Ganesh (Udhayanidhi) is the protagonist, but the film establishes Oothukaataan(Parthiban) in an elaborate scene early on. He loves fame and popularity, and he’d do anything for it. "He can part with wealth but not fame," the voice-over announces, as Oothukaataan arrives in Koothapaadi village with much fanfare, in a jeep that has his name plastered in the front.
There’s a reason for such pompousness: he had faced an embarrassment in the village when his daughter was a toddler and has vouched to get even with the people behind it. And his grand idea? To scheme a plan by which he’d get everyone in the village out.
But for that, he’d have to get past Ganesh, who, unlike many youngsters in the village, has not headed out to the bigger cities in search of greener pastures. He’s quite content hanging out with Tiger Paandi (Soori) and goofing around. He even sings a song that goes, ‘ Summa irukardhu easy illai ...’ (It’s not easy being idle).
And the reason behind such idleness is that he’s “looking after” the village. Someone says he does ‘social service’. But Ganesh is happy cracking jokes with Soori, who’s now fairly established as the friend who is always with the hero, and falling in love with Leelavathi (Nivetha), who happens to be Oothukaataan’s daughter.
The story of two warring villages has been milked by Tamil cinema, and all Podhuvaga Emmanasu Thangam does is portray a face-off between two people. The first half is saved to an extent by a few funny lines, but afterwards, the plot meanders. There’s a segment about a beer factory that lacks punch. The climax seems to be a sequence put-together hurriedly because the director ran out of ideas.
Udhayanidhi has certainly improved since the time he came to the industry, but he still can’t dance (watch out for his steps during the introduction number) and can’t pull off a scene entirely without a sidekick in tow. Parthiban’s casting is interesting; he seems to be signing on some interesting roles of late.
Only the comedy works, to an extent. One such scene has Ganesh honouring students who got the last marks in the class and another has him proposing a ‘Travels Day’. There are a few interesting characters around: a couple who’s hard of hearing and a man who never seems to brush his teeth. But all those, unfortunately, don’t make an entire film.
