49-O

9/25/2015

Debutant director Arokiyadoss has the right material — a political satire — for Goundamani's comeback film, but the patchy writing and crude direction take away the sting, leaving us with a film that has to ride solely on the strength of its leading man and nothing else. In better hands, 49-O could have become a 'talking point film' because its subject is socially relevant. It talks about the importance of farmers, their troubles, farm lands being easy catch for real estate developers, political corruption, cash for votes, and the ineffectiveness of our electoral system. But these ideas have not been woven together properly seamlessly (the scenes have an episodic quality about them) and have also not been transferred properly to the screen, so that it ends up as a preachy video that is