Continuing with 'There is more"!! We were desperately squiggling and fidgeting in our seats and were anticipating for the arrival of...No! not the father Vijay or another of the can't-even-remember-the tune songs.! We were eagerly awaiting for the word " Interval" to be displayed on the screen to make a dash out of the theatre and escape from this savage inferno. Looking at the time, we were barely into 50 minutes of the movie. I quickly equated this horrible feeling with Einstein's The Theory of Relativity and framed a new example - "50 minutes in Puli is like spending your one life time of 71 years, be reborn and still the interval would not have happened when you are watching it in your second life". The pace of the movie was so slow that even the oldest of oldest tortoises would have overtaken the movie's speed! Its not that I was bothered on the slowness of the film. I have watched many slowly moving movies - Gone with the wind, Casablanca, Lawrence of Arabia, Barry Lyndon, Lolita etc. These movies had stuff. Substance that made it worth investing my time and effort. But, Puli belonged to the elite cadre of slowness combined with abominable balderdash that made us to want to dash out of the theatre at the slightest opportunity. Finally, the interval arrived after what seemed like aeons. We contemplated whether to make a run for it during the recess. But, our hard and well earned money and effort has been spent to buy the tickets even depriving our sleep on the Mahatma Day. So, we hatched up a brilliant plan to sit through the full movie and comment on every single scene to get the true value for our money. Second half began. The massacre continued from where it was left before the intermission. Chimbudevan and Vijay were really on a mission. We were severely slaughtered by the blunt screenplay and story. Nevertheless, the icing on the cake was yet to come. The story moved into flashback. Then, suddenly a man rides a horse and arrives to save the people of the village. It is revealed that it is Vijay again. Words seemed to slip away from me. My mind was blank on seeing the scene.
HA HA HA HA HA HA HA...was the loudest comment that I could muster up. The entire theatre was looking behind instead of the screen. My friend asked me to shut my mouth as some Vijay fans were starting to hoot and root up for their hero. It took me some time to come back to normal state on seeing the appearance and make up for father Vijay. Like Neelambari in Padayappa who watched the marriage scene again and again, I felt like playing that scene over and over again whenever I was bored or serious. It ate up Tom & Jerry hands down as if the entire cartoon series were a cherry! Finally, the last of the bashing, bashing, bashing happened and Vijay was crowned as the King to end this abysmally horrible extra ordinary piece of narration stitched together rather badly from various sources. I wanted to come screaming out of the theatre gates issuing a public warning to have their lives insured before watching Puli. But, my friend restrained me from doing such an impulsive act lest the SPI employees issues a mandate to us from ever entering their gates again. I overheard a guy saying to his friend "Machi. I am going for the 630 pm show at Prarthana today. Wanna join me?". "There are better options for a second suicide" The bursting comment was so very spontaneous that the onlookers around me burst into fits of laughter.
I always believe that there is always a silver lining to any situation. I must say and appreciate the director's pluck and boldness to visually entertain the audience in a grandiose manner. It would have actually clicked had it not been for the insipid and lacklustre screenplay from many known and popular sources tailor-made to suit Vijay's image. I felt the injury caused by this Puli was very painful and damaging than my sustained injuries during the accident. But, as they say. The best was yet to come. I still had "The Black Mass" and "The Martian" to make me forget the unforgettable Puli.
---To be completed---
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