PS-1 Tamil Movie Review

This is a review of the Tamil movie PS-1. Review Written and edited by Anoop Prathapan and first published on the 30th of October 2022.

I watched the Tamil PS-1 twice over the last eight days in PVR Kripa Cinemas, Trivandrum, the only theatre in Trivandrum that presently screens the Tamil version in these last weeks of screening. A spectacle of a story and an equally honest recreation by the best director in India, Maniratnam is what makes PS-1 a treat. It is after so long that I hear alluring songs composed by A R Rahman. Though Maniratnam’s regulars Sabu Cyril and Santhosh Sivan could not make it to the project this time and had to be replaced by Thotta Tharani and Ravi Varman respectively, they did nothing less. The frames were so majestic. The background score was magnificent.

Vikram, Karthi, and Jayam Ravi could do no better as Adithya Karikalan, Vandiyathevan and Ponniyin Selvan respectively. Vijay and Suriya would have brought an extra dimension to the movie had they enacted the latter two characters, but I do not know how many of my readers would agree with that. As I mentioned in my facebook post, Kalki has described Ponniyin Selvan as one with "Arjuna's handsome grace and majesty and Bhimasena's physical strength". I seriously am curious to know how Maniratnam found this description compatible with the flabby Jayam Ravi.

During the release week, Malayalis spread the word that the Tamil original, which has yester-era-Tamil, is hard to comprehend, but genuinely, it is not. I relished the original Tamil version a zillion times more than the dubbed Malayalam version which I had seen earlier in Carnival Cinemas, Mall of Travancore, Trivandrum. The Malayalam dialogues sounded synthetic and lacks the purity of the Tamil original, nor was it dubbed the organic way. The dubbing for Adithya Karikalan especially when he narrated his flashback, was hard to understand in Malayalam as the dubbing artist Arun C.M., tried more to imitate Vikram’s voice than sound legible. Malayalam lyrics by Rafeek Ahmed sound too weird if you are someone who understands the Tamil original.

Malayali actors Jayaram and Dr. Aiswarya Lekshmi got the best roles of their careers as Alwarkadiyan Nambi and Poonkuzhali respectively, whereas Babu Antony and Lal were wasted in PS-1.

The songs were all good, especially the Antara Nandy song "Alaikadalaake" which reminisces one of the A R Rahman songs of his golden times. The BGM recorded for Nandini was chilling. It has been proven true again and again that A R Rahman reserves his best music for the man who introduced him to the film industry. The last I liked something from Rahman was the songs he made for "Chekkai Sivantha Vanam" which was Maniratnam's earlier release before this.

Aishwarya Rai Bachan and Thrisha were magnificent as Nandini and Kundavai. Their voices in Tamil dubbed by Deepa Venkat and Krithika Nelson were textbook-quality material on voice modulation and dubbing.

Now it is a nine-month wait for everyone who has read the novel to see how Maniratnam films Nandini’s flashback and Karikalan’s assassination in the second part.

As I read the original story, I repeat what the Superstar said at the audio launch – had Mr. Kalki been alive, I would (also) have fallen at his feet for jotting down something as extraordinary as this. Though the screenplay is a highly condensed version of Kalki's original text, it still has retained the grandiosity of the story 100%.

Waiting athirst for PS-2.