Ashok Selvan, Aishwarya Lakshmi and Vasanth Ravi in ’Pon Ondru Kanden’ Still | Photo Credit: Jio Cinemas
It is not difficult to imagine the kind of film director Priya V wanted her latest release to be. Pon ondru conden, Must Have: A simple, light-hearted story about two quirky middle-aged men who put aside their lifelong hatred and become friends only to fall for the same woman, filling them with hatred for each other. Yes, despite the one liners, it doesn’t really inspire innovation, but this is a film written and directed by Priya. So, she is expected to reintroduce her charm Kanda Nala MudhalaOr Kannamuchi Yenada For the new generation youth – with competent contemporary actors, modern filmmaking sensibilities and fresh comedy – definitely intrigues.
Unfortunately, Pon one conden It’s a patience-testing, shockingly joyless, massively derailed effort. Imagine watching a movie anchored by adult characters acting like cartoon characters. From start to finish, the film feels like a gory festival of cardboard cut-outs of clichéd archetypes. While Ashok Selvan’s Shiva is a modern, urban-bred youth, Vasant Ravi’s Sai is a young man from Kumbakonam who has spent the last four years taking care of his mother (Sachu), who suffers from dementia. Two childhood enemies become friends at a school reunion. Being friends is good but you didn’t ask the question that Priya wanted to know what made them such good friends.
Now, how do we show Sai’s background while making sure he relies on Shiva to navigate life in the city? Show Shiva as a posh bar-goer on multiple dates and Sai as a naive small-town man who doesn’t know how to talk to women or behave “normally” in any situation. Cliché tropes like this Pon one conden is full
Such shallow writing extends to the female protagonist, Sandy, aka Sundari (Aishwarya Lakshmi), a young woman working as a chef who shares a history with one of the two men and is now in a close equation with the other. Naturally, this develops into a love triangle, but we never understand what goes through Sandy’s mind as she is caught between two one-dimensional man-children.
Pon Ondru Kanden (Tamil)
Director: Priya V
cast: Ashok Selvan, Aishwarya Lakshmi, Vasanth Ravi, Sachu, Deepa Shankar
runtime: 120 minutes
Storyline: Two middle-aged men who were once childhood enemies become best friends, falling in love with the same woman
Adding to the woes is the utterly monotonous plot, full of clichés, that we see these characters go through. There is a lot of convenience in how the story unfolds. For example, when we have to place one of these characters in the path of another, Shiva’s gynecologist or his workplace often comes to the rescue.
What makes this wafer-thin plot more difficult to get through is the casting of Vasant as Sai; A completely different role from his previous roles was a much-needed departure for the actor, but Sai certainly didn’t need one. At times, you wonder if someone speaks in the modulation they speak, and even then, you wonder if it’s a necessary trait when nothing else about the character really comes through.
Vasanth Ravi, Aishwarya Lakshmi and Ashok Selvan in Still from Pon Ond Kanden | Photo Credit: Jio Cinemas
In fact, a nice stretch in the film comes when we don’t follow Sai; In this episode we see Shiva and Sandy at the medical camp. The frames, lighting and music are very well put together and the Mani Ratnam fan in Priya is visibly and consciously at play. In a film filled with over-the-top writing, this part is the only respite we get. But another concern is how the subplot between Sandy and Shiva is written after that scene.
Tamil cinema has been quite prominent in breaking through the romance genre to the new-gen audience. Like the success of the film good night He has ushered in such serious efforts a loverTo explore relationships, this is a Malayalam film PremaluThe triumphant success of It really excites one to expect similar romantic comedies in Tamil that cater to the new-gen audience. With earnest writing and Gen Z-targeted humor, the film captured the simple story of two tender hearts in loving fashion.
Perhaps, you would expect such a film from a filmmaker like Priya, and in retrospect, maybe Pon one conden It was meant to be such an attempt in some capacity. Unfortunately, it was miles away from what it could have been.
Pon Ondru Kanden is currently streaming on Jio Cinemas