• Written : Chimbu Deven
  Direction : Chimbu Deven
  Producer : Shibu Thameens, PT Selvakumar
  Production : SKT Studios
  Cast : Vijay, Sudeep, Sridevi, Shruti Haasan, Hansika Motwani, Prabhu and Nandita Swetha
  Music : Devi Sri Prasad
  Cinematography : Natarajan Subramaniam
  Editing : A. Sreekar Prasad
  Certificate : “U”
  Release date : October 1st, 2015
  Run Time : 154 mins

A fantasy film from Ilayathalapathy. First we need to appreciate him for this different attempt. Puli is about war between common people (slaves) and Vedalams. At one stage Vedalam’s kidnap Vijay’s lady love. How Vijay saves his lady love and get freedom to his group of people from Vedalam (demon) kingdom; who actually Vijay is are to be witnessed in the movie.

Vijay as Marudheeran and Pulivendhan. He looks so young and fresh. He tries a different style of dialogue delivery. Good to see Vijay in different costumes. Dancing is a cake walk for him and Puli is no exception. Pulivendhan getup doesn’t suit him. Action sequences are tailor made for Vijay and his screen presence is the major plus for the film.

Shruti Haasan pairs up with Vijay for the first time, she plays as his lady love. She gets a very glamorous role. Hansika as princess, looks very beautiful. Her introduction comes near the interval portion. Both the heroines doesn’t have much scope to perform. Sridevi is back to Kollywood after so many years. She is apt for the queen role.

Sudheep is the main villain. He perfectly fits into that warrior character. After Naan Ee, Puli is going to be his second best villain role. Both Sudheep and Sridevi’s portions comes only post interval. Other cast includes Prabhu, Thambi Ramayya, Satyan, Robo Shankar, Vidyuleka Raman and Nandita. Rob shankar – Imman annachi comedy portions worked well.

Music by rockstar DSP. Songs and BGM are very average. Only song which stays in mind is the one Vijay crooned ‘yendi yendi..’. First half comprises of three songs; ‘puli..’, ‘yendi..’and ‘jingiliya..’. Second half has ‘Sottavaala’ and ‘Mannavane..’. ‘Manitha manitha..’song which is in the album is missing in the film.

Technically the movie is above par with good visuals. Nice cinematography by Natty. CG work should be appreciated. Art work could have been better. Editing is perfect. Movie duration is 154min which is a positive. Dance choreography and costumes are not up to the expectation. Too many songs, and it spoils the flow of movie.

Chimbudevan’s 5th film. Fantasy adventure is not a new genre to this director. Unlike his previous films, he gets a huge star cast in Puli. He did justice only up to an extend. Story is very old to Tamil cinema. Screenplay has nothing new to deliver. First half is slow and second half is better than first. Dialogues are not catchy. Strong screenplay and neat characterization could have done wonders with this star cast.

Notable scenes are Lilliputs and Vijay comedy portions, Yendi Yendi song, Black Cheetah fight, Sudeep-Vijay fight, Sridevi-Vijay scenes. Comedy works out only in parts. Action sequences are good. No mass scenes for vijay fans.Vijay’s screen presence makes the film a good one time watch.