Billa Pandi movie review: Too forced Thala references and riding Ajith's personality

Director: Raj Sethupathi

Cast: RK Suresh, Indhuja, Chandhini, Thambi Ramaiah

Billa Pandi, which hits the screens for this Diwali, marks producer, distributor and actor RK Suresh’s transformation to an independent hero. He plays a hardcore fan of Thala Ajith in the film. Was he able to pull it off?

The movie is interestingly set in a rural area called Anas ‘thala’patti, which even has Thala in it. Billa Pandi (RK Suresh), a die-hard fan of Ajith who heads the local Thala Rasigar Mandram, is a construction contractor. He is a do-gooder who lives with his grandma after he loses his parents during childhood. He is in love with his morai ponnu Valli (Chandhini) and the latter also reciprocates. However Valli’s father is against the alliance.  Life goes smoothly until one day Jayalakshmi (Indhuja), granddaughter of village bigwig (Sangili Murugan) arrives. Pandi is given the job of constructing a house for Jayalakshmi. Impressed by Billa Pandi’s humanitarian approach, Jaya falls for him. A twist in the tale takes place when Jaya comes up with a crazy allegation on Pandi which upends the latter’s life.

Like any other hero, RK Suresh has an intro song, mouths Thala’s mass dialogues in his own style, and dresses up with Thala t-shirts with his motorbike carrying the image of his ‘thalaivan’. He is good at emotional scenes and convincing in action sequences. He is yet to hone his skills in romance and dancing. Indhuja to some extent pulls her complex character (memory loss), but she doesn’t utilize it fully. Chandini is adequate. Thambi Ramaiah in an atrocious character irritates with his sexist jokes, which after a point becomes intolerable. Director Raj Sethupathi has evoked laughter as a comedian in some films and in Billa Pandi too, his cameo scene is quite enjoyable.

The problem with the film is the weak story line. Also, too much of forced Thala references and riding Ajith’s personality does not help either. In fact, the mass hero was one of the first to disband his fan clubs. Ilayavan’s music, which reminds us of maestro Ilayaraja’s, and Jeevan’s cinematography is just functional.