S.J.Suryaah has pulled the plug on Pawan. When a director attempts to tell a cop story he should keep the INTENSITY levels high. This is where Suryaah made a fundamental error of judgment in scripting Komaram Puli. Every time Pawan tries to lift the tempo a few notches, Suryaah drags it down with weak characterizations. Suryaah would have been better served had he seen the likes of Gharshana or Untouchables.

What’s it about: No guesses here. It’s is about a good cop who wants to cleanse the system of bad guys. Komaram Puli (Pawan) is as honest a cop as they come. In the line of duty he runs into Al-Saleem (Manoj Bajpai) who starts off well, but somewhere down the line degrades himself into a comical caricature. In the process he attempts to be a Jack Nicholson and ends up as a poor man’s Jim Carey – (both played the role of a villain “joker” in batman movies). In the end, Puli kills Saleem. But even before that Suryaah killed the villainy in the film.

What is Good: Pawan. This was a role that was tailor made for him. Had Suryaah not succumbed to the temptation of trying to cash in on Pawan’s image rather than Puli’s character, Pawan would have had another hit to his credit. Instead his acting his wasted here. Pawan breathes fury as a cop. He tries his best to give credibility to the farcical romance track concocted by Suryaah. He almost pulls it off when he goes on the “sincerity, focus” dialogues that Suryaah has penned. But there is no defense against poor content. Another thing that could have ended up great but just about makes it to the pass grade is A.R. Rehman’s music. His back ground score is good. Beyond that I’ll leave the rest to your imagination.

What is bad: Suryaah. First lesson – don’t tell a cop story if you don’t know how. Second. Don’t use graphics if they don’t integrate into your story. And most importantly use star power to make the character stronger not the other way around. Suryaah’s story has so many holes that you could drive a truck through it. The most gaping hole is the romance track. Nikisha Patel is annoying. And that has got nothing to do with her poor dubbing or her baby fat. And then he wastes talents of the likes of Nassar and Manoj Bajpai. If you can’t make them act, what defense do you have to wield a megaphone for a Pawan starrer. The next disappointment is A.R. Rahman’s musical track. He has to get over his Vandemataram and Maa Tuhe salaam hangover. Sippy’s punch dialogues are another big let down – something that should never happen in a Pawan film.

Technical Departments: : Tinu Varma and Vijayan’s stunts are good in patches. Graphics by Pixelloid could have been better. The editing though is a big let down. The rest of the technical team go through the motions of capturing content. One thing is for sure. The enormous budgets spoken off are not reflected in the end product and that is something that the Telugu film industry itself should note.

Final Point: Even die-hard fans of Pawan will find it difficult to sit through the film. Suryaah’s inept handling has sunk it. He spent more money on Pawan’s image than Puli’s character. ‘Komaram Puli’ could have been a great film (the first 5 minutes promised that). But Suryaah wanted the easy way out. He thought that all he had to do was rope in a big star and spend big money to ensure success. Unfortunately that’s not the route that leads you to success.