Pulimurugan Malayalam Movie Review

By chance, happened to read an interview on the eve of director Vysakh's much hyped and publicized movie Pulimurugan's release wherein the director categorically rejects his movie belonging to a mass masala movie in the league of a Narasimham or a Ravanaprabhu with heavy punch dialogues appearing every now and then. As per Vysakh, Pulimurugan is more of a film suitable for the family audience and at the same time one that can appease the hardcore fans of Mohanlal.

After watching the movie, the impression that I got is something justifying the statements of the director only partially as the film is heavy on the mass side giving a glorified picture of its title protagonist. The film has its share of negatives and has cliches on the narrative side but where it scores is on the action side and for that Peter Hein the action director and of course Mohanlal who at this age too has put in enormous efforts to make the stunts look so effortless deserve a round of applause.

Set in a dense forest area called Puliyoor where Pulimurugan is the man the people reach out to whenever tigers are on the prowl creating casualties on the human side. Born and brought up under the toughest of condition, Murugan has this exceptional skill in fighting the wild animal. How he does that and how some uninvited guests becomes his nemesis is narrated in the film.

Its a treat for the diehard followers of the superstar who will be a satisfied lot seeing the actor doing some breathtaking action sequences. Where the film could not make an impression is on the family life of Murugan that was plain irritating and boring creating a feel that acted as a speed breaker. Had these portions been trimmed, it would have made a big difference.

Mohanlal appear in the title protagonist role and as far as acting is concerned its not a challenging one but where he needed his contributions were on the action side. For a man of his age, it was something really commendable executing those difficult steps brilliantly directed by Peter Hein. The character that Kamalini Mukherjee plays as that of Murugan's better half was plain annoying displaying the same set of emotions all the time. It was the result of a badly written role for her with poorly sketched dialogues that did the damage.

On the supporting side, Lal, Telugu actor Jagapathy Babu, Suraj Venjaramodu and Kishore were the notable ones. Siddhique and Makarand Deshpandey didn't get anything meaty to display their acting skills.

The visual beauty of nature as the entire story happens inside a forest has been brilliantly captured by the cameraman. Gopi Sunder's background score gave a major face-lift to the movie and the songs were also quite good especially the lullaby that appear in the beginning. The song sung by Yesudas was also a melodious one worth hearing a second time. Editing was sharp especially on the action sequences but the overall length could have been pruned a little.

As I said, Pulimurugan is a movie for the hardcore fans who will accept it with both hands seeing their star doing heavy action and also doing his traditional twirling of his mustache on several occasions. With lot of thrilling moments with good support from the technical side and at the same time with a predictable and weak storyline, the movie can be enjoyed provided the expectation is slightly brought down.

Rating - 3 / 5