Spoilers ahead…
A lot of filmmakers make “message” movies. SP Jhananathan makes propaganda movies. His films aren’t about walking home with a warm glow and a trite little homily ringing in the head. He weaves complex tapestries from skeins of impassioned ideology. His first film, Iyarkai, an adaptation of Dostoevsky’s White Nights, was something I didn’t care for at all, but his follow-up, E, made me sit up. It wasn’t just a rich-versus-poor story. It was about the First-World rich versus the Third-World poor. If the film didn’t become all that it could have been, it’s because Jhananathan is less a filmmaker than a pamphleteer – but the points he brings up are incendiary, plucked from the headlines and set ablaze by his fiery passion. (Prakash Jha, who tries to make similar films in Hindi, could pick up a trick or two.) Then came Peraanmai. The movie was a mess of badly executed good intentions, but its protagonist was a man from the minority, a tribal. And with a difference. He wasn’t the kind of exotic creature Tamil cinema usually throws at us – say, someone familiar with the ways of the jungle who helps the hapless city dweller – but a smart man in uniform who cared about his country. The best part was the end. He saved the day, but retreated into the shadows as a superior officer took all the credit. He wouldn’t be a Jhananathan protagonist if he allowed the government – the establishment – to pin a medal on him.
Jhananathan’s new film, Purampokku Engira Podhuvudamai, is also about a man – Balu (Arya) – from the minority. But this isn’t about his affiliation to a particular caste or class. It’s about his affiliation to a particular colour: red. He’s a Communist. A line in the film acknowledges that, in an increasingly capitalistic world, Communists are but a bare handful – a minority – but someone’s got to fight the good fight. (Not my words. The film’s.) Purampokku begins with Balu’s arrest for waging war against the Indian Army. He’s sentenced to be hanged. A little later, he is seen in a police vehicle alongside a cop rather pointedly named Macaulay (Shaam, surprisingly effective). Why that name? Maybe because he is one of “Macaulay’s Children” – if not a slave to Western culture and ideology as the phrase has come to mean today, then certainly a blind follower of the laws of the land, most of which were laid down by Westerners. (He believes that hanging criminals will result in the eradication of crime.) Macaulay sees a group of people holding up placards, demanding Balu’s immediate hanging. He tells Balu that this is what the country wants. Balu replies, “Neenga paakardhu mattume Indhiya jananga kidayaadhu.” He’s so filled with self-belief, he makes these protesters seem like the minority.
In other words, we have Balu espousing what appear to be Jhananathan’s views. Balu calls Macaulay a “uniform poatta rowdy.” He says he doesn’t consider himself a criminal. He declares that the way forward is not thani udamai but podhu udamai. In a lair where a wall displays a Guy Fawkes mask, his comrades talk of the Russian revolution, of Mao, of Lenin. Looking at a prisoner being tortured, Balu brings up the Geneva Convention. (This is some kind of war, after all.) He speaks about the overpopulation of our prisons. He is portrayed as a modern-day Bhagat Singh, a revolutionary whom the establishment doesn’t want to make seem a revolutionary. A higher-up tells Macaulay, “Balu should not die like Bhagat Singh. He should hang like Kasab.” (Purampokku is dedicated to fighters who were sentenced to death.)
The film’s big tragedy is that this beacon of change is played by Arya. I’m not saying that the only way to play these “seditious” roles is to do what Sivaji Ganesan did in Veerapandiya Kattabomman, all but leaping out of the screen, grabbing your collar and bellowing into your increasingly spittle-flecked face. But at least some inner spark has to shine through. Arya is laidback to the point of being catatonic. The hanging seems redundant – there’s very little life in his eyes to speak of. The other problem is that the character’s motives aren’t sharply defined. He’s some sort of generic, all-purpose do-gooder. He targets a train carrying food and medicine and distributes these supplies to the poor and needy. He protests against First World countries using the Third World as a dumping ground for hazardous electronic, nuclear and pharmaceutical waste. It’s hard to get a hold of him. It isn’t a good sign when Macaulay calls him a fool and you kinda-sorta agree with Macaulay. It’s like watching a Robin Hood story and rooting for the Sheriff of Nottingham.
