There is a few reason for me to watch a movie in theaters
1. Director
2. Actor
3. Trailer
4. Music
5. Movie poster
6. Word of mouth
When it comes to Malaysia Tamil movies, I am a little ignorant when it comes to name of directors or actor barring for a couple of them.
So, in order for me to be intrigued to watch a Malaysian Tamil movie it should have some kind of special attraction to masuk pawagam.
The last time I had this feeling was when I saw the trailer of Jagat back in 2015. I was spellbound by the quality of the cinematography. Something that I've never seen in a local Tamil movie before. Totally loved the movie. Checkout my opinion on the movie here : https://thelifeofvikna.blogspot.com/2015/12/jagat-movie-my-personal-opinion.html?m=1
If you haven't watched this movie yet, then head over to Netflix to watch it now. You won't regret it!
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My first ever Malaysian made Tamil movie theater theaters was "Appalam" by Afdlin Shauki back in 2011. At that time, it was a well made movie with lots of emotions,father-daughter relationship,fun and friendship.
The next local movie that tapped my quriosity was "Vennira Iravugal" in 2014. I've never heard about that movie until I saw a nicely made poster of the movie lying on the roadside during Thaipusam. Blue and White and half face of the main characters. That poster alone made me want to watch the movie but I missed to watch it in the theaters.Not so sure why though...cannot recall the reason. Thankfully it came out in Vinmeen HD the same year. It was the first time a local movie was shot in Myanmar.The story, the lead character and their journey was a delight to watch.
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Ok now back to why I started writing this post. Post Jagat, I didn't get the same feeling while watching the trailer of locally made films.Not that they weren't any good movies but I was looking for something special. Perhaps the one movie I missed was "The Farm- En Veetu Thottatil" by Kartik Syamalam. Hopefully they'll released it in OTT.
Fast forward to 2022, that's when I first saw the poster for Poochandi. That poster itself intrigued me to know more about this movie.
Then each character's got their own posters and I loved it and decided that this movie must be good. How good?? I didn't know until I saw the reviews pouring in from left and right on the social media. Few days later, the hostel scene was shown on Facebook and I decided that this is a must watch movie. The "Poochandi" character looks bloody good. The makeup was stunning and scary at the same time. Another good job by the team.
Finally, I watched the movie and oh damn....I was totally in awe of the movie right from the beginning. There was never a dull moment throughout the movie.
Cinematography was top notch. No two words about that. First class in my humble opinion.
What made this movie very authentic and real was the dialogues. It was very Malaysian. There was no "attempts" to copy Indian cinema style.
This was a "pakka" local Tamil slang with Malay word mix in between. That's how we talk. 😅There were a few genuine laugh out loud moments. I was laughing so loud.
All the main characters in the movie deserves a special mention. They were totally awesome! Every single one of them deserves an award. So natural with their dialogue delivery, face expression and body language. I don't want to mention specific names as they were all superb .
Background score plays a big part in thriller movies and they did an exceptional work.The audio was crystal clear and brought the movie one step higher with their music.Thankfully there wasn't any songs as that would have been a deal breaker. The song "Poochandi Varaan" during the end credit was too good. It still stuck in my mind until now. " Pochandi Varaan!!!... Pochandi Varaan!!!"
Director Wicky seems to have taken some time to do thorough research on his story as evident in the movie. Everything that was shown and explained seemed believable. The locations, the coin (one of the main "character" in the movie), camera angles were marvellous. Kudos to the director for writing such and engaging story with twists thrown a couple of times and I was like "What the hell just happened??". Brilliantly written.Brilliant..I am still in awe.
Seriously hoping there would be a sequel to this movie as there is a couple of questions that left unanswered in my mind at the end of the movie. Obviously, I can't post the question here as it would be a huge spoiler. Hopefully, if the makers happen to read this, I can ask them directly. 😅
As a conclusion, this is a movie that should not be missed by all Malaysians and any movies lovers no matter if you understand Tamil or not. ( English and Malay subtitles are available).
I hope the movie will have a long long run in the theaters. It's already 3 weeks since the first screening. Go and watch it soon before it's too late!
Everything written here is my personal opinion and if it hurts anyone's feelings...my sincere apologies.