PADAGOTTI review

Padagotti is set in a fishing village and deals with a myriad of important issues that are still relevant today..

Maanickam (MGR) is the leader of a small fishing community. In the same area, Alaiyappan (S.V.Ramadhaas) is the leader of a second group in opposition to Manickam’s group.

The enmity between the two groups goes way beyond competition. While Manickam is honest, compassionate and principled, his counterpart, Alaiyappan, is exactly the opposite, driven mainly by greed.

The person responsible for fuelling this enmity between the two groups is the man who stands to gain the most from it all – The village Zamindar (M.N. Nambiar). Alaiyappan’s blind allegiance is to the Zamindar.

Padagotti takes an intense look at the hardship of the inhabitants of fishing villages and, particularly, how vulnerable the fishermen are. Many of these challenges still plague fishing communities today.

Padagotti has an original story by P.P. Chandhra with screenplay and direction by T. Prakash Rao. Scripting by Sakthi T.R.Krishnaswam is a major positive aspect of the film. There is excellent characterization and very realistic scripting.

Padagotti stars a muscular MGR opposite B. Saroja Devi. Saroja Devi plays the role of Muthazagi, the daughter of Alaiyappan, who predictably falls in love with Manickam,

M.N.Nambair handles the role of the Zamindar with minimal effort while S.A.Asogan, in the role of Chandhra, delivers a very stylised but entertaining performance. Nagesh and Manorama are responsible for some good comedy sequences.

Another major plus point for Padagotti is the music by the unbeatable duo, Visvanathan-Ramamoorthy. All the songs in this film were hits and includes the immortal Thotaal Poo Malarum. The background musical score is also very memorable.

Padagotti was filmed on location in some very scenic areas, so it is a very colourful film.

Boasting a very unusual story that is creatively handles, this film is a worthy addition to any movie collection.