All said and done, Poojai is still a watchable entertainer to spend time on, with your family on a festive day.

Poojai is a template masala action film from Hari with smatterings of love, comedy & family sentiment set in a well-designed plot. While it is not compelling, it certainly is a watchable festival entertainer.

“Poojai” is a pure commercial movie and watched by all section of audience.

‘Poojai’ is a mix of a lot of genres, but they seem disproportionate for the times and taste of this day. However, it is an entertaining three hours of festivity, to chill out on. Most importantly, thanks to Hari for a thoroughbred masala movie after a long time in Kollywood.

“Poojai” should’ve been more than just the hero flexing his muscles and fighting.

Poojai is quite lengthy. Much of the fluff is songs and comedy sequences, which, if removed, could easily have reduced the running time by at least 30 minutes but Hari is not after a thriller but a masala movie. And Poojai is commercial masala done well. There is action (punchy), sentiment (effective but not affecting), humour (silly but funny once in a while), romance (ludicrous and strictly functional), and the director manages to keep things ticking —the action is often relentless, and the nondescript songs and the comedy scenes (Soori and Pandi doing a pale imitation of Goundamani and Senthil) are breathers for us.

Poojai, despite not being Hari’s best, could still be successful in the B and C centres, and affirm his bankability. The writing is generally not well thought out though. It seems almost like groups of imperfect scenes were put together in the hope that they’d somehow come together to form a riveting, entertaining whole. Poojai then is a refutation of Aristotle’s adage that states that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

Thus with an ensemble cast and a solid production team, the end product of Poojai is firm in its standing and assured in its functionality. But some aspects of the initial architecture could have used with a bit of innovation.

On the whole it is a typical Hari mass entertainer, though this time he has not got the mix in the right proposition.

Overall the film is a treat for those who are looking to watch a masala movie. Vishal fans will certainly have an enjoyable Diwali.