Papanasam (Movie Review): Common Man Vs. Police Department

A common man accidentally commits a crime. And that crime is murder. The murdered person is IG’s son. In this situation, the common man can do two things: Admit the murder and go to jail (or) . . .

Welcome to Papanasam. 

பாபநாசம் உங்களை வரவேற்கிறது  🙂

Papanasam is the Tamil remake of super-hit Malayalam movie Drishyam. When I went to see the movie today, I knew it will be good, but didn’t expect it to be so good! A realistic movie that shows the GRIT of a Common Man when defending his family against the MIGHT of the Police Department.

The Common Man is the criminal in this movie — no secret that. And the police department is trying to prove that by uncovering the truth. To what extent can (does) a Common Man go to hide his/her crime? That’s the story.

At last, a movie to showcase the action skills of our Ulaga Nayagan Kamal Hassan, after a long time! You should just see his action as the movie proceeds towards the climax and during the climax — just excellent 🙂

Full credit to the writer and movie maker Jeethu Joseph, who has also directed the original movie in Malayalam. A very strong script with excellent actors is the best recipe for getting applause in the theater. Wait a minute, applause in a serious movie? Yes!! There were a number of instances, especially when the family keeps getting away from difficult-to-impossible situations, where the crowed cheers for them. After the climax people gave a standing ovation!

Of course, the movie is good and I recommend everyone to watch it in the theater and all that, but is what the Common Man did in this movie the best thing to do?

Irrespective of whether someone gets punished or not, the truth cannot be hidden for long. And even in this movie, everyone, including the police & press, know the truth. How can a family live in peace once the truth is out everywhere, even though the entire mistake was not theirs?

How about admitting the truth and fighting the case in the court establishing that the murder was done in self-defense? Ideal, but not practical? A difficult situation, especially for a Common Man. The story/director exploits that situation very well.

But let’s not digress too much away from the story, which is that of a Common Man fighting the Police Department, getting away with a crime, and getting lots of applause for that! Don’t mistake me for giving away the story or anything, but I anticipated this end right in the middle of the movie.

Although the ending of the movie was not unexpected, how the events lead to the ending, and what all the Common Man did to achieve the ending he wanted was indeed surprising.

The movie is realistic for the most part, but I don’t think the Police Department will not even get a single evidence in a case like this. It’s very difficult to hide the date/time of an entire trip without messing up somewhere.

But then, this Common Man does it flawlessly (almost) and that’s what makes the story memorable. Kudos to the team for making us believe in the story, and the cause — that there is Hope against Might, even for a Common Man 😉

பாபநாசம் — கண்டிப்பா தியேட்டர்-ல பொய் பார்க்க வேண்டிய படம்.

Destination Infinity

8 thoughts on “Papanasam (Movie Review): Common Man Vs. Police Department

  1. SG

    Thanks for the wonderful review. We will be seeing this movie tomorrow. I think it should be போய். It is not பொய். I think பொய் means lie.

    1. Rajesh K

      Yes, you are correct about the spelling mistake. Will change it shortly. Enjoy the movie in theater 🙂

      Destination Infinity

  2. Sandhya Kumar

    I have seen ‘Drishyam’ the original Malayalam movie even though I couldn’t understand most of the dialogues. Mohan Lal and Meena had acted superbly. But just to understand the dialogues and Kamal is there, I have to watch this in theater!

    1. Rajesh K

      Oh, there were no subtitles in the Malayalam version? Then you could see this movie again, this time also for the action of Ulaga Nayagan Kamal Hassan 🙂

      Destination Infinity

  3. Jeevan

    Excellent write up on the movie! Wish to watch it in theater, perhaps next week.

    1. Rajesh K

      Do watch in theater. It’s worth it 🙂

      Destination Infinity

  4. Manogna

    i watched the Telugu ‘Drishyam’ and i can’t say the actor did complete justice to the role, but i loved the concept. Kamal Hasan must have done complete justice to the role.
    By the way, what did you write in Tamil script in the post?

    1. Rajesh K

      1. Papanasam welcomes you.
      2. Papanasam is a must watch in Theater.

      Destination Infinity

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