Poda Podi

 STR once again hits the screen with a beautiful romantic flick this time for Diwali . Atleast tats what everyone thought when they first saw the trailer . But My god I was disappointed when I saw the movie . When the songs were released , I was so enthralled by it that I was sure that the movie will run for the songs alone . Every song was crisp and new to hear with the usual techno beat and melody mixed up here and there , thanks to Dharan Kumar of Paarijatham fame.

 













Story , well how to explain this , hmmmmm...Bcos As far as i understood it is a love story between two charectors who have a major culture shock between them . Simbu is the goody goody Tamil guy who is very traditional ( hard to believe huh ;-D ) and thereby wants his lover /future wife to be the same . But , his girlfriend ( Varalaxmi Sarathkumar )is a independent Tamil girl born in London . She is raised by her guardian  Shobana who , makes it a point to stress that independent nature is important for a girl.Even from the first when they both fall in love , Simbu hates her Dance or to be exact the added benefits of dance class which includes Mojo , the partner who simbu feels , touches her in intmate places in the name of dance . And the friends she acculmulates thru the class who are over -'touch'-friendly to her .

Varalaxmi Sarathkumar

Salsa is supposed to be hard and too complex . I was scared how they are going to portray it on screen , that too with such a figure less actress . Thank god she did not to try to do salsa in any sequence . Just some weird poses that we are supposed to think is practice for salsa ..Psssh!!! ...

So coming back to the story , Nisha's (heroine ) goal  to participate in ' Lets Dance' and to become the ultimate winner is momentarily disturbed by simbu's devious tactics to stop her from going to the classes . Little fights emerge and finally a big blown fight and then vola , they get back together again to get married ?? Ya right . So after marriage simbu gets outraged that Nisha stills continues  her dance . So he comes in with another huge brainstorm of getting her pregnant and having a baby . Interval ..Phew huh :D

After Nisha comes to know of Simbu's narrow minded idea she storms of and loses her child in a accident . Poor baby , I don t know what he did to suffer in the hands of such a director :D. And the story goes on with Nisha going to stay with her guardian again saying that she doesn't want to see Simbu at all. Simbu convinces her somewhat and gets her back to the apartment , but again the same problem of dancing with Mojo raises again . Simbu's repeated insinuations finally makes Nisha guilty that she and Mojo breaks up as dancing partners. Now Nisha is in need  of a dancing partner for her Salsa performance . Who else , Simbu comes in :D. He practices like hell and in 15 days becomes the best salsa dancer and they both win the first prize in Lets Dance . If that had been the story I would have fallen down ,laughing  at the ridiculousness of it . Thank god the director wasn't that dense .

The supposed SALSA Performance :D

Instead Simbu fails miserably in the dance performance , judges berate Nisha and agrees to give her another chance provided that she comes back in with a new partner . Crestfallen Nisha asks Simbu what needs to be done . In comes the " KUTHU DANCER " of chennai stlye . Simbu says that this dance is much more powerful than Salsa and proves it in the final performance (Only part of the movie I really enjoyed ) . But in the end Nisha drops a bombshell saying that the competition is not yet over as they still have 14 more rounds to go . Simbu's mouth falls opens in astonishment and the end credits roll , with a few of the audience running out the theaters screaming for their life :D.

Cute ganesh ji with his cute pair in the movie 

So tats about the story . Now can you please tell if you were able to feel any kind of romance in the above mentioned plot . No , right .That is what was lacking entirely in the movie . It feels entirely messed up that you start to wonder whether its the editor's fault or the director .

Shobana

Simbu's perfomance is the only breather in the movie . Cinematography and dacne skills of him had also strengthened the movie to some extent. Varalaxmi was ok to look but her acting talents were really surprising for the first movie. Comedy track was by Ganesh ji of VTV fame. He comes in weird hairstyle and tries to his extend , but  I think without Santhanam to back him up , he has faired only well. ' Love pannalama , vendama ...' song looks really good with Simbu's quirkys steps and awesome cinematography   

Guest Appearence - Ganesh , Santhanam, Simbu , Premji, Robert (left to right)

One or two dialogues earns a few lazy claps from the Fans here and there . Apart from that , the movie was totally cruel . Dont waste ur time and money in going to theatres .Wait for it and you will enjoy the movie in TV for Pongal for sure ;-)

Verdict : 7/10

Regards
Ram.