''Pa Paandi'' (also known by its former title ''Power Paandi'') is a 2017 Indian

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia ** Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, na ...

-language

comedy drama Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple comic relief seen in a typical ...

film, written and directed by

Dhanush Venkatesh Prabhu Kasthuri Raja (born 28 July 1983), known professionally as Dhanush, is an Indian actor, producer, director, lyricist and playback singer who predominantly works in Tamil cinema. Starring in 46 films over his career, among hi ...

in his directorial debut. He also produced the movie under his studio Wunderbar Films. The film revolves around Pa Paandi (played by

Rajkiran J. Mohideen Abdul Khadar, known by his stage name Rajkiran, is an Indian actor, producer and director, who has acted in more than 30 Tamil films. Early life Rajkiran was born as J. Mohideen Abdul Khadar on 16 March 1959 at Keelakarai into a Mu ...

in the titular role), a retired ex-stunt master in the film industry, travels to Hyderabad to seek out for freedom, and also to reunite with his old village lover.

Revathi Asha Kelunni Nair (born 8 July 1966), better known by her stage name Revathi, is an Indian actress and director, known for her works predominantly in Tamil & Malayalam cinema - in addition to Telugu, Hindi & Kannada films. She has won several ...

, Prasanna and

Chaya Singh Chaya Singh is an Indian actress who predominantly works in Tamil and Kannada films and television shows. She started her acting career in Kannada films and has worked in Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu, Bengali and Bhojpuri films. She has a reputation ...

play supporting roles in the film. Dhanush, who produced and directed the film, portray a cameo appearance in the film as the younger version of the protagonist, while

Madonna Sebastian Madonna Sebastian is an Indian actress and playback singer who primarily works in Tamil and Malayalam films. She made her acting debut with 2015 Malayalam film ''Premam,'' and Tamil with '' Kadhalum Kadandhu Pogum'' (2016), and in Telugu with ' ...

Gautham Vasudev Menon Gautham Vasudev Menon (born 25 February 1973) is an Indian film director, screenwriter, producer and actor who predominantly works in Tamil cinema, Tamil film industry. He has also directed Telugu cinema, Telugu and Hindi cinema, Hindi films th ...

and Dhivyadarshini too played cameo roles. The film was announced on 5 September 2016, announcing the title of the film, with a poster release, and the commencement of

Principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as ...

took place on the same day. The filming took place in

Chennai Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

Hyderabad Hyderabad ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana and the ''de jure'' capital of Andhra Pradesh. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River, in the northern part of Southern Indi ...

and

Madurai Madurai ( , also , ) is a major city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is the cultural capital of Tamil Nadu and the administrative headquarters of Madurai District. As of the 2011 census, it was the third largest Urban agglomeration i ...

. Initially the film was titled ''Power Paandi'', the makers changed its title to ''Pa Paandi'' to seek tax exemption for the film. The music was composed by

Sean Roldan Raghavendra Raja Rao, known by his stage name Sean Roldan is an Indian musician who has worked on Carnatic music, independent music, and film scores for the Tamil film industry. He rose to fame after gaining critical acclaim for his work in Bala ...

, while Velraj and Prasanna G. K. handled the film's cinematography and editing respectively. ''Pa Paandi'' was released on 14 April 2017, coinciding with the Tamil New Year's Day, receiving positive reviews from critics and became a commercial success. This movie was remade in

Kannada Kannada (; ಕನ್ನಡ, ), originally romanised Canarese, is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by the people of Karnataka in southwestern India, with minorities in all neighbouring states. It has around 47 million native s ...

as ''

Ambi Ning Vayassaytho ''Ambi Ning Vayassaytho'' () is a 2018 Indian Kannada language film directed by Gurudattha Ganiga in his directorial debut. The film features Ambareesh in the lead role, while Sudeepa plays the role of Ambareesh during his young age. It is the l ...

'' was released in 2018.

Plot

Power Paandi (

), an ex-stuntmaster in the Tamil cinema industry, is now leading a retired life with his son Raghavan ( Prasanna) and family. Paandi is very close to his grandchildren Dhruv (Master Raghavan) and Shaksha (Baby Chavi). He could not sit idle at home and gets involved in other issues outside his house, which brings trouble to Raghavan. He also tries to keep him occupied by going for some part-time jobs like a gym instructor, sidekick, and cinema stuntman, but nothing fulfills him. This brings friction between Paandi and Raghavan. Paandi, seeking his freedom, goes out of his house with his old bullet and final day savings. On his way, he sees a bunch of old people riding their bikes like him, and narrates his first love experience with them. He shares about how he (

as young Paandi) met Poonthendral (

) for the first time, how they fell in love, and how they were separated. He tells them that he is on a journey to find Poonthendral again. An old man in that group helps Paandi locate Poonthendral. Paandi messages Poonthendral, who has now settled in Hyderabad, as he was in her place and was eager to meet her again. Finally, Poonthendral (

