Lubber Pandhu

Lubber Pandhu (Transl. Rubber Ball) is a drama about egos set against a backdrop of cricket in a villaga in tamilnadu. The story revolves around Anbu and Poomalai aka Gethu, played brilliantly by Harish Kalyan and Attakathi Dinesh respectively, and their egos of never losing a cricket game and all the complexities this behavior brings with it. I was never really a fan of Dinesh's acting, but he was a surprise package in this movie. More than these two, the female leads Swasika and Sanjana Krishnamutrhy stole the show with their presence.

The film deals with a lot of human emotions, caste based discrimination without being overly melodramatic or preachy. It is these kinds of movies that remind you that despite having big action set pieces in big budget pan India movies, it is human emotions that matter in a story. This movie offers plenty of those moments. Be it a relationship between two teenagers who are in love, a wife and a husband, a mother and a son, a mother-in-law and a daughter-in-law, or a pet and its owner. These subtle emotions are visualized beautifully.

This is a sports drama, and the editing and cinematography hit it out of the park to draw us in when the characters are playing cricket. You won't get the same goosebumps inducing feeling you get when watching Lagaan, but instead the sport is staged to bring you closer to the characters. One thing I wished they spent a bit more time on was the sound design, especially during the cricket games. The production design is just right.

I recommend watching this movie if you want a nice departure from the high-octane action thrillers that have been fed us in the recent past. You won't be disappointed.

-CinephileIndia2023.

RATED 10/10 Language: Tamil Source: Nil HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

The best rural sports genre movie, filled with WOW moments everywhere. The director marked his victory, when we get goosebumps for Attakatthi Dinesh. Highly entertaining sports drama with very good social message without any preaching tone.

The background songs, Vijayakanth are used for mass moments. Without any punch dialogs, without mass hero, the movie has fantastic mass moments in the second half.

The dialogs are nicely written and all the actors did their job very well. The one liner, sentiment, love sequences are perfectly gelled with Cricket.

The best part is that the comedy layer in all sad/joy moments make the audience laugh from beginning to end. After long time, I enjoyed the perfect entertainer by forgetting the real world around me.

I would highly recommending this movie to anyone.

Worth the watch.

The film sounds like a mix of sports and drama with a strong focus on its main characters, Gethu and Anbu, who share a passion for cricket. It's interesting to see how the movie uses cricket as a medium to build the intense drama and emotions that keep the story engaging, even though the cricketing shots themselves could have been better executed.

The love story, while feeling somewhat forced, seems to add depth to Anbu and Gethu's relationship, making their bond stronger and more relatable. This approach, though common, can be effective in connecting the audience emotionally with the characters. The film's "entertainment spices" probably make it enjoyable despite some technical shortcomings in the sports scenes.

Overall, Lubber Pandhu is an engaging watch with a good balance of emotions, character depth, and entertainment value, making up for its minor flaws. It seems like the movie succeeds in delivering a memorable viewing experience.

Lubber Pandhu is an outstanding sports drama, one of the best in recent times. It explores themes ranging from our country's cricket fanaticism to inter-community love and marriage, discrimination in sports, and ego. The lead characters' ego clash appears to draw inspiration from Ayyapanum Koshiyum and Harish Kalyan's previous film, Parking. The casting, characterization, and cricket scenes are all executed splendidly. The writing is excellent, managing to convey multiple themes within a simple story. All the actors, including the supporting cast, deliver top-notch performances. The music and score complement the film beautifully. The ending effectively encapsulates the writer and director Tamizharasan Pachamuthu's intent in choosing this subject. Overall, it's a great film from a debutant writer-director.

What a movie!! This is easily one of my favorite of the year, Tamil or not. I can already picture references from this film playing out at the Chepauk in the IPL in a few months time.

Tough to make a movie about cricket and make it different, especially since Blue Star released not too long ago. Tough to make the messaging subtle, but retain the importance. We've seen the family drama and the love-angle plot several times over the years. But regardless of all that, these guys managed to make the film look and feel very 'fresh'.

If you haven't watched this film yet, I'd very highly recommend.