Pannaiyarum Padminiyum

One of the hidden gems for sure. Every single actor has performed incredibly well. Excellent example to show happiness is in enjoying simple things in life. This movie is full of love and affection. People who complain and crib about everything cannot find love anywhere. People who care for others always find love in almost everything. There's very little plot but it's a joyful emotional ride. It will remind us of our innocent childhood especially if you are an 80s or 90s kid. Director of this movie is a monk who knows true value of life. Vijay sethupathi is a fantastic actor and kudos to entire team for creating heart touching cinema. Lovely movie!

Well, though this released earlier this year, I missed it, and was able to finally catch it, courtesy BIFFES'14. A charming, old-school, lazily-paced sentimental drama, that revolves around the material attachment the leads form to a classic car, this one's quirky and weird, but don't be fooled by its premise, since, in spite of retaining all the frills typically associated with mainstream potboilers, in terms of pace-breaking songs (thankfully, no one devolves into song-and-dance, though each song completes its full runtime to the movie's detriment, IMO, since they're not as catchy as turns perhaps by a Santhosh Narayanan or a Nivas Prasanna) and twists designed to tug at one's heart-strings, (thankfully just stopping short of getting into full-blown tearjerker mode). What I liked: The smashing of the good daughter caricature that's a signature in all movies within this genre, with the good ol' daughter in this turning out to be anything but. Also curious was the mother-daughter dynamic, which was puzzling, yet gloriously refreshing. The side romance track, which sometimes threatens to overwhelm the main track, finally does Not take mainstage, and I was pleasantly surprised to note that aspect. The aspect of how our materialistic urges dictate our every interaction, (mostly) forcing us into stuff we'd not actually do, has been depicted wonderfully, with each of the characters showing a subtly varying facet of that with the 2 extremes being the mom and daughter duo (along with their curious dynamic) and the male leads falling somewhere in-between. The best part? Everyone remaining unapologetic about that right until the end, and even going forward. It is rare for a mainstream drama to fully embrace that, and for that alone, I'd give whatever points that the makers deserve, forgiving the other transgressions when analyzed from that kinda perspective. Performances: Sethupathi has been consistently good in all his efforts, and this one's no different. The titular 'Pannaiyar', essayed by Jayaprakash, is solid, as always, and is a treat to watch in every scene he inhabits. The comic track is typical of a mainstream potboiler, and painted in broad strokes, with quite a bit of physical gags thrown in, and I guess it's better than most, but did Not work for me. If it were not for the fact that its written into the screenplay esp. for the final denouement, I'd have done away with it altogether, had I had the ear of the editor. Dinesh ('Cuckoo') and Sneha are good in their respective cameos, but it was not necessary to have roped them in, since it did not do anything much for the plot itself. * The revelation, though I've seen her before, in characters that are relegated to the background in mainstream Indian cinema, is Thulasi. Her rendering of a loving wife and mother-figure is typical, and she gets no assistance from the writing whatsoever, but she's made of sterner stuff, and makes the role her own. Award-worthy is an understatement, since she successfully steals every scene she's in, from stalwarts such as Sethupathi and Jayaprakash. No mean feat. I'd re-watch it to just focus on how much she's had fun making this. To me, this will always be Thulasi's movie. And that's a good thing. The background score is apt, but the time-wasting foreground scores are something this flick could've done without completely. All in all, a good-great watch, for all the reasons articulated above, in spite of its various/many shortcomings.

The movie is an essay on the ever-contemporary evolution of every human through the alternating steps of possession and release we climb through, energising while possessing and growing as we give until we are so comfortable with our position with our possessions that the joy of giving is all that's left. Vijay is a natural in portraying powerful emotions through understated flicks of eyelids and it was a joy to see him scale his insecurities and grow with a crisp look here and another there. I started watching the movie thinking I was going to finish it loving the Padmini, not too dissimilar to my experience with the Red balloon(English) or Cycle(Marathi). And I was overwhelmed with the love of the people instead, as they projected their own love for each other on to the car and grew, growing me. The casting is so beautiful- making me want to visit the little village even if only to see a little yellow flower fall gently on to the place where Pannayar's Padmini stood. Clearly another film for the all-times-classic rerelease series, lest most of us who missed watching it the first time are left out.

Amazing cast , story , cinematography ! All the characters did 10/10.

