Ponmagal Vandhal Movie Review

Time and again, a particular group of producers and artistes and even filmmakers have the belief that by scratching into the wounded zone, one can easily win the sympathy of audiences. Yes, they do have a strong statement to make ‘We are not making anything out of imagination, but based on true incidents.’ But how far does it engage you is the most challenging question. Last year, Ajith Kumar’s Nerkonda Paarvai was bounded to similar instance, but it managed to make it appealingly great. The biggest reason why courtroom dramas are always one step ahead of other genre movies is that it has lots of areas to score brownie points. Strong dialogues that are well delivered by promising actors will get the half job done for the team and sometimes, even ¾ of the success banks on it. When it comes to Ponmagal Vandhaal, it runs short off these elements. Of course, you’ll be moved by the cruelties involving women and child abuse. That’s a mandatory part as Tamil culture always inclined heavily to such sentiments like ‘Mother Promise’. Many films targeting these emotional quotients have easily walked away with laurels even with a flimsy package. Debutant filmmaker JJ Fredrick with Ponmagal Vandhaal fails miserably in delivering it with commendableness.

A case that reopens after 15 years leaves the entire town of Ooty shocked. The deceased Jyothi framed as psychopath for murdering 5 young girls and two youngsters was shot dead by police. Now a first timer Venba (Jyotika) appears and advocates for Jyoti as innocent and there is a mystery behind these mishaps including her murder.

The complete film is bounded to laziness and there’s no engagement in the film anywhere. We are easily provided with the space to predict what’s next and of course, there’s no excitement when they are revealed by the director. Despite having good artistes, the film lacks engagement.

If the producers want to win the hearts of women audiences, let them make a documentary and not waste their time with fictional works, which lacks proficiency. Well, taking the film into debate mode will turn the review into a longer one. So we just would like to wind up with this.