Review: Ponmagal vandhal

By Rinku Gupta Produced by Jyotika & Suriya Productions, Ponmagal Vandhal is a coutroom drama dealing with the topical issue of child abuse, rampant in society. Currently streaming on Amazon Prime Video, it's the first Tamil film to release directly, (sans a theatrical release) on OTT, during the lockdown. Jyotika plays Venba, a lawyer, who along with her mentor Pethuraj( K Bhagyaraj, aptly cast) fights for the rights of Jyothi, wrongly accused and branded a child lifter and killed for crimes she did not commit. Venba, who is fighting her first case, is up against a powerful politico ( Thiagarajan, who nails it) and his lawyer ( Parthiepan in a convincing performance). Moreover, more than 15 years has passed since the crime, making evidence difficult to procure Venba has to overcome all these obstacles to prove the innocence of Jothi. Does she succeed? More importantly, why is this case so important for her personally? ...