‘PT Sir’ movie review: Hiphop Tamizha Adi advocates empowerment in this dull entertainer

Hiphop Tamizha Adhi in a scene from ‘PT Sir’ | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

At the very root of it all, P.T. SirHiphop Tamizha starring Adhi, looks like another templated hero-centric commercial entertainer – an underdog star vehicle packaged around a social message, with a romance track, a stock Tamil cinema villain, several heroic fight scenes, punchlines and what not. But first-time viewers, after about 20 minutes of the film, might wonder if director Karthik Venugopal’s second film could be a concerted attempt at infusing new ideas into this stock formula.

There’s a lot of colour, charm and charming eccentricity in the way we’re introduced to Kanagavelu aka Velu, the physical training teacher at GP Matriculation School. The visuals and songs of ‘Nakkal Pudichavan Da Kanagavelu’ tell you everything you need to know about Kanagavelu, and at least initially, it’s hard not to like Aadhi as this uncompromising man-child of a PT master who makes a statement against teachers stealing the PT period by dancing with schoolchildren.

You start to see the potential of how this story will unfold when you are told about a ‘magic wall’ in the school on which students write their wishes and which somehow come true. Barring a few embarrassing attempts at comedy – like Velu competing with a student over who will romance fellow teacher Vaanathi (Kashmira Pardeshi) – there is a lot in these portions that works.

There is also an attempt to explain why Velu is the way he is. According to an astrologer’s prediction, Velu should not get into trouble until he gets married, else he will meet an unfortunate end. And so, his mother (Devadarshini) has made Velu become so meek, not go out at night and take up a job as a teacher from 9 to 5. The prediction is also written in such a way that Velu’s romance with Vaanathi is given prominence, as their marriage might end his troubles.

But, as one might expect, trouble finds Velu’s way, but it has nothing to do with the teacher at the school, which is full of hormonal teenagers. The tone of the film changes when a young woman named Nandini (Anikha Surendran) is attacked by some fools at a bus stop, and she is blamed and shamed for “inviting” the incident by wearing an “open” net-fitted top. When more unfortunate events occur, Velu is forced to confront the chairman of GP Institution, Guru Purushothaman (Thiagarajan), a man not to mess with.

To make the film more ‘family-friendly’ and justify Nandini’s freedom to take some drastic steps, the film brings back the Magic Wall and establishes that there is a college next to the school, all to make the victim a college-going adult and not a high-school girl – which is absolutely unnecessary for a film that suggests that sexual harassment is a social evil that endangers women of all ages. And yet, the setting where Velu carries forward her fight for justice is neither school nor college, but general society. Now, remind me why the film has that title PT Sir?

You soon realise that all this clever writing to string together a flawless screenplay was to create a launchpad for Kanagavelu, who becomes the white saviour knight who comes to save women. The way the film progresses is also pathetic; unlike the case of films like, Tiruchitrabhalam Or MaveeranOne only needs one scene with ‘Kanda Sashti Kavasam’ playing in the background to see this timid PT master as a mass hero. The complaint with the justice-seeking vigilante Velu is that he lacks the know-how to handle such sensitive issues; this is a man who needs intervention to make people aware that women of all ages are sexually assaulted in our society, and his immediate solution to get justice is violence. And we are asked to believe that this is the same man who does something that “shocks” even the judiciary.

P.T. Sir In the name of ‘message’ some very sensitive issues are touched upon, but the payoff is done in easy ways. And even if you don’t care much for the male savior sentiment, this David vs Goliath battle between hero and villain doesn’t offer anything new.

If anything, a completely fabricated Abracadabra moment only portends P.T. Sir As a film that exploits female empowerment to make the protagonist speak punchlines that could end up as clips on WhatsApp status and Instagram reels, and to re-establish that Adhi has indeed renounced his ‘klubbula mabula’ past. It just so happens that any PR against victim-blaming can be good PR for our social media times, and you at least hope that the lesson from this PT sir reaches its intended ears.

PT Sir is currently running in cinemas