Ponmagal Vandhal is an Indian, Tamil movie that released end of May 2020 on
Amazon Prime.
It released amidst much controversy as there was not much
acceptance for online releases from Indian producers and distributors as they
want traditional theater releases to still be preferred; how is that possible in
such times of COVID, only they know!
I admired the lead actress Jyotika's candid
approach to the whole thing and how she hit the nail on the head in saying her
movie would not get priority release once COVID crisis was done and movies
started releasing in theaters again. Makes perfect sense really; why would you
wait for a year or two to release a movie when you can do it now with other
platforms.
The story had my full admiration but the handling of it by the
director left a lot lacking. What could have been a fantastic script, with
enough twists and a wonderful attempt at awareness regarding child abuse was
unfortunately lost in translation quite a bit. Was there a need to explain
everything clearly? Aren't the audience smart enough to understand things left
unsaid? However the cast was brilliant, though completely under-utilised. I have
not seen so many actors/directors from the 80s and 90s come together in such a
way for a long time.
Congratulations to the producers Suriya and Jyotika and
their 2D Entertainment for choosing wonderful themes of importance, especially
to women and children. It is about time such themes are tackled. Next time maybe
a better director!