) agrees to meet him in a restaurant, and both of them meet, remembering all the by-gone days. They post their meet on social media and express happiness for each other's life. Paandi proposes to Poonthendral to live the rest of their life together. Poonthendral, who was initially reluctant at his decision, later convinces herself about his companionship and asks him to come to her house the next day for a lunch and to meet her family (her daughter and granddaughter). Back at Chennai, Raghavan realizes his mistake and start searching for his father everywhere. Dhruv locates Paandi using social media and finally comes to Poonthendral's house at Hyderabad to take Paandi back with them. When Paandi comes to Poonthendral's house for lunch, he gets reunited with Raghavan's family. Poonthendral and Paandi realize that their life has to go this way and decide to be in touch with each other for the rest of their lives. With much emotional bursts, Paandi leaves Poonthendral's house with Raghavan, waving his hands in air without seeing her, to which she responds.

Cast

as Pandian Pazhanisami (Power Paandi) **

as younger Paandi *

as Poonthendral **

as younger Poonthendral * Prasanna as Raghavan "Rambo" * Master Raghavan as Dhruv * Baby Chaavi Sharma as Shaksha *

as Premalatha *

Vidyullekha Raman Vidyullekha Raman (born 4 November 1991), also known as Vidyu Raman, is an Indian actress and comedienne who appears in Tamil and Telugu films. The daughter of actor Mohan Raman, Vidyullekha made her debut in Gautham Vasudev Menon's 2012 ''Nee ...

as Poongodi * Bhawana Aneja as Power Paandi's wife *

Aadukalam Naren Narayanan (better known as Aadukalam Naren) is an Indian actor who has appeared in Tamil and few Telugu films, mainly in supporting roles. He made his début in 1997 film ''Raman Abdullah'' but he got noticed for his role in the 2011 film, ''Aa ...

as Chandrasekhar, Poonthendral's father * Meena Vemuri as Mrs. Chandrasekhar, Poonthendral's mother *

Bharathi Kannan S.Bharathi Kannan is an Indian film director, who has directed Tamil films. He was primarily active in the 1990s and early 2000 and is most noted for his work on devotional films. Career He started his career in 1981, joining as an assistant d ...

as Poongodi's father *

Dheena ''Dheena'' is a 2001 Indian Tamil-language action film written and directed by then-debutante A. R. Murugadoss, starring Ajith Kumar, Suresh Gopi, in his Tamil debut, and Laila. The music and background score is composed by Yuvan Shankar Raj ...

as Mani, Paandi's friend *

Sentrayan Senrayan is an Indian actor who has predominantly worked in Tamil language films. After making his acting debut in Vetrimaaran's '' Polladhavan'' (2007), he appeared in other small roles before winning acclaim for his portrayal of a petty crimin ...

as Drug Seller * Rinson Simon as Varun * Supergood Subramani as a police officer *

Robo Shankar Robo Shankar is an Indian standup comedian who has appears in character roles in Tamil films. He made his breakthrough with STAR Vijay's ''Kalakkapovathu Yaaru'', performing standup comedy. He is a now cast as regular on several shows on Sta ...

as hero in Gautham's film *

Dhivyadharshini Dhivyadharshini "DD" Neelakandan is an Indian television host and actress who prominently works in Tamil film and television industry. Initially making her debut as an actress, she featured in supporting roles in films including Kamal Haasan ...

as Poonthendral's daughter *

Stunt Silva Stunt Silva is an Indian stunt actor, action director and stunt co-ordinator who has worked in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Marathi, Hindi and Sinhala films. He made his debut with the 2005 Telugu film '' Chatrapathi'', directed by S. ...

as Bullet Raja *

Baba Bhaskar Baba Bhaskar is an Indian dance choreographer, director and actor who works mainly in Tamil and Telugu language films in addition to some Hindi, Malayalam, Kannada films. Career He was born and brought up in Chennai. Due to his interest in ...

as a villager *

Balaji Mohan Balaji Mohan (born 25 May 1987) is an Indian filmmaker and actor in Tamil-language films. After discontinuing his engineering studies to pursue his passion and become a director, he enrolled at a film academy and attended courses and workshops, ...

as Raghavan, Paandi's neighbour * Velraj as Police Inspector * Som Shekar as Letter Boy in song "Vaanam" Guest appearances: *

as Director Gautham

Production

Development

On 7 September 2016,

announced his directorial debut titled ''Power Paandi'', with a first look poster being released to the media, and also producing the film under his production house, Wunderbar Films. The film has

playing the title role as "Power Paandi" and Prasanna playing a prominent role, as Rajkiran's son, while

, Velraj and Prasanna G. K. became a part of the film's technical crew as its music director, cinematographer and editor respectively. Actresses

and

agreed to work on the film. Dhanush too played a cameo role in this film as the younger version of the protagonist, while Madonna Sebastian plays Dhanush's love interest.

too play cameo appearances, along with

and

who also choreographed the action scenes and dance sequences.

