''Poi'' ( ''The Lie'') is a 2006 Indian

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia ** Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nati ...

-language film, directed by

K. Balachander Kailasam Balachander (9 July 1930 – 23 December 2014) was an Indian film maker and playwright who worked mainly in the Tamil cinema. He was well known for his distinct film-making style, and the Indian film industry knew him as a master of un ...

in his 101st and final film as a director. Produced by

Prakash Raj Prakash Raj (born Prakash Rai; 26 March 1965) is an Indian actor, film director, producer, television presenter, and politician. Known for his works in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Hindi, and Malayalam-language films, he is the recipient of several ...

, the film starts

Uday Kiran Uday Kiran (26 June 1980 – 5 January 2014) was an Indian actor who primarily worked in Telugu cinema. His first three films, ''Chitram'' (2000), ''Nuvvu Nenu'' (2001), and ''Manasantha Nuvve'' (2001) were successful at the box office, earning ...

(in his Tamil debut) and Vimala Raman, while Geetu Mohandas, Prakash Raj, Adithya Menon, and

Avinash Avinash Yelandur (born 22 December 1959) is an Indian actor who stars predominantly in South Indian language films, notably in the Kannada and Tamil film industries. He has been in the industry for two decades and has acted in over 200 films. Kn ...

play supporting roles along with the director in a guest appearance. The music was composed by

Vidyasagar Vidyasagar or Vidya Sagar may refer to: People * Acharya Vidyasagar (born 1946), prominent Digambar Jain Acharya (1946-) *Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar (1820–1891), Bengali scholar *Vidyasagar (composer) (born 1963), South Indian music director *C ...

with cinematography by Biju Viswanath. The film released on 22 December 2006.

Plot

Valluvanar (

) is an upright political leader in

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a States and union territories of India, state in southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of India ...

who is much respected for his honesty and uprightness, and he refuses to compromise on this trait, even when his only son Kamban (

) finds himself in jail for no fault of his. The opposition party takes advantage of the situation and bails out Kamban, who joins the party, much to his father's embarrassment. The media laps it up, sensationalizing it further. Kamban decides to leave the country until things cool down. Only his mother Vasuki (Anuradha Krishnamurthy), with whom he is close, is aware of this plan. Kamban arrives at

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

where he befriends Banerjee (

Badava Gopi Badava Gopi is an Indian stand-up comedian and actor. Career Badava Gopi is an Indian stand-up comedian, actor, singer, hailing from Chennai, Tamil Nadu. He was introduced into films in 2005 in the movie ''Poi'', shot in Sri Lanka by the veter ...

), a Bengali, and stays with him. One day, he finds a Tamil literary book on the beach, which he traces to Shilpa ( Vimala Raman), the owner of the book. Shilpa is a college student preparing for civil services examination. The film juggles between reality and fiction, where Theepori, the fictitious father image of Kamban, advises him to fall in love. That sets in rolling the love story as Kamban persists in wooing Shilpa. She is staying with her brother's family. Shilpa is keen on realizing her ambitions and feels that love and marriage often comes in the way of women's career. The rest of the story is about the emotional conflict between her career and love. After Vasuki's death, Valluvanar reaches Sri Lanka. Kamban is unaware of his mother's death. Shilpa's family meets Valluvanar. Meanwhile, Kamban goes to meet Shilpa to hand over the passport, but due to his friend's lie, he ends up thinking that Shilpa committed suicide. How the lie told to reunite the lovers gives the tragic end is the end of the story.

Cast

as Kamban a.k.a. Bharati * Vimala Raman as Shilpa * Geetu Mohandas as Ramya *

as Vidhi (Fate) * Adithya Menon as Vishnu *

as Valluvanar *

Sridhar Sridhar is a given name that is also sometimes used as a surname. Notable people with this name include: *Sridhar (actor), Indian actor in the Kannada film industry *Anup Sridhar, badminton player *C. V. Sridhar, screenwriter and film director *Sre ...

as Roshan *Anuradha Krishnamurthy as Vasuki *

Renuka Renuka, also known as Yellamma, is a Hindu goddess worshipped predominantly in the South Indian states of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and western state of Maharashtra. She is also known as the mother of Parashurama ...

as Menaka *

as Banerjee *

Bombay Gnanam Gnanam Balasubramanian, popularly known as Bombay Gnanam, is an Indian actress who appears in Tamil stage, television and film productions. She started her acting career as a stage artist in 1989 when she found ''Mahalakshmi Ladies Drama Grou ...

(cameo appearance) * Samuthirakani (cameo appearance)

Soundtrack

Music was composed by

Production

The film was launched in 2005 at the eve of KB's 75th birthday. There were rumors that Rajini and Kamal would appear in cameo appearances but proved false. Telugu actor Udaykiran was selected to play the lead role making his debut in Tamil and Vimala Raman who was brought up in Australia was selected as heroine. Geethu Mohandas who earlier appeared in ''

Nala Damayanthi Nala Damayanthi may refer to: * Nala and Damayanti ''Damayanti'' (Sanskrit: दमयंती) is a character in a love story found in the Vana Parva book of the Mahabharata. She was the daughter of Bhima (not the Pandava one) and a princess ...

'' was selected to appear in this film making "Poi" her second and last film in Tamil. K Balachander and Prakshraj themselves acted in this film. There were rumours that Jayashree of "Thendral Ennai thodu" fame would appear in this film which became false.

Release

The film was originally scheduled to release on 6 October 2006, distributors were initially reluctant to take the film as they felt that subject was outdated but Aascar films procured the rights. Release was postponed to Diwali but finally released in December. The film was dubbed in Telugu as ''Abaddam''.

Critical reception

Rediff wrote:"Poi is a case in point – you expect so much from Balachander, a genuine icon of Tamil filmdom; if you leave adulation aside, though, you have to say that his latest film disappoints". Nowrunning wrote:"Poi lacks the marks of KB's earlier films".

References

External links

''Poi''
at

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Poi (Film) 2006 films Films directed by K. Balachander 2000s Tamil-language films Films scored by Vidyasagar Films with screenplays by K. Balachander Indian romantic drama films Films shot in Sri Lanka 2006 romantic drama films