Poi Solla Porom is a rarity in Tamil cinema. It has no big-name stars, it doesn't fall into an easily-defined genre and it completely does away with many items(comedy track, fights and even duets) that are considered an integral part of our cinema. These things help us overlook its faults - that are not too many to begin with - making the 'little' film, which is a remake of the Hindi film Ghosla Ka Kosla, a big entertainer.

Satyanathan(Nedumudi Venu) is a middle-class man with one big dream - to own a house. His children - his sons Uppilinathan(Karthik), who is itching to go to the US, and Vishwanathan and his daughter Sindhu - don't share the same enthusiasm. Satyanathan's dream seems to have been achieved when he buys a plot of land through a broker Vijayakumar(Hanifa) but the dream is shattered when an unscrupulous landowner Baby(Nasser) occupies the land and demands a ransom to release it. Uppili, with the help of the drama troupe that his girlfriend(Piya) is part of, hatches a plan to give Baby a taste of his own medicine.

In essence, Poi Solla Porom is similar to movies like Dhool or Gilli that featured a 'David vs Goliath' story. It is a feel-good tale where a common man - an average Joe - goes up against someone much more powerful than him and triumphs in the end. But unlike those movies, it avoids the masala route and keeps its elements - the characters, the problems they face, the solution they seek, etc. - simple and down-to-earth. So even if the proceedings are not entirely believable(its hard to believe that an experienced Nasser would fall for such a simplistic scam), the movie still seems realistic. Its easy to relate to the people and their experiences in it and that keeps us involved.

The movie's theme is quite serious(Venu's situation isn't too different from the protagonist's in Balu Mahendra's Veedu) but the director handles it in humorous fashion. Right from the innovative opening credits with the digitally manipulated photos and the hilarious opening where Venu imagines his own death, the movie never loses the undertone of humor. The humor is quite subtle, mining laughs out of situations not readily associated with humor(like the scene where Venu's son hires some goons to free their land from Nasser's clutches) but it works and we are kept smiling throughout. Many of the dialogs are sharp and funny without resorting to obvious wordplays or puns.

The movie manages to put together a very likeable set of characters to side with. So even though Nasser isn't really the kind of dark villain who instils fear in our hearts(this is intentional since this is, after all, a light-hearted caper movie), we wholeheartedly root for Venu and his gang to triumph. The scam itself is rather simple and there is no real suspense or tension as it plays out. The humor becomes more overt with Mouli playing a rich man but surprisingly, the laughs are more muted since the scenario somehow feels more familiar.

The entire cast is pitch-perfect. Karthik is perfect as the young man initially interested in only his own future but having a change of heart and spearheading the plan to get the land back. Venu brings in his vast experience to play the troubled middle-class man with a dream. Nasser plays the bad guy perfectly for a film of this kind - neither too scary nor so over-the-top that he turns into a comedian. Vijay, who stole the show as Son of Gun in Oram Po, is back as Nasser's secretary but isn't given as much of a role to utilize his unique dialog delivery.