Kaathirupor Pattiyal review: Dumb jokes, logical loopholes make Balaiya D Rajashekhar's film unamusing

Kaathirupor Pattiyal is an average film that has nothing special to offer to its viewers.

This rom-com drama begins on a busy weekday at the Tambaram railway station. At the station, the Railway Protection Force (RPF) personnel are busy arresting a number of petty offenders.

The offences are so simple that they don't warrant arrest, but the RPF officer in charge, Williams (Aruldoss), believes that the only way RPF personnel will be able to command the same respect the police get from the public is by striking fear into the hearts of commuters. He, therefore, urges his personnel to impose heavy fines and book people at every opportunity.

As a result of this piece of advice, the RPF staff begins booking people with a vengeance.

Those arrested that morning are all confined to a room.

It is here that Sathish (Appukutty) a man booked for urinating in public and the film's hero Sathya (Sachin Mani), arrested for etching his girlfriend's name along with his on a train, meet each other. Along with them, there are another dozen individuals who have been booked that day, including Kodeeswaran (Mayilsamy), a beggar who pretends to be a food packet salesman; Baskar (Senrayan), a ticketless traveller; and Kunjitha Padham (Manobala), a sex doctor who promotes his practice by sticking advertisement bills on trains. It doesn't take long for all of them to become friends as each is interested in knowing why the other got arrested.

Most of those arrested are in no hurry to leave. However, there are two people for whom time is of importance. One is a youngster who was about to join a company when he got arrested for no fault of his. The other is the film's hero, Sathya, who was rushing to Pondicherry to stop his girlfriend's marriage with a man of her dad's choice.

As the group gets to know each other, they learn of Sathya's story and immediately empathise with him. Baskar, a regular offender, assures Sathya that they will be taken to the court and produced before a magistrate who will impose a fine of Rs300 on each of them. "After this, we should be able to walk free by around 1pm," he says. His assurance helps assuage Sathya's fears for a while.

However, unfortunately for him, a bomb threat is reported and the process of taking the suspects to the court is delayed. It becomes evident that none of those arrested will be able to gain their freedom before 7 that night. Sathya pleads with Williams to let him go, but the officer is in no mood to relent.

Sathya knows he will be unable to stop his girlfriend's wedding if he is released by 7pm. What does he do? Kaathirupor Pattiyal answers this question.

For the record, the film is a comedy drama. But the jokes are too dumb for anyone to enjoy them. There is very little comedy in the film. In fact, one has to make an effort to overlook some lapses to find humour.

The only saving grace of the film is its music by Sean Roldan, which is soothing to the ear and appealing to the mind. Roldan's numbers are all fantastic as is his background score for the film. In particular, 'Kaathirukkum Kootathukku' makes an impact and almost immediately manages to catch your attention. Its retention and recall value are also high, thanks to some nice camerawork by Sukumar.

Sukumar, for most part of the film, does a good job. However, there are also sequences in the film where the visuals are simply not as sharp as they ought to be. Sukumar's problem is his consistency. Some sequences stand out for their quality and there are those others that stand out for the lack of it.

Actress Nanditha, who has been a part of several hit films, does a neat job of playing Megala in this one. The actress looks natural and comfortable playing the character of Megala.

Hero Sachin Mani comes up with a decent enough performance for a newcomer. The actor has screen presence and looks promising. Moreover, he is ably supported by a host of comedy artistes, including Manobala, Senrayan and Appukutty.

But all these are just the smaller issues with the film, whose biggest issue is the logical aspect of the story. For example, the hero is shown escaping from a police truck through a manhole. While the person leading the way is covered in slush and dirt, the hero, who enters the manhole after him, is next shown travelling in a car in the same formal shirt without so much as a speck of dust on it.

At a time when every single person has a mobile phone that has a camera in it, the cops are shown describing each convict while taking down their particulars. These are just some of the lapses that create a big dent in the credibility of the story and therefore the film.

In short, Kaathirupor Pattiyal is not good enough to warrant a watch.