Pallikoodam - Meendum sella Aaasai

Pallikoodam -- Meendum sella aasai :-)

No fights, no separate comedy track, no punch dialogues, no sentiments(like Thaali), no foreign locations for songs...

gosh.. where is Thamizh cinema goin.. are you of the kind that think like that.. then.. no, the movie is not for you.

There are different kinds of people with different taste:

1) One will like masala movies
2) One will never watch movies which are sad or sentimental. They always wanted to see feel-good movies with lots of comedy.
3) Some will like movies which exhibit family sentiments and give importance to relationship.

If you are of a kind who will want to watch action movies/comedy movies, and once in a while, like to watch movies that will have you emotionally touched, that moves you, and make you shed a few eye drops, then Pallikoodam is the movie for you.

There are some movies which you wanted to carry the feelings at least for a week. Examples are Sethu, Pithamagan, Moondram Pirai, 16 vayadhinilae, Mudhal mariyadhai, Azhagi, Paruthi Veeran, Vazhvae Maayam..

And, the latest flick from Thangar will easily join the above list.(Itz now in my list of movies that I would like to treasure)

The man who made a soul-stirring Azhagi, is back with similar concept, this time with a social message too.

We all saw in Azhagi a very different dimension of love told in an interesting angle. The movie disturbed many a hearts and for many, it is one of their secretly admired movies ;-)

Here too, Thangar weaves a beautiful love story with emotions throughout the movie, also handling Dialogues & Camera. Kudos Thangar!!

The story is this: There comes a Government order to stop the functioning of the school, because of the very bad condition of the facilities in the school.

Vetrivel, Iyodi Kumarasamy, Muthu & Gokila are classmates in the Pachimuthu Uyur Nilai PaLLi, the place where we see most of the happenings in the movie with lot of emotions.

Vetrivel(Narain) is now working as a Collector in Kanjipuram. Iyodi Kumarasamy(Thangar) is a school drop-out and works as a coolie in the same village(Pallavamangalam).

Gokila(Sneha) continues in the same school as a teacher. Due to the bad conditions & facilities in the school, the govt issues an order to stop functioning of the school.

Vetrivel and Gokila fall in love with each other from the school days.

Due to a misunderstanding and ill-fate, Vetrivel doesn't want to see/meet Gokila, but both couldn't forget each other(how can they?) & remain unmarried.

Gokila proposes an idea to invite Vetrivel so that the school will get attention from him as well as others who once studied in this school, so that they can protect the school from demolition. The task is given to iyodi Kumarasamy, since the villagers know Vetri won't return to this village due to his bad experience.

Kumaru meets Vetri in Kanchipuram and in the process they meet their classmate Muthu(Seeman) too, who is now a film director.

Together, do they protect the school from demolition and do Vetri & Gokila unite form the climax.

The story line offers ample scope for all of the lead characters and they all perform very naturally. Special mention needs to be made of iyodi Kumarasamy played by Thangar himself, who pulls off the character almost effortlessly. Emotions and expressions come very easily for this man. In one word .. wow!!

Narain's performance is getting better day by day. Though at some of the scenes, he overacts, he makes it up comfortably towards the end of the movie. A matured performance.

Sneha... I don't have words for her... This is her best performance till date, after Parthiban Kanavu & Autograph. I went to see this movie expecting a good performance from Sneha and she didn't disappoint and she beat my expectations with a spectacular performance. Towards the climax, when Vetri announces that he is goin to marry Gokila, Sneha's expression is top class. I just couldn't think of any other actress who can do justice to Gokila's role. I am very proud being a Sneha fan :-) [I know I am goin overboard :-), but couldn't resist myself]

That the audience too(I certainly did) want Vetri & Gokila to unite speaks volumes of their roles. What a feeling it was to see them unite. How many movies do we get to see Love told in a convincing fashion?

