Pakkiri (The Extraordinary Journey of the Fakir) – Fun & fantasy

Pakkiri is the Tamil dubbed version of The Extraordinary Journey of the Fakir, a French-English comedy-adventure directed by Ken Scott.

The movie is based on the novel by Romain Puertolas. As the title suggests, it is about the fascinating journey of Raja (Dhanush) who travels to Paris and the funny adventures he comes across during his journey.

Raja lives in a slum in Mumbai. The child Raja is played by Hearty Singh, the little star who is incredibly sweet. His performance deserves applause. Raja races through the streets performing magic, evading cops and cheating tourists.

As Dhanush narrates the movie with a charming voice-over, we soon learn about his long lost father and how his love for magic passed on to him.

The film starts to move faster as Dhanush eventually reaches Paris. Here he meets Marie (Erin Moriarty) at a furniture store. Their encounter is sweet as Raja charms her by pretending to be her ‘husband’ as he complains about his work life, settling beside her on a comfortable sofa. They promise to meet again the next day at Eiffel Tower. However, things do not go according to plan for he ends up getting transported to England after deciding to sleep inside a cupboard!

What follows next are a series of adventures taking place across Europe. It involves the people Raja meets, the bonds he makes, the money he earns. His tales is riddled with a dose of chuckle.

The background music is colourful, just like the scenes portrayed in the movie.

Composer Amit Trivedi adds flavour, thanks to his intense use of drums and beats that cries ‘Bollywood’ in every major scene.

There is no denying that the plot appears too far-fetched; however, it is the charming performance of Dhanush which makes the film a watchable entertainer. Here, we don’t see Raja as a brave man but rather a curious person – from a slum – who dreams to make it big in the world, who dreams to earn more.