First and foremost Sundar.C is a few light years behind Mohanlal as a performer, and this shows like a sore thumb throughout the film. He has tried his best but mucks up on dialogue delivery and is not able to bring out the spark and anger of the protagonist against his strict disciplinarian father, which had made the Mohanlal film a classic.

As a family entertainerVeerappu is well packaged with sentiments, action, romance and a comedy track by Vivek which raises a few laughs. The film is racy, and is able to keep the viewer hooked till the last twist in the climax. The underlining factor in the movie that will work with the masses is the deep animosity between an academician father and his wayward son told against the family backdrop.

Vedakannu (Prakash Raj) is a school teacher in Tirunelveli who is upright and a strict disciplinarian who has won a presidents gold medal for his work. The man is a great Mathematician, who wants his son to emulate him and become another master in Mathematics. But son Pandi (Sundar.C) from a young age is more interested in science and designs bells, soap box radio etc. The father is unable to see his son’s interest and punishes him so badly that Pandi becomes a rebel and later a goonda.

Pandi is now Puli Pandi the notorious goonda of Tirunelveli, the history sheeter hated by the local Sub-Inspector Katturaja who himself is a thug! But Puli has a heart of gold and loves his mother (Sumitra), sister, half sister whom he provides shelter and friends (Santhanam). Seeing his valor and courage, a local school teacher and childhood friend, Bharati (Gopika) falls for him How the wayward son whom Vedakannu cannot stand, faces all challenges and saves his dad who is accused of a murder forms the rest of the story.

The director has made a faithful remake with some minor nativity changes to suit the Tamil audiences. Some of the punchlines from Malayalam too has been translated; there is a new comedy track by Vivek and Anju, which is ok. The songs of D.Imman suit the occasion and Tirunelveli landscape adds to the grimness of the tale. Prakash Raj looks too young to be Sundar.C’s dad, Gopika has hardly anything much to do, and the villain cop is adequate. Sundar.C looks good after shedding weight and has gone for a new look but he has to work more on flexibility in action scenes.

On the whole Veerappu, is a clean family entertainer with a nice message, worth a look.

Verdict: OK