In Pandrikku Nandri Solli, an aspiring filmmaker accidentally finds himself getting embroiled in a hunt to recover an ancient statue of a pig that is believed to possess magical powers. Director Bala Aran sets up the premise with an interesting back story, told using animation, for the statue, which was brought to India all the way from China hundreds of years ago.
The pig statue is actually the film's McGuffin on which he constructs the plot. We have the filmmaker Devaraj (Nishanth), who tries to sell his story through Sagavaram, a gangster. Unfortunately, cops Needhimurugan and Jaffer (Chella) arrive on the scene. What Devaraj doesn't realise is that he has part of a clue that will lead to the whereabouts of the statue. And when he does, he decides to hunt for it himself thus earning the wrath of both the cops and the gangster. Who is the victor in the end?
Pandrikku Nandri Solli is a film filled with ideas that wants to be a black comedy. You can see what would have been the kind of movie that would have played in Bala Aran's head, but unfortunately, the writing seems to have been unable to capture that.
After a point, when you see the same characters running into each other at every location, the coincidences just begin to feel like lazy, convenient writing. The one interesting aspect is how the director drops us into some scenes midway and then flashes back to give us what had happened until then. Even the novelty of this approach wears off after a while. The plotting, too, isn't solid to keep us entirely invested in the proceedings. It is left to the zany, if unpolished, music, by Suren Vikhash to keep reminding us that what we are seeing is a farce.
With indie films, you don't expect good production values, but when the visuals look tacky, you begin to wonder if you are watching a film or a YouTube video. In this case, this is quite true. Adding on to this feeling is the amateurish acting; there isn't a single performance that feels convincing, as we can clearly see that the actors are performing between a 'start' and a 'cut'. Even if you try to look past these aspects, which, ideally, one shouldn't, given that only recently indies like Kayamai Kadakka and Oomai Sennai demonstrated that good filmmaking skills can help overcome budget constraints, this film falters because of its uneven writing.
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