Manigandan KR
Chennai, 16 Jun 2017 15:00 IST
Director Ashok pulls off a winner in a well sketched plot, with few known faces.
Peechankai (Left Hand) is a quirky, fun-filled, refreshing entertainer that is distinctly unique from the regular movies one witnesses in the Tamil film industry.
S Muthu (played by newcomer, RS Karthik) is a pickpocket who is so regular to the police station that the cops even have a pet name for him. They call him Smoodhu, a take off on his 'smooth criminal' ways. Smoodhu, a southpaw, leads a happy-go-lucky life, picking pockets at will along with his team mates Ravi (Arun) and Reeta (Sruthi Menon).
One day, Reeta picks a bag from an elderly person in which there is a huge amount of cash. Along with the cash, Smoodhu finds wedding invitation cards. He realises that the money in the bag is for the wedding of the elderly person's daughter and insists that they return the money to its owner. The other two members do not agree, resulting in a fight between them.
Eventually, they choose to part ways and Smoodhu returns the bag with the money to its owner. There he meets Abhirami (Anjali Rao), the daughter of the elderly person, and falls in love with her.
Looking to impress Abhirami, he lies to her saying that he owns a mobile recharge shop and soon, proposes to her. She reciprocates and life is peaceful for a while.
Things soon progress enough for Abhirami to suggest that Smoodhu talk to her father about their wedding. Delighted Smoodhu goes to her residence only to find cops waiting to catch him. This development is the result of Abhirami finding out that Smoodhu is a pickpocket. Smoodhu flees from the place with the cops hot in pursuit. Eventually, he ends up having an accident in which he suffers an injury to his head.
This is where the plot thickens. As a result of the injury, Smoodhu's left hand goes through the 'alien hand syndrome'. This means that it does not take instructions from his brain any more and acts on its own accord. What follows is a series of funny incidents as Smoodhu tries to keep his left hand in check.
Even as these developments take place in the life of Smoodhu, there is a bigger plot unfolding around him. A gang looking to make money through kidnappings is at work. Headed by Gaja (Ponmudi), the gang, primarily comprising of morons, kidnaps the kid of a rich businessman in the hope of getting a huge ransom.
In another part of the city, the head of a political party Thamizhmagan (MS Baskar) is confident that his party will ride back to power in the coming elections. Arrogant and brash, he chooses to name Nalla Thambi (Vivek Prasanna) as the head of the South Chennai district wing of the party, much to the annoyance of Uthaman (KSG Venkatesh), another senior functionary of the party hoping to get that position. This promotion to Nalla Thambi intensifies the internal bickering within the party. It results in Uthaman hiring Gaja's gang to steal Nalla Thambi's mobile in which he has saved several videos of himself in a compromising position. Uthaman hopes to get the coveted post in the party, by blackmailing Nalla Thambi about the videos once he gets his mobile.
Gaja, in turn, assigns the task of stealing Nalla Thambi's mobile to Smoodhu and starting off another chain of hilarious events.
The film has very few established actors and yet, director Ashok seems to have pulled off a winner.
All the actors in the film deliver ably. This a big plus for the film. In particular, RS Karthik does a fine job as Smoodhu. Playing a role in which one's hand does not obey one's instructions isn't easy and Karthik does a reasonably good job. Anjali as Abhirami comes up with a good performance, as does Vivek Prasanna who plays the role of Nalla Thambi.
The film's biggest strength lies in the manner in which each of the characters has been sketched and allowed to evolve. A case in point would be the different members of Gaja's gang. The character of Gaja itself is a fine example of the thought process that has gone into the film.
Although he is the feared lord of a gang, Gaja, in reality, is scared of his wife. This comes across by the manner in which he handles his brother-in-law Krish (Krish Haran), a complete idiot who invariably goofs up on every given occasion.
Although Gaja wishes to beat Krish to a pulp for his phenomenal goof-ups, he refrains from doing so because of the fear that Krish would complain to his sister about him and that in turn, would mean a thrashing for Gaja from his wife.
Next is the character of Krish, who is so dumb that he posts pictures of a kidnapping on his Facebook page.
Most characters in the film are unique and come across as a refreshing change from the characters or developments that one usually witnesses in a Tamil film.
The film has good music by Balamurali Balu and good visuals by Gautham Rajendran. On the whole, Ashok's Peechankai works and works big time!