Simbhu is back with Poda Podi for this Diwali after rumors did some rounds that the movie had been shelved. Directed by debutante Vignesh Shivan, it marks the debut of another star daughter Varalaxmi or Varu, daughter of Sarathkumar.
Poda Podi has been shot in the form of swanky vignettes in the life of Arjun and Nisha who live in London. It further delved into their love life, their conflict of interest, marriage, child, separation and a reunion with a cliched climax.
For me three things stood out in this movie:
1. The scenes between Simbhu and Varu seemed as if it was shot with a candid camera as their chemistry was brought out well.
2. Varalaxmi, though well built with a tinge of masculine features, is a natural performer. Since she had dubbed with her own voice, she was able to bring out the right emotions as that of an NRI London girl. As she has been trained in salsa, it was great to see her make the moves on screen.
3. The intrinsic humor in the script
This movie can be classified as a ‘coming of age’ genre wherein there is a space to discuss things that were considered taboo otherwise like sex and other domestic relationships. Also the place in which the story took place - London - created that ambiance and luxury for the script.
The humor in the script was few and far between but it was well handled by the lead pair of Simbu and Varu while bumping against Simbhu’s favorite ‘VTV’ Ganesh.
Shobhana as the vixen aunt of Varu infused arrogance with her attitude and carried herself elegantly.
Music by Dharan was above average, editing by Anthony was crisp for this story as it was wrapped well under 2 hours and cinematography by Duncan Telford, the foreign cinematographer, was tidy.
The only disappointment was that there were no major twists and turns and the entire movie was minty cool with a cliched climax and could be enjoyed on a late Saturday afternoon with some quality time at our disposal.
Verdict: Coming of Age Rom-Com
Rating: 3/5
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