Cheran has broken all Tamil Movie formulas. This movie has no fights, no comedy track, no wet dream sequence, no belly button parade.. But this movie does have strong a emotive story line, strong narrative and good music.Thavamai Thavamirundu is about a father struggling to raise a family in the midst of ever increasing financial burden. He goes the extra mile to give good education to his kids and gives decent education. As they grow older, the sons break away from the family and ignore their parents. The rest of the movie is about how they re-unite.
Like his previous movie (Autograph), Cheran tells the story from his perspective with lot of flashbacks which have been handled deftly. I liked concept of showing the past in color and present in black & white.
All actors have done commendably but Raj Kiran and Saranya need a special mention. They have lived the role of struggling parents who pour unconditional love on their kids. Cheran has written, directed and acted in this movie. He performs well behind the camera than in front of it and might consider to focus on his core skill in the future.
The music by Sabesh Murali (new kid on the block?) is very pleasant and has a strong classical flavor. Interestingly, not all songs featured in the CD were in the movie. The song 'Aakkattu' was missing and the lyrics for the song 'Unnai Charanadainthen' was different.
The movie runs over 3 hours and is kind of long. At times, the movie slows down and drags. Cheran could have focused more and kept the movie to 2 - 2 1/2 hours.
This movie will get lot of accolades and awards. I hope this movie does well financially as well. I saw this movie in Mayajaal yesterday in a almost empty theatre.
My Grades for this movie
Story & direction A (for strong story line and
Music A- (for pleasant score)
Acting B+ (for exceptional characterization by Raj Kiran & Saranya)
Direction A (for a well laid out story line)
Art A (for a thorough and detailed depiction of 2+ generations)
Overall Rating A ( must see family drama)
Nice review Visu, thank you.
ReplyDeleteI am waiting for the next weekend.
Its getting released at San Jose IMC6 cinemas.
I am very confident based on reviews that Rajkiran might get the best actor award.
Yeah, Cheran is trying something different. Let's hope this sets a trend so that we can see some good movies.
Ram, its a must watch movie. Shocked to know that the theatre was almost empty on a weekend!!
ReplyDeletenamma makkaa Sivakasiya house-fullaa oda viduvaanga ;(
Narayanan
ReplyDeleteLet me know how you like it.. I hope Cheran carves out a niche for himself like Maniratnam..
Sundaresan
I assume you saw it too.. I really enjoyed this movie and it impacted me in more than one way..
Nice Review and a Beautiful Movie....Such movies should come up more and more in Tamil Movie world...
ReplyDeleteSabesh - Murali combo are not newcomers. they happen to be brothers of Music Director Deva and have composed music and background score for some low profile movies. They were assisting Deva when he was at his peak. I can't recollect the songs, but they have composed some good songs in the past. Wonder why Cheran ditched Bharadwaj this time.
ReplyDeleteKaps
ReplyDeleteOh.. I didn't know that.. they have done very decent job..
Yeah.. don't know why Cheran went these guys instead of Bharadwaj..