Krishnaveni Panjalai Movie Review

Cast: Hemachandran, Nandana, Shanmugaraja, Renuka, M.S. Bhaskar, Ajayan Bala, Bala Singh, Thennavan, Rajeev Krishna
Direction: Dhanapal Padmanabhan
Music: Raghunandan
Cinematography: Suresh Bhargav and Adhisayaraj
Flat narration

‘Krishnaveni Panjalai’ directed by newcomer Dhanapal Padmanabhan, is set in the backdrop of changing era in the 1990s in the industrial area Coimbatore. The movie speaks about the lives in the wake of many changes that took place in the past couple of decades in India. The movie talks about the travails of mill workers in late 80s and early 90s.
Storyline:

The movie begins in the 1950s, ends in 2007. Kathir (Hemachandran) and Poongothai (Nandana) are colleagues in a cotton mill. They are in love with each other. Kathir helps Poongothai’s elder sister to marry her lover against the wish of her widow mother (Renuka). The lovers belong to different castes and hence problems crop up.
The conflict gets bigger with the mysterious death of Poongothai’s sister and her husband. This puts the love between the lead pair in a crisis.

Meanwhile the mill is shut following a dispute between the workers and the management over the issue of bonus. The workers under a new trade union become tougher in negotiations. The owner too is not willing to compromise. As a result the mill is forced to shut down.

The workers feel the heat after prolonged fight without any salary. The efforts to reopen the mill don’t fetch the desired results. The family of Poongothai gets into further trouble. The mill owner is dejected and over the developments. The entire scenario becomes quite disturbing.

What happens is dealt in a different way in the climax.
Script analysis:

Dhanapal Padmanabhan deserves to be applauded for taking up a serious issue pertaining to the mill workers of yesteryears. He has done the home work neatly and brought the feel of that period rather well. He has not gone overboard in shaping up the characters and the crisis in the film. He has tried to stick to the realistic ways to tell his story. His deft handling of the story and the actors has helped overcome the inexperience of the lead actors.

However, the director has failed to make the movie come closer to the hearts of today’s audiences. He has failed to make the script exciting and relatable to the audiences. Movie in parts look like a documentary rather than a feature film. The story moves in a predictable manner without triggering any interest. That the scenes in the middle are disjointed makes things worse.

The major problem with the movie is that it falls short of expectation, as it fails to touch our heart though it has taken up an emotional theme of the plight of the mill workers. The flat narration is the main culprit of the movie.
Cast and crew analysis:

Hemachandran and Poongothai look credible in their roles. They have got a long way to go to make any impact on screen.

Experienced players like Bala Singh, Thennavan and M S Bhaskar add value to the fare. Rajeev Krishna of ‘Aaha’ fame has delivered good performance. Shanmugaraja as the mill supervisor gives some comic relief.

Music by Raghunandan is soothing though he hasn’t given any chartbusters. Camera work by Suresh Bhargav and Adhisayaraj is neat.
Positive points:

Realistic portrayal and sincere effort to recreate the period.
Negative points:

Slow and unexciting narrative.
Verdict:

Dhanapal makes a decent debut as a director but he has failed to hit the bull’s eye due to the weakness in the script.

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