Sunday, March 1, 2009

Naan Kadavul Movie Review

Movie: Naan Kadavul
Cast: Arya, Pooja,
Director: Bala
Music: Ilayaraja
Cinematography: Arthur Wilson
Editing: Suresh Urs
Dialogues: Jayamohan
Banner: Pyramid Saimira, Vasan Visual Venture
Released on: 6th Feb 2009


First of all, I would like to tell you that this is one more tamil film if you see it with a neutral mind. What makes this film a special one is:

The plot chosen by Bala – about the life style of Agoris who treat themselves as God and physically and mentally challenged beggars and Bala’s great effort to bring out perfection from everyone acted in the film.
Exceptional Music by Maestro Ilayaraja
Superb Photography of Arthur Wilson
Excellent Editing work of Suresh Urs

Story:

Astrologers advice Rudra’s (Arya) father Namasivayam that unfortunate things will happen if he retains his son Rudra at home and he should not see his son’s face for 14 years. Trusting this, he abandons his son in Kasi. He returns to Kasi after 15 years of guilty feeling to take his son to home but he sees that his son has become ‘Agori’ (Agoris are literates of Vedhas and Upanishads. They realized themselves as God. In a single glance they can identify the person in front of them is a good person or bad. If they find cruel/evil person, they will kill him. Similarly if somebody is suffering severely and struggling to live, they will kill them which they call as boon (God’s blessing). They bless corpses for ‘moksha’(release from rebirth) in the burial ground.). With the Guruji’s permission, Namasivayam brings his son to Malaikoil, Tamilnadu. Both his parents and his sibling fail to make him attached to family and he lives alone in a Cave in Malaikoil. Here at Malaikoil one cruel person called Thandavam has in his hold a big group of physically and mentally challenged and blind persons who earn income for him through begging. He brutally punishes these beggars who disobey his orders. The blind poor girl Hamsavalli (Pooja) also caught and joins this group. Thandavam fixes Hamsavalli’s marriage with an ugly rich man and in return he demands 10 Lakhs. Hamsavalli escapes from his custody and surrenders to Rudra. Rudra kills the agent (broker who brings this ugly man) of Thandavam. Thandavam captures Hamsavalli again and beats her brutally. Rudra kills Thandavam in a fierce fight sequence. Hamsavalli requests Rudra to give her ‘moksha’ as she cannot bear the pain and live peacefully in this world. As per Agoris’ theory, Rudra gives ‘moksha’ to Hamsavalli by killing her and he returns to Kasi to join his Guru.

Analysis:

For Arya – three years worth the wait. Shaggy-haired and bushy-bearded Arya with shining eyes grabs the attention of the audience. We can see visually the pains taken by him for the film viz. his yogic poses, delivering dialogues in Hindi, Sanskrit and Tamil in a peculiar tone and exceptional action sequences. Pooja proves her great talent in a blind beggar character and she gets the sympathy of the audience by performing her role beautifully. Both Arya and Pooja may get nominated for National Award for this film which they truly deserve. Not even a single character in this film is unwanted and they deliver emotions perfectly including Thandavam, the villain, the kind-hearted eunuch helper and the midget beggar boy who has, despite his woes, a great sense of humour. None other than Maestro can compose such a superb back ground score. Arthur Wilson captures Kasi locales and mood of the film realistically. Such serious subject films normally irritate audience with its slow pace but this film is fast-paced, thanks to Suresh Urs. Normally directors choose safe plots like Love, Triangle Love, Friendship, 100% Commercial formula, etc. Only a few directors like Sridhar, K.Balachandar, Bharathiraja, Mani Ratnam who handle risky plots in their film. Bala is already a member of this odd group and the pains taken for this film for the past 3 years definitely yield him rich dividends. Only directors who earned good name among audiences can choose this type of stories and it is their responsibility too to present such facts before audiences.

The shortcomings are: Rudra is either smoking marijuana(Ganja) or available in a yogic pose or found in any action sequence. As per my little knowledge, Yogis smoke ganja to keep themselves concentrated on God. This fact is not clearly picturised. It will create a bad impact about Hinduism in other religion people who see this film. Some of the scenes remind us Bala’s previous films viz. Old song sequences at Police Station reminds us Pithamagan Simran’s dance for assorted songs, eunuch girl reminds us Sethu Rajasree’s character and Pooja with shirt reminds us Nandha’s Laila with shirt. And as usual, Bala’s hero Arya also cannot be confined to any rules, regulations and laws of the country like his previous films Nandha and Pithamagan. Moreover the hero has a mentor like in Nandha. So, basic characteristics of Bala’s characters in all his films are same but since they travel in different plot they look like new characters. The villain’s brutal attack on unfortunate beggars could have been restricted with one or two scenes because it wounds the faint-hearted. Hero’s decision to kill people who suffer severely resembles Gandhiji’s thought of ‘mercy killing’.

Final Comment:

Despite all controversies, this film is a must watch film for everyone as it takes you to an entirely different world of Agoris and Beggars provided you should go without any preset mindset.

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