It is not a movie, director has simply grabbed some of the moments that can happen in a person's life. Kudos to the director, for concentrating on very small and minute things in the movie. One example is, when Pannayar says to the servant, "lock everything" before getting into the car. ArunKumar, you are really great. Wonderful acting of Vijaysethupathi and Aishwarya. everyone did their part very well. No need to appreciate JP, he simply lived in that character. Special credit to the entire team for making a different story other than the normal stories, in this way quality films can be made.

It is a story between an land lord, his son like servent and a vintage premier padmini car. There is no flaws or lags found in the 2h 27m film. Such an underrated gem 💎. There are many predominant characters but none of the characters doesn't feel useless or waste of time to the story. It is one of the few films which potrayed the romance of a old couple beautifully. Music is upto the mark. Cinematography, editing and screenplay just mind blowing. Kudos to the director who delivered such a beautiful story which unfolds in a village, no one would believe this is the director's debut film. I've just watched the movie 8 years after the release. It's not late to appreciate a masterpiece.

There are so many children, adults, mothers, so many people here who have lived with the nostalgia of not being able to do the closest thing to themselves for a minute! . The art has come to refresh such nostalgia! .

Flawless. A perfect movie. Defines and holds a measure, how a feel-good movie should be.

Pannaiyarum Padminiyum – A journey of a gentleman. An ample of film-makers have often interested to show us commercial films enhanced with technologies, some auteur prefer to offer us a biopic, and some, in a rare occasion, would like to take us to many years back by showing a captivating period film. Pannaiyarum Padminiyum is one such film where we're allowing ourselves to live in 1980s. However, the film has no room to telling us what the milieu was and what life people had lived. Instead, it shows us love, passion, predilections, and aesthetics of a man towards a car, Padmini. The central conceit of the film is neither the love, nor the compassion but everything. A Pannaiyar (played by Jayaprakash), landlord of the village, venerate person in the village is given a car, from his relative, to look after during his absence. That's where the film takes-off. But, nobody in the village knows how to drive a cab except, the films third-hero, Vijay Sethupathy. He was merely hired and literally adopted and his wife (played by Thulasi). Pannaiyarum Padminiyum doesn't have so much of convoluted cast. It has a few, who everyone to be a people we see in our daily life. Pannaiyar, his wife, car driver, and his assistant. The movie not only has a poignant sentiment, but the love between Pannaiyar, and his wife have portrayed well. Each wants others to be happy, so they make compromises in their chores, but they don't. If there are people who don't know how the actual and simple past life were happier than the present fast-running-technology real (fake precisely) world, then Pannaiyar and his wife can be taken as an edifying and quintessence to show them. Vijay Sethupathy, a kind of person, who doesn't interest in his family but love this Pannaiyar family. He drives the Padmini (the car), teaches Pannaiyar how to drive a car. He fell for a girl (played by Aishawariya), they both had duet songs, romance, intimacy scenes which is another sub-plots of the movie, those were meticulously composed by the new-comer Arun Kumar. Even if this intriguing love sequences weren't included, this film is still pleasant to watch, considering the main backdrop, the car. Pannaiyar, played by ingenious Jayaprakash. I wonder if there is anyone else who can carry this role, to cast emotions, love, on-screen then this adroit Jayaprakash. Scenes involving him and his wife were salubrious to watch. We once had Late Raghuvaran as a character artist, and then we saw Prakash Raj in different roles, who is now drifted to direction, so Jayaprakash is the replacement. We've seen Jayaprakash as a police-officer, a teacher, a villain, a detective and whatnot. But, in future, if anyone asks you "who is Jayaprakash", and you reply would be "Hey, he is the man who played as Pannaiyar." How often do we get to see songs theaters without forcing us take break in-between? But, music by Justin Prabhakar should be laudable for his indomitable attempt to give a mellifluous, dulcet songs and lingering "Unakkaga Poranthen" flute as BGM. His discerning in selecting singers is the only reason for these tripping tunes. Since the film is set on 1980s, the cinematography had to lot of work in lighting, after all, that is his only job. And the art, sketched by CS Balachander, the same person who done for Bala's Paradesi, here too we see the same hut, same street, what we had seen in Paradesi – only the artists different. But, a commendable effort by him and his team not to show non-grainy places. Pannaiyarum Padminiyum is the most beautiful film made in this year, where we don't have an opportunity to hate it. Could the film have been shorter? Yes. Pannaiyarum Padminiyum – A journey of a gentleman.

Simply loved the story,direction and astounding acting of the casts. I will remember every scene of this poetry in motion all my life.