Filming

The film began production on the day of its public announcement. In April 2017, the title was changed from ''Power Paandi'' to ''Pa Paandi'' to seek tax exemption.

Soundtrack

The music and score of the film were composed by

. The soundtrack album features six tracks written by

and directors

Selvaraghavan Selvaraghavan is an Indian film director, screenwriter and actor who has directed and acted predominantly Tamil films. His directorial debut had with ''Thulluvadho Ilamai'' (2002) but his father is credited for business reasons, which stars his ...

and

Raju Murugan Raju Murugan is a writer, journalist turned filmmaker from Tiruvarur. His works include ''Vattiyum Muthalum'', ''Ondru'' and ''Gypsy'', all of which were published in ''Ananda Vikatan''. He made his directorial debut with ''Cuckoo'' (2014). His ...

. In an official press meet for the film, Dhanush stated Sean Roldan as the soul of ''Power Paandi'', further adding that "It was so surprising to see that both our thoughts and creative expressions were same, which helped us bring out some good music with this film." Most of the songs were melodious and

nostalgic Nostalgia is a sentimentality for the past, typically for a period or place with happy personal associations. The word ''nostalgia'' is a learned formation of a Greek compound, consisting of (''nóstos''), meaning "homecoming", a Homeric wo ...

themes. Dhanush wrote and sang a number "Soorakaththu" for the film. The song "Venpani Malare" written by Dhanush, features both male and female versions sung by Sean Roldan and

Shweta Mohan Shweta Mohan (born 19 November 1985) is an Indian playback singer. She has received four Filmfare Awards South for Best Female Playback Singer, one Kerala State Film Award and one Tamil Nadu State Film Award. She has recorded more than 700 s ...

, and an additional version sung by Dhanush was released later. The tracklist was released on 7 March 2017, on the production company's official

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

account, and the complete album was released in on 9 March 2017. An additional version of "Venpani Malare" which was sung by Dhanush was included as a part of the soundtrack album on 27 March 2017. The male version of the song "Venpani Malare" was only featured in the film itself. Upon its release, the album received predominantly positive reviews from critics, and also from celebrities. Behindwoods.com rated the soundtrack album 3.25 out of 5, and gave a verdict "A musically brilliant album with fervently composed tracks." Moviecrow rated the soundtrack album 3.25/5 and summarised it as "Sean Roldan produces another winner soundtrack with Power Paandi and Dhanush's penchant for Ilyaraja'esque music is apparent throughout the soundtrack." MusicAloud rated the album 3.5 out of 5 and stated that "Composer Sean Roldan's most mainstream movie project to date has a decidedly derivative sound, but is also very effective. Solid start for the Dhanush-Sean Roldan team. Hope this also means more soundtracks per year from the composer." BollywoodLife rated the album 3.5/5 and finalised it that "Sean Roldan has created a promising album for Dhanush's directorial debut. On hearing each song, you realise, there is a uniform theme being followed (subtle drum beats), despite that he has managed to make each song stand out. There is a jazzy feel to his compositions that makes it unique yet relatable. You must give this album a try because, when somebody creates songs that stir emotions it should not be missed." Sify rated the album 3 out of 5, with a verdict "Sean Roldan's big ticket to the top league." Hindustan Times rated the album 4 out of 5. Indiaglitz rated the album 2.75 out of 5. Top10 Cinema reviewed it as "One of the beautiful albums in recent times…"

Reception

CurrentlyGlobally.com gave the movie 3 stars and mentioned "Just watch this perfect positive summer movie with family - for the great thought, Raj Kiran, and Revathi, in the same order". The satellite rights of the film were bagged by

STAR Vijay Star Vijay is an Indian Tamil language general entertainment pay television channel owned by Disney Star (formerly Star India), a subsidiary of Asianet Star Communications. The channel's headquarters is in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. Star Vijay change ...

. The film was remade in Kannada as ''

'' starring

Ambarish In Hindu mythology, Ambarisha ( sa, अम्बरीषः, ) is an Ikshvaku king, and the son of Mandhata.Pargiter, F.E. (1972) 922 ''Ancient Indian Historical Tradition'', Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, p.92. He is believed to have conquered t ...

in the titular role and produced by actor

Sudeep Sudeep Sanjeev (born 2 September 1971), also known as Sudeepa, is an Indian actor, director, producer, screenwriter, television presenter and singer, who primarily works in Kannada films. He has also worked in Hindi, Telugu and Tamil films. He i ...

. Baradwaj Rangan of Film Companion wrote "But here's why Pa Paandi works. Rajkiran. He exudes such grandfatherly warmth, it's impossible not to care for him. And as the second half unfolds, the story picks up too."

References

External links

* {{Wunderbar Films 2017 films 2010s Tamil-language films Films shot in Hyderabad, India Films scored by Sean Roldan 2017 comedy-drama films Indian comedy-drama films Tamil films remade in other languages 2017 directorial debut films 2017 comedy films