Helmed by Jeetu Joseph, Papanasam has an ensemble cast with Gautami, MS Bhaskar, Nivedha Thomas (you may remember her from Jilla & Naveena Saraswathi Sabatham), Kalabhavan Mani, Ilavarasan, Ananth Mahadevan & many others playing pivotal roles in this "family thriller".
Kamal plays Swayambulingam, an avid cinema lover, who runs a cable TV network amongst other businesses. Swayambu is a self-made success, with a strong nellai accent & a even stronger penchant to irk Perumal (Kalabhavan Mani), a constable from the local police station who sees no wrong in fleecing the poor. Swayambu is also a caring father to his two daughters & a loving husband. Small, happy family, all four riding a two-wheeler around town in quintessential Tamil-Nadu style.
Disaster strikes his family through an unexpected incident and how/whether Kamal protects his family from the ensuing catastrophe forms the crux of the narrative.
And what a narrative it is. Jeetu Joseph is a supremely gifted writer. He has stacked all the odds against him, and proceeded to shred them to pieces. Sample this - The film has a run-time of 180+ minutes (when was the last time a big-star tamil film had such a long run-time?), and the big action sequence of the movie is done by the time you reach 1/3rd of the movie! How do you keep the audience engaged for 2+ hours when the suspense is already out? Watch the movie to find out.
Ghibran's music and Sujith's cinematography are subtle and unobtrusive, while Jeyamohan's dialogues bring the nellai dialect to mainstream cinema viewers. Before the movie came out, there were concerns that the accent and dialogues may not resonate with most sections of the audience. Such concerns are surely swept aside by the assiduous application of the dialogues in the movie.
Papanasam is ultimately Kamal's movie; though not quite in the usual way. Kamal has incredibly underplayed his hand in this movie. Be it the characterization of Swayambu as a submissive, yet resilient save-my-family-at-any-cost father, or limiting his involvement to only playing his part as an actor, Kamal in Papanasam is a world apart from the larger-than-life superheros our film stars are made to be. And hats off to Kamal for keeping the spirit of the movie intact.
Highlights - there are so many. To start with, the entire movie is a lesson in the art of engaging an audience in the story. Then, there are umpteen sequences which stand out - Nivedha's reaction when Police first come to their house for enquiry, her responses to the police while at school, Kalabhavan Mani's brutal assault on the family, and without doubt one of the best scenes in Tamil cinema ever, the climax sequence between Ananth Mahadevan and Kamal overseeing the papanasam river.
Overall, Papanasam is a sincere remake that stays true to the original in spirit, and in the process, given us one of Kamal's best ever performances. An absolute must-watch...
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