Enna Solla Pogirai Movie Review

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Another day, and another contestant from one of Vijay tv’s reality shows debuts in Tamil cinema. Seems like Vijay tv is the gateway to enter k town. Cook With Komali star Ashwin Kumar ran in to controversy for his stage talk about how he slept while hearing 40 odd stories to finally pick this one film for his debut. Memes and troll videos started to flood the internet. Before the heat would turn down in comes his debut venture Enna Solla Pogirai. Comedian and his fellow contestant Pugazh play his side kick. The entertainer is helmed by debutant film maker A. Hariharan. So, how has Enna Solla Pogirai come out? Does it hold content that is worth skipping 40 stories? To know that let us get in to the movie review.

Enna Solla Pogirai follows the life of Vikram (Ashwin Kumar Lakshmikanthan), a young radio jockey in Chennai. His family is gearing up to get him married. But Vikram has a set of expectations as to how his life partner should be. He wants his partner to be simple but a creative being. His father fixes his marriage alliance with Anjali (Avantika Mishra), a writer who has certain expectations on her side on the qualities her life companion should have. She expects her partner to have been in a relationship before. She believes that a person who has loved and lost would know the value of love and be a mature person when it comes to handling their next relationship. Vikram and Anjali meet up. Anjali brings up Vikram’s previous love to have a conversation around it. Not wanting to tell her the truth, Vikram lies about having one. To his shock, Anjali bowls an inch perfect leg stump yorker by expressing her desire to meet his ex and stumbles him.

In order to cover up his lie Vikram comes up with a plan to hire a girl to pose as his ex-girlfriend. He approaches Preethi (Teju Ashwini), a theater artist and asks her to play the part. She asks for a quid pro quo. Preethi wants Vikram to pose as her boyfriend so that she can put an end to her grandfather’s (Delhi Ganesh) nagging her to get married soon. Vikram agrees and the show begins. As the three people navigate life, gradually Vikram develops an interest on Preethi and she reciprocates it. Meanwhile, Anjali falls for Vikram. How will this love triangle be solved, will Vikram take a decision that would hurt his family, and if he does how is Anjali going to react to it, is what makes the rest of the flick.

The love triangle subject is a less explored one in Tamil cinema. Director Hariharan picks it with the hope to weave a modern-day tale but he simply ends up serving an old-fashioned drama. Enna Solla Pogirai starts off promisingly taking its own pace to set up its characters. Just when our anticipation spikes, the entertainer pockets us with its cinematic way of moving the relationship. It intentionally skips the nuances involved in a love triangle and threads on the safe waters. On the positive note, the best thing about the movie is it has space for its women characters to speak their mind. In a sense Enna Solla Pogirai seem more like a woman centered drama than a hero who is set between two women. The characterization is done in such a way that the man behaves in a clueless way while the women seem to be clear about their feelings and what they want for the most parts.

What is surprising about Enna Solla Pogirai is the film does not look like it is made on a shoe string budget. Generally, the debut films that are made to cash in on a person’s sudden popularity do not boast a strong technical side. Enna Solla Pogirai pushes itself out of that generalization. It has equipped itself with rich visuals and quality music that offer us something in an otherwise lackluster flick.

Actor Ashwin Kumar Lakshmikanthan comes across as a confident young man in the initial breezy parts but stumbles whenever the movie enter the emotive portion. Looks like the star actor has a lot of work to do before he could get to be accepted as a bankable hero. Actresses Teju Ashwini and Avantika Mishra have a good space to perform, and they have done justice to their respective roles. Comedian Pugazh tries to pull the Cook With Komali stunt. Some fires but many misfires. Veteran actor Delhi Ganesh is effective as always. Actors Subbu Panchu and Swaminathan are adequate. The rest of the cast has delivered a decent performance.

On the technical front, the technical department is the movie’s strong suit. Musicians Vivek and Mervin have done a fine job. The tracks are enjoyable. Even their background score adds to the tone of the flick. Cinematographer Richard M. Nathan has covered the film in the best way possible. His visuals are solid. Editor G. Durai Raj’s scissor work emphasis the work of his colleague.

On the whole, Enna Solla Pogirai is simply old wine in a new bottle that is packed in an arresting package. If this is the best we could get to after 40 skipped scripts, then one cannot help but wonder how bad would those 40 have been.