Seeman comes as a director himself and gives a natural essay. Meenal(Kovai gal) who comes as Thangar's wife also gives a good performance)

That all the emotions in the movie told without going over-board or over-senti proves the director's mettle.

Though the BGM should have been slightly better, Bharadwaj impresses with the "Meendum PaLLiku pogalam" and "Indha nimidam". Though manasu marugudhae is sweet on the ears, Thangar could have done away with this number.. a needless one.

The lyrics in all these songs are very meaningful and powerful. Kudos to the lyric writers, especially, for the Meendum PaLLiku pogalam, Indha nimidam & Kaadu padhuguromae songs.

The dialogues in the movie and some of the scenes make a big impact on the viewer.

Some of the scenes that I admired the most in the movie:
1) When Vetri sits in the desk he once sat and look backwards at the place where Gokila sat. The gal at the desk(presently) looks with bewildered eyes and after a while she stands up and says "Good Morning, Sir!!"
2) The expression on Gokila's face when Thangar says Narain is married and has two children.
3) The scene where Vetri announces his marriage in the climax and the expressions on Gokila, Muthu & Kumaru's faces.
4) When the old students express their love for the school, share their feelings and announce their contributions(cheers!!!)

The movie can give nostalgic memories down memory lane for many.

Go, watch the movie in theaters. Only there, we get an ambience that will allow you to express yourself(laugh/cry) without any inhibitions.

Emotionally,
Dharma.
P.S:
The movie is based on a novel "Kazhavadiya Pozhudhugal" written by Thangar himself.

Ameer's Paruthi Veeran - My thoughts & Feelings abt the Movie

History of Thamizh cinema has seen many films in various genres such as Love stories that ends well, Tragic Love stories, Comedy, Action, Masala, etc, etc..

Of all the movies in Thamizh cinema, there are quite a few movies that have tragic ends. But, in all those movies, the tragic ends seem to be pushed, rather than occurring naturally.

Some convincing tragic movies...
- Bharathirajaa did in his Mudhal Mariyadhai.. After that as far as my memory tells, there hasn't been any movies that ended tragically...
- Maniratnam's Naayagan(where Kamal dies in the end, but at that point, he is old)

I hear that the distributors demanded that they will release the movie if Bala changes the climax for Sedhu. Bala has been very stubborn and the movie got released after many hurdles.. And, the rest is history.

Bala is one director, who made tragedy movies with ease.. with supreme command over the screenplay that the end is convincing beyond any doubt. All his movies(Sethu, Nandha & Pidhamagan) had tragic ends, where the audience comes out of the theater with heavy feeling. The appreciation to his movies from the public made new directores to make tragic movies boldly.

Selvaraghavan is another bold director who made movies in a quite bold manner. The scenes, the dialogues in his movies made people to sit up and watch his movies.

You may think why on earth a person would talk about directors and tragedies, when the title seems to suggest this is going to be a review.

Yes, this movie too has a tragic end, and is easily a milestone in Thamizh Cinema. And, Ameer, with his latest flick, is going to be an important director in Thamizh Film industry.

The latest offering from Ameer is quite astounding & breathtaking, the screenplay, the characters in the movie, the BGM, the camera, what not...

The credit goes in full to the director who has handled, the story, screenplay, dialogues & direction.

Ameer for sure should have been brought up in a village, which is evident in the dialogues in the movie in Madurai Thamizh.

All the characters in the movie speak superb Madurai Thamizh in all its humor, poking fun, thenavattu(in Thamizh) & all that..

If one wants to write a review, one has to go and analyze almost all the characters.

Saravanan - cool... I din expect such a performance from this guy.. very talented.. wonder why he doesn't get more chances
Ponvannan - hmm.. he plays the role of a stubborn, caste oriented father with effortless ease
Ponvannan's wife - cool find... observe the flow of dialogues from her tongue..
Ponvannan's mother & Saravanan's mother - typical Madurai Kizhavis


And, the new faces talk pristine Madurai thamizh with such an ease( I personally wanted to appreciate the one who did the casting.. cud be Ameer himself )

Did you notice one thing.. all the actors have dubbed for themselves.. and the result is there for you to see in the screen...

In not a single person in the movie, you will think that they are acting... and doing mere enacting.. no no no... this movie is one of the very few examples of what Kamal has once said(if you think at any point, someone is acting, the actor fails at that very instant).

All the characters speak for itself...

Karthi - boy... if I say he overtook Surya by leaps & bounds, that would not be an exaggeration at all.. watch him in action on the screen... He is sure to have a big impact on you... a beautiful example of "an actor's talent is in the hands of the director.... I don't have words to describe him.... another very talented actor from Sivakumar's family, who can go places.. for sure... that is all I can say.. He made me laugh, clap, whistle and at the end, made me shed tears.... breathtaking performance which will not be expected at all from a man making his debut.

Priyamani - this should be by far her best performance extracted from any director.. jeez.. her boldness, the dialogue delivery, the body language.. no mistakes at all in any scene... she is sure to move you to tears in the last 10 minutes of the movie..

For all the characters to do their job and to come out very well, the script has to be precise & without any logical holes. Wow.... this is one very good example where if you have a good script, you need not worry about the outcome. It will always come out well.

The dialogues are a major plus for the movie.... at many a places, the director sparkles with his dialogues.... Full credits to the director.

I will be cursed if I din say anything about the music(Yuvan) & camera(Ramji)... hmmm.. they are pillars to the movie... Yuvan has provided some breathtaking bgm and the camera picturizes the village in all its splendor & beauty.. especially the Kovil Thiruvizha..


Note:
The climax is very heavy that those who always wanted happy ends in any movie should not watch the movie at all. Lest, something terrible could happen.

My hands are trembling & shivering as I type these words.. My heart was pounding like anything when I was watching the last 10-15 minutes of the movie.... Deep in my heart, I felt like I wanted to cry out loud

Cinema is a visual medium, which can create a big impact on people... and this film left me with a heavy heart.. I din take the dinner.(I watched the movie downloaded from internet.. I really doubt if I can see another time in theaters.. if at all I see it, I will have to come out without watching the climax.

The same kind of feeling that you get after you watch Sethu & Pithamagan..

With Heavy Heart,
Dharma.

Is Motherly affection specific to Humans alone ???

As construction is goin on in our house in Podanur, I was there from April 21 to 24, 2007. On Tuesday morning, I received a call that a dog(which used to be near our house. It recently gave birth to 3 beautiful puppies in black, brown and other colors) is keeping on shouting in feeble voice around the underground water tank.

Sensing something wrong, me & my brother went to the site. With the help of torch from our neighbour(who ringed me), my brother was lookin inside the tank. And, there it was... he saw a little puppie floating on the water :-( Construction workers seem to have forgot to close the man hole.

He slowly dragged on to the opening of the tank and lifted it outside. My bro even tried to save the puppy by pressing the stomach but in vain. Not sure, for many hours it was floating. Just couldn't imagine the little puppy fighting for life inside the tank.

Sadness gripped the entire atmosphere and in our minds. And, we put the dead puppy on the sand for the mother dog to feel it. We could see that the mother is licking its kid and trying to bring it back alive..

The mother had two other puppies alive... but, it was more concerned about the dead puppy. If you go to the beginning of this post, you can imagine that the mother was walking around the water tank breathing heavily and giving out sad sounds(I don't get a better word for this)

hmm... at that instant I was filled with all sorts of feelings..... Motherly affection is not for the humans alone... though I have heard others saying abt this, this is my real life experience.

And, and after some time, the mother went to the remaining two puppies, signalled them and it left our building. It seemed to me as if the mother is saying to her kids "kannungala.. vaanga ingirundha poiyidalam.. illati ungalayum ivanunga konnu poduvanunga"

aah.. slap on my face...