Kunguma Pottu Goundar has the distinction of being the most ill-suited name for
a movie this year. The name belonged to the semi-villainous character that Satyaraj
portrayed in one of his early hits Mudhal Vasantham and was quite popular owing
to his good performance. Probably intending to
capitalise on the familiarity of that name with his fans, the director has used that
as the title of this film. But the character by that name occurs for less than
ten minutes in the entire film, leaving anyone who does not know the origins of
the name wondering as to why the movie was named thus.
Even worse, the unattractive title obfuscates the fact that the movie actually
tries to convey a valid message. By emphasising the importance of education and
pointing out the flaw in the policies of some schools which require that the parents of
their students be educated, the movie can boast of containing messages that are valid today.
But a name like Kunguma Pottu Goundar definitely does not raise visions of a movie
that contains a message of any kind. While far worse movies like
Paarvai Ondre Pothumey had lyrical titles, this movie's
biggest drawback is its title which will probably put off several viewers.
Kandasamy(Satyaraj) is uneducated and works as a salesman in a saree store. Owing
to a lesson his father Kunguma Pottu Goundar learned the hard way, Kandasamy's one
aim in life is to make sure that his son is educated. He wants to admit his son in
the most prestigious school in the area but the school has the policy that atleast one
parent of every one of its students must be educated. Since his wife Alamelu(Rambha) is
also uneducated, Kandasamy asks his colleague Saraswati(Kousalya), a BA graduate, to
pose as his son's mother. But problems arise when Alamelu and Siva(Karan), Saraswati's
lover, spot Kandasamy and Saraswati together.
After the recent string of predominantly light, fluffy movies with either romance or
violence as their strengths, it is nice to see a movie that tackles something more
substantial. Education has never been a top priority among the issues handled in Tamil
movies and the dialogs in support of the longterm effects of a good education sound good.
The advice Kunguma Pottu Goundar gives to his son is sensible but it is never clear why,
even after understanding the need for education, he takes no steps at all to educate
his son, who is definitely not beyond the age for learning.
While it is admittedly difficult to craft an entertaining movie by focussing on
education alone, the director spends the majority of the movie on issues completely
unrelated to the topic. And these issues are far from being entertaining. Problems
that could be resolved with just a few clear words are dragged on due to
contrivances and the cliched behavior of both Karan and Rambha. Sentiments are also
thrust into the mix with the kid's accident and an emotional climax. The song
sequence with Satyaraj and Rambha seems completely out of place.
Satyaraj and Koundamani were an effective pair a while back with the comedy tracks
in several of the movies where they appeared together being successful. They maintain
their track record here too. Koundamani, making an appearance after a long time,
has several lines delivered in his own style. Most of these happen when he is taking
digs at Satyaraj and not in a separate comedy track and that makes the lines funnier.
Satyaraj appears confused over how to portray his character. He ends up seeming innocent
and naieve at times while trying to earn our sympathy at other times. Rambha, creeping
past her sex symbol state, appears old and seems to have resigned herself to playing
the nagging wife and mother. Kousalya doesn't have many chances to overact. Radhika
Choudhary has a cameo as Miss India and gives Aishwarya Rai enough ammunition to sue
for defamation! Sirpy doesn't make much use of his chance.
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