'Poi Solla Porom' a lovable pack of lies (Tamil film review)

Film: 'Poi Solla Porom'; Director: Vijay; Cast: Karthick, Piya, Om, Nasser, Nedumudi Venu, Mouli, Lakshmi; Music: M.G. Sri Kumar; Rating: ***

'Poi Solla Porom', which literally means 'we are going to lie', is a neat, delightful comedy from the stable of ace filmmaker Priyadarshan.

A remake of Hindi hit 'Khosla Ka Ghosla', 'Poi Solla Porom' has been changed suitably to fit into a scenario in south India. However, it stays as close as possible to the original Hindi flick by Dibakar Banerjee that starred Anupam Kher, Boman Irani and Parvin Dabas. But one can say that it evokes more laughter than the original.

A geriatric simpleton, played brilliantly by Nedumudi Venu, almost loses his life's savings invested in a piece of real estate due to the machinations of a land shark. Actor Nasser looks adequately evil as the villainous character.

His children - Karthick, Om and Piya - then decide to spring a surprise on the bad guy with the help of an ageing theatre personality played to the tee by Mouli. Through their efforts, they turn the tables and manage to gain a small fortune in the bargain.

Priyadarshan, past master at such situational comedies, has supplemented the film with intelligent inputs. 'Poi Solla Porom' has been produced jointly by Priyadarshan and UTV Productions.

Director Vijay, who has earlier made 'Kireedom', has kept things simple and let the script do the rest.

Aravind Krishna's cinematography as usual suits the moods of the story. M.G. Srikumar's music, however, is just ordinary. But the background score by Gopi Sundar makes up for it, etching the comedy to perfection.

Like Navin Nischol and Boman Irani walked away with the honours in the Hindi original, Venu and Mouli have given the remake a tremendous fillip.

The fact that Mouli was a stage actor in real life before a reel career shows clearly in his performance. Actress Lakshmi has portrayed the role of the simple wife and mother well.