After Oru Kallooriyin Kadhai, director Nandha Periyasaami is back with Maathi Yosi (Think differently). The director has tried to follow the recent trend in Tamil Cinema, namely a village subject. But in recent times, movies based on a rural subject like Nadodigal, Subramaniapuram and Paruthiveeran had a strong, focused and interesting plots, which was the real success formula. But unfortunately, Maathi Yosi lacks a strong plot; too many issues are approached in one movie.

What is in it?

Maathi Yosi narrates the different happenings in the lives of four village boys: Mangaa, Kona, Pandi, Maari in Madurai. These four friends are united, very close and live for each other. The film opens with the introduction of the heroes and a song to show what kind of guys they are. Among the four vagabonds, three of them tattoo the names of their favourite actors on their backs, while the fourth tattoos the name of the village hit man's daughter, who happens to be from an upper caste.

One day, the four bring the temple chariot to their place where the lower caste people reside, which causes fury among the upper caste people, who decide to thrash the four guys. Here, the village hit man finds his daughter's name on the tattooed back of one of them, which make the matter worse. The four boys are then taken into police custody, where they are tortured and beaten. In order to take revenge, one of the boys kisses the hit man's daughter while she is sleeping at her house. The matter goes out of hand and the guys decides to leave the village. So where do they end up? Obviously, in the metro city of Chennai. Here they meet Shammu who has escaped from her cruel uncle, who has sold her to a henchman. What happens next? How will they survive? Watch out in the movie!

The Performances

The characterization of the boys is perfect but there are too many scenes that portray the heroic acts of the boys, which in turn creates great boredom. The four boys (Hari, Alex, Gopal, Vishak) have done their part well. Then comes Shammu of Kanchivaram fame, who doesn't reveal her identity till the end. There seems to be a little confusion in her characterization - how does she trust the four guys and roam with them? Who is she really? She even goes to the extent to help the four guys in kidnapping a rowdy's daughter for money; confusion! Ponvannan's role as a police officer stays in our mind, whereas the other characters are just adequate in their performances. Guru Kalyan's song could have been better. Editing by Kola Bhaskar, camera by Vijay Amstrong and stunts by Syed are good.

The Verdict

The film needs urgent trimming; some unwanted heroic acts in the first half and some songs in the second half are best deleted. Just because the movie is set on a village backdrop, it is not necessary to make the female characters very arrogant and screaming always. Cruelty against animals is one thing that could have been avoided; the acts are very violent to watch. The four boys are on a mission to kill and nobody (including their parents) stops them or bother about them; it's illogical.

On the whole, director Nandha Periyasaami has tried to make a different attempt, but he needs to think something really different now.