utterly original trait of arrogance; she likes to taunt men. She stops her car at a traffic light and blows a kiss at Santhanam. When he shows no interest, she follows him to a poolside and jumps into the water with this utterly original logic: "Two piece-a pottu vandhu avan mind-a piece piece aakkaren." He still won't budge, and I sat back, awaiting the next logical progression of her pursuit: a nudist colony. Alas, we get, instead, this scene where he slaps her and says, "Pattu thuni, panju, ponnunga – ellaam soft-a irukkanum. Adhaan azhagu."
GL Sethuraman's Sakka Podu Podu Raja is the kind of bad movie that makes you look enviously at the man who's sinking in quicksand – but there's one point of interest. It's hard enough for someone to come out of nowhere and become a hero. It's doubly tough for an established comedian, whose attempts at the fight-song-dance-punchline routines leave you with the feeling that you're really watching Tamil Padam 2, and it's all one giant spoof. It isn't, of course, and I was left to console myself with the odd funny line, like this one uttered by a man on whom Power Star falls: "Kaaya potta paavadai kaathula paranadhu vandhaa maadhiri en mele vandhu vizhareenga." It's not the greatest of jokes, I know, but what do they say about beggars and choosers?
Watch the trailer of Sakka Podu Podu Raja here: