Stalwarts of tamil cinema

I am writing this critique as a real lover of cinema in general, and tamil cinema in particular. Tamil cinema deserves a special place because right from the days of the first talkie it has mainly banked on the unappeasable hunger for entertainment of tamilians. Mind you thambis(as tamilians are called in the north) are a very appreciative lot and it is quite tough to balance the needs of the mainstream crowd and the very few watchers of parallel cinema. One person who has really managed to please the audience as well as the critics is Bharathiraja. It is not really tough. But it is risky.

Mani ratnam as a director has handled a lot of sensitive subjects like in Anjali, Kannathil Muthamittal etc but when cinema was in its era of change Bharathiraja made the urban man acquainted to the life of the village through his Pathinaaru vayathinilaey. If you watch the film today it may not seem very different from other such films but what we see in today’s cinema is nothing but an intelligent adaptation of the plot as well as the characterization that he conceived. But on first view the film stands apart for its bold and offbeat theme. Bharathiraja has influenced tamil cinema like no one else. His penchant for reality is really appreciable. A director who was known for his movies set in the rural milieu hit the bulls eye with the strikingly urban “sigappu rojakkal”. It may be quite arguable on the part of critics that the artistes tend to overact in his films, but the emotions that were new to people those days were permanently etched in their minds because of such movies.

In spite of his successful beginning his subsequent films were not quite well received and one such grossly underrated movie was “en uyir thozhan”. Honestly this is one movie that I would suggest to anyone who is a lover of tamil cinema, because it proves the point that such quality cinema are also made here. The film is in short a political satire. It highlights the way in which supporters of political parties get absorbed into the evil just like fireflies to a flame. the protagonist of the movie is Dharma( played by Dilli Babu) who lives in a slum with his sister Vadivukarasi. The slang and the poise with which Babu and vadivukarasi execute their roles is really excellent. The hero is a supporter of the opposition party and is very loyal to it. The party has Livingston and Thennavan in it. Thennavan is infact the erstwhile lover of the heroine Rama. She runs away from her home only to be fooled by him. She finds solace with Dharma. They marry and have a happy life. But Dharma is so deep in his loyalty to the party that he doesn’t realize their malice. The film really scores at this juncture. Towards the climax when the party leader decides to use Dharma to win the sympathy and support of people the film reaches the best part. The choice of Charlie as the friend of Dharma and the killer, is excellent. The settings of the murder, the railway track and the way the hero reacts to the killing deserve a real applause. More so is the way the director shows the attitude of the party bigwigs when they print the condolence posters of the heroine crying in advance. Charlie runs into the night crying loud and lamenting the murder of his friend at his own hands. This is where the film seems to say” Greed for power can make you kill even your beloved friend”, that is very wonderfully conveyed in the title “en uyir thozhan”.

The climax is very much suggestive and is left to the people to decide what is to be done.. There are other positives of the movie like Ilayaraja’s music et al. I have not tried to criticize the movie but this an attempt to prompt everyone to watch tamil cinema, because we need not look to the west for quality cinema. Our Culture and type of cinema lies here and we have quite a number of good directors who can make films commensurate with western classics.

Please let me know if you would want me to review any movie in particular. As it is I am not very busy.