Friday, December 30, 2005

Thavamaai Thavamirundhu

It would be hard to live up to expectations after a movie like "Autograph". So, this movie would probably not be as good as the Cheran's previous one. Or so I thought.

The movie was amazing. I loved every second of it. Even the interval message. The movie was a good 3 hours and 15 minutes. But, I did not feel the strain of such a long movie. And mind it, this compliment comes from a person (me? :-P) who was looking around the theater towards the last part of LOTR 3: The Return of the King. Kudos to Cheran. I had gone into the movie knowing hardly anything about the story itself beforehand, and I was blown away by the screen play and subject.

The first aspect of the movie which struck me straight away was the cast selection. Each person fit their role to a T. Without going in depth into the characters (to keep the movie watching experience fresh), I can definitely say that this movie will have a number of awards this year at the National Film Festival. I thought the jurors were unfair in making Autograph share the award for the Best Movie for 2004 with Veer Zara. However, this year I hope that Thavamaai Thavamirundhu will get the place it deserves. I haven't seen a movie this entire year as good as this one. Rajkiran was brilliant. Many people have told me that he is a good actor. I can vouch for that after this movie. Right now, I still can't say who the hero of the movie was.. Cheran or Rajkiran. Rajkiran and Saranya were amazing as Cheran's parents. I don't think anyone else could've played the roles so beautifully conveying the emotions without much drama. The fact that Cheran took 6 months to perfect the script and another 3 months to finalize the cast & crew clearly shows. Every character from the brother & sister-in-law to the heroine has been very carefully thought about. Padmapriya as the heroine does well. I cannot picturize any girl better looking than her in an Engineering college :-).

I had heard the songs from the movie only once before watching it. Nothing made me listen to the songs once again. However, after watching the movies, I'm addicted to the songs now. Music and background music were scored by the duo Sabesh - Murali. I've heard their names somewhere before. My best guess would be that they were classical artists who were judges in one of the episodes of Saptha Swarangal on SunTV. But that's just a guess. I may be absolutely wrong. The songs for the movie couldn't have been more apt. The variety of instruments used in the songs were very good. The lyrics for "Ore oru oorile" were brilliant, and the picturization in the movie was heart-wrenching. So was "Oru Muraidhaan". The sharp contrast in the music styles for Rajkiran's and Cheran's songs show the versatility of the music directors.

At the end of the movie, everyone around me stood up with a heavy heart. First comment I heard was how naturally it was shot without overdoing the sentiment part of the movie. This is probably the first movie I've seen focusing on the the relationship between a father and his sons. Refreshing! Funny part about the whole movie watching experience was that I'd gone with a couple of good friends and their mothers. At the end of the movie, I was expecting the mothers to be thinking about the movie from a parent's point of view. It surprised me to hear them discuss their parents in detail after the movie and the sacrifices they'd have had to make for them. For a moment, I'd forgotten that these ladies were all someone elses children too. They weren't just parents.

Finally a few questions linger in my head after watching the movie. I have lived in variety of places now. I have visited a number of breath-takingly beautiful places. I have enjoyed myself thorougly on all occasions. Thinking back now, I ask myself, did I enjoy them because of the people I was with? Or did I enjoy it because of the places I was in? Which is more important to me.. people or place? What do I want to compromise on? Am I leading an escapist's life?

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