Podaa Podi

Arjun, an animation artist living in London with his uncle, meets Nisha in a pub. She is an aspiring dancer who is living with her aunt Veena. After going around together for a day, Nisha proposes a relationship, and Arjun agrees. Arjun hates Nisha attending salsa classes with her friend Mojo as her partner. However, he agrees to marry her.

After their marriage, Nisha makes it clear that she still wants to dance and enter the UK competition "Let's Dance", and make a career for herself. Arjun suddenly discovers that he is, at bottom, a "Pachai Thamizhan" who believes that a woman's place is in the home (preferably the kitchen, but she has the freedom to walk from one room to another if she wants). On the advice of his uncle, he impregnates her, so that she stays away from dancing.

The birth of their first child brings happiness to their family. They go to Hong Kong Disneyland for their babymoon. After they return, in a family conversation, Arjun's uncle mentions his "advice" of making Nisha pregnant so that she would not dance anymore. Realising that the child was the result of Arjun’s cheap plan and not love towards her, Nisha walks out. Arjun tries to console her, but gets angry when she meets a friend who greets her with a hug. Arjun, who gets immediately jealous, goes and starts fighting with her friend, while she pleads him to stop. Nisha crosses the road with her baby, which is then suddenly killed by a car. Nisha and Arjun separate and live in sorrow.

Several months later, Arjun comes to Nisha and pleads her aunt to make her come back and says that if he ever has another child (which he definitely wants) it will be only with her. She comes back, on the condition that she continues dancing. However during her practices she becomes self-conscious due to the things Arjun said to her. Her partner, Mojo, refuses to work with her so Arjun tries to convince him to come back. Arjun then ends up beating Mojo, so that she will be left without a partner and leave the competition. She convinces Arjun to be her partner, but his steps fail in the first round. Impressed by Nisha dancing skills, judges give her another chance, provided she changes her partner. Arjun convinces her to do a dappan koothu dance, which impresses the judges. But she is not happy, because they have to clear 14 rounds to win the competition. Suddenly, Arjun decides to impregnate her again. The film ends with both of them living with their new child.

The soundtrack album and background score for Podaa Podi is composed by Dharan Kumar. In April 2010, Dharan stated that the soundtrack album would consist of six tracks, further adding that the film's lead actor Silambarasan had sung two songs and that composer-singer Yuvan Shankar Raja would also sing one of the songs.[21] The album finally features eight tracks, including an instrumental, while Silambarasan has sung three songs, of which two were penned by him; a song by Yuvan Shankar Raja was not featured. The title track had been sung by Benny Dayal and actress-singer Andrea Jeremiah. Besides Silambarasan, director Vignesh Shivan had penned the lyrics for four songs, while Na. Muthukumar and Vaali had written each one song.

The audio rights were acquired by Sony Music India.[22] A rough version of the track "Love Pannlama Venama" was leaked on the Internet in 2009 and went viral.[23] An official complete version of the track was re-released on 6 September 2012,[24] as a single at Suryan FM Radio Station in Chennai, with Silambarasan, Varalaxmi Sarathkumar, Dharan and Vignesh Shivan attending the event,[25][26] and was made available for direct download, a month prior to the official audio release for promotional purpose. The entire album was released direct to stores on 10 October 2012.[27][28][29]

The album received positive response from critics as well as audiences. Behindwoods gave the album a rating of 3.5 out of 5 stating "The music perfectly complements the fact that it is a dance based romance flick. STR’s moves will make the dance numbers shine even more on screen while his Appan Mavanae song is one of a kind for sure. The album‘s breezy songs are also impressive. Dharan is bound to get a good break with Podaa Podi."[30] Milliblog reviewed "Barring incredibly excessive auto-tuning, Poda Podi is a pretty neat effort."[31] Indiaglitz gave the album 3.5 out of 5 stating "Simbu, more recently called STR has had the privilege of having great scores of music is his film for quite some time. His history continues with Podaa Podi as music director Dharan Kumar has no intention of letting the run come to an end. Filled with interesting tracks, they are sure to make you wonder on first listen. The album has a lot to give the audience and might work wonders on screen if used well."[32] Moviecrow gave the album a rating of 7 out of 10 Though it may sound like a usual Simbhu style album, the simple lyrics mounted on fresh sounds with medley of instruments make it a different experience. Dharan has done a great job delivering a distinct collection of rap, melody, rock & roll, kuthu and more. The songs have good scope for dance moves and picturization. Poda Podi is a treat for STR fans."[33]

The film's satellite rights were sold to Star Vijay. Podaa Podi was scheduled to be released on the occasion of Valentine's Day, 14 February 2012. But the film was delayed due to his commitments with other projects. On September 2012, the makers announced that the film will be released on the Diwali festival season, which falls on 13 November 2012, along with Vijay-starrer Thuppakki (2012).[34][35] Initially, Silambarasan's another film Vaalu was scheduled to be released on the same day, but later pushed it to January 2013.[36] The film received a "U" certificate from the Indian Censor Board.[37] The film released in United States and Canada on 16 November 2012, three days after the original release.

The film opened to mixed reviews from critics. The Times of India gave 3 out of 5 stating "Podaa Podi is strictly a movie for youngsters. The story is lopsided at most times, titling towards the man's point-of-view. It might win loud applause in the theatres, but it is doubtful as to how many viewers will support it otherwise."[38] Behindwoods gave the film 2.5 out of 5 and stated "Podaa Podi is an ideal festival outing for youth, which has good looking cast, fun moments, nice songs and a few peppy dance numbers.[39] Malathi Ranganathan of The Hindu stated "More than half a dozen times in the film, the hero says, 'Very good Ma!' But you can’t say the same about PP."[40] Sify gave 3 out of 5 stars and stated "Podaa Podi is a lovely romantic ride with some peppy music."[41] Pavithra Srinivasan of Rediff gave 2.5 out of 5 reviewed "Despite Varu's great performance, Poda Podi ends in a disappointing fashion."[42] Moviecrow gave the film a rating of 3 out of 5 stating "Once out of the theatre, nothing about Poda Podi remains in your mind. It however keeps you quite entertained during its running time. If that was the intention of Vignesh he has succeeded to a great extent. The film might not appeal to the family audiences but should click with the youngsters, with its short duration being a major plus."[43]

• Podaa Podi at IMDb