Pogumidam Vegu Thooramillai Movie Review: A brilliant Vemal and Karunaas anchor an effective road film

Towards the middle of the film, Karunaas' character tells Vemal's character that after helping someone, a human gets elevated to the status of an angel. In this heartwarming imaginary scene, we see both characters growing wings and floating in the air. Even though such ideas could have used more visual subtlety, debut director Michael K Raja has masterfully crafted Pogumidam Vegu Thooramillai in such a way that not even one scene or one line passes in vain.

Pogumidam Vegu Thooramillai begins with Kumar (Vemal), a hearse van driver, in a scuffle with a debtor who owes him money. Kumar is in dire need of money for his expectant wife at the hospital. With no end in sight, Kumar takes up the task of delivering the mortal remains of a big wig to a place in Tirunelveli. The film is about the dangers and lessons that await Kumar on this journey.

Vemal and Karunaas (who plays Nalinamoorthy) were apt for their respective roles. A cheerful koothu artist, Nalinamoorthy, plays the perfect foil to the reticent and rude Kumar, lending to some decently humorous scenes. The first half could really cross with you and test your patience as to why Nalinamoorthy, who hitches for a ride, imparts life lessons to a stranger like Kumar, knowing they wouldn't cross paths again. However, the intense pre-interval sequence and an extraordinary interval scene more than make up for it. Even though the film meanders its way through the first half, we tend to marvel at the genius of the director for making it all count in the second half. Despite Kumar reluctantly helping a couple's elopement, which is used as a convenient device to develop his character, the entailing minor whodunnit episode blends with the main plot, and it works.

Director: Michael K Raja

Cast: Vemal, Karunaas, Pawan, Aadukalam Naren

This time-bound film bothers only with a few well-written characters. The family feud of the deceased has been well developed, where two sons (Pawan and Aadukalam Naren), who are born to two of his wives, stake claim to perform the funeral rites. This aspect serves as the high-stakes conflict in an otherwise regular Tirunelveli-bound night journey for a mortuary driver. We don't see the bad deeds of these so-called bad guys as the story unfolds in a day. But we were shown that their 'prestige' relies on performing the last rites of their father; the brothers' characterisation and narration carried the possibility of Kumar putting himself in harm's way if he messes things up. The decision to use unassuming lines to elevate a later scene in a different context is pure class. Nalinamoorthy's 'Karnan vesham' line is a good example of this aspect.

On the downside, Kumar calls himself a "saniyan pudichavan" for some of his personal tragedies, which doesn't quite connect with us. It is understood that only so much could have been done in terms of backstories and characterisation. This would not have been a sticking thumb if Kumar hadn't cursed himself so much. Even knowing the limitations of this narrative style, we helplessly ask what it is that Kumar is so bothered about, and we get no answers. Pogumidam Vegu Thooramillai has one of the worst-written love tracks in recent times. We have the female lead, who ends up residing in the male lead's house for a banal reason. Kumar lets her in under the condition that she does all the household chores as he lives with his grandfather. She, after a montage song, asks if she can marry Kumar by making a proposal that she can do the household chores forever! Is that the whole point of a marriage? Only Michael K Raja can answer.

Problems aside, the amusing thing about Pogumidam Vegu Thooramillai is that it never bites anything more than it can chew. Films that generally profess hope in humanity get preachy and feign universality, thereby drifting away from the primary story they wanted to tell. PVT makes itself an engaging watch by just restricting itself to telling the stories of Kumar and Nalinamoorthy, providing tolerable but not perfect resolutions for the complaints about their respective lives, which evokes a sense of poignancy and contentment, not necessarily joy.