What’s surprising, amidst all the lal salaam salutes, is the preponderance of religious imagery. We get a scene with an old man’s last rites being performed as per Hindu tradition. We get a dialogue with Kali, who’s seen, in some parts, as a subaltern goddess. We get a wall plastered with pictures of deities, including Jesus, and a line that references the Biblical story of God asking Abraham to kill his son Isaac. A retired judge speaks about the law versus dharma, and – as an extension, in a touch that tickled me no end – a hangman invokes NT Rama Rao’s advice to the paralysed Muthuraman in Karnan as an exhortation to do one’s duty.
The hangman is named Yemalingam (Vijay Sethupathi, who just seems to have stopped trying). I wasn’t clear why he’s the only “experienced hangman” around (that’s what the law demands), given that he seems to have witnessed a hanging just once and was subsequently severely traumatised. But his entry into the story infuses some much-needed momentum. Without him, we may have been subjected to endless ideological back-and-forthing between Macaulay and Balu, but when Yemalingam joins Balu’s comrades, the film slowly transforms into a gripping prison-escape drama. The latter portions are especially well-done, with top-notch technical contributions, especially from cinematographer NK Ekambaram, who transforms the prison into a character. He leaves no part uncovered, from the roof to the bowels. Who could have guessed that inside Jhananathan lies a pretty proficient genre filmmaker? If his principles let him, he could jettison the speechifying and end up making pure action movies – and a lot of money.
But this doesn’t mean his pamphleteering side is subdued. One of the pleasures of Purampokku is how, at times, it achieves the magical mean that many films strive for, to entertain people and yet be about something. We get a crash course on everything a hangman does – how the rope is fortified, or how the height of the prisoner is measured (from the neck down). We even get to know how hangmen were recompensed in earlier times. Jhananathan’s sympathy for minorities is evident throughout. In a standout moment, after learning that Yemalingam hangs out with prostitutes, his mother realises that no one from a “decent family” is going to give him their daughter in marriage. She tells Yemalingam’s friend that maybe they should just get Yemalingam married off to one of “those girls,” who can always be made a “kudumba ponnu” after marriage. She’s not preaching. She’s just a frustrated mother at the end of her tether, and the “message” is secreted into a situation, a conversation. In another scene, Macaulay stumbles on cops censoring the newspapers. One of them is cutting out pictures of sexy-looking women. The other is cutting out an article on homosexuality. Macaulay tells the man to let the article be because only those in prison know what it’s like. What could have become an easy joke about dropping the soap in the showers is transformed into a casual plea for tolerance.
I was also impressed by a bit that weaves in lines of Sanskrit. I expected a Santhanam-type comedian to scratch his head and make a joke by mangling the words – a lot of mainstream Tamil cinema, after all, prides itself on being anti-intellectual. But the scene stays serious. Of course, there are other mainstream compromises. There’s a silly song involving Kuyili (a thoroughly ineffective Karthika; with those strangely sinuous eyebrows, she should be playing the evil snake queen in a remake of Kanavane Kankanda Dheivam). We also have one of those songs inside the jail, with the name “Macaulay” worked into a lyric. Vijay Sethupathi, meanwhile, gets full-on hero treatment, with a heroic entry scene followed by a song. But he doesn’t get a love angle. Neither does Macaulay. In these films, we usually get a scene where the tough cop returns home and his little kid comes running into his arms. Ask those directors why and they’ll say they’re “humanising” the character. I wondered if Jhananathan felt there was no need to humanise this character, or if he didn’t want to humanise this representative of the majority, the establishment. But to be fair, Balu doesn’t get a love angle either. By not opting for a romantic track here (and in Peraanmai), Jhananathan is himself in the minority, at least among mainstream filmmakers.
Copyright ©2015 Baradwaj Rangan. This article may not be reproduced in its entirety without permission. A link to this URL, instead, would be appreciated.
malvikaashok
May 20, 2015
Finally Brangan.. you seemed to have liked a Tamil Film and we couldnt agree more. We need to give it to the director for having departed from the Cliches and giving us something new and it could have been an even more brave attempt if the songs and the few needless scenes were done away with.. Anyway a commendable effort..
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uniquebluerose
May 20, 2015
BRJi…..kalakinga ponga…..loved some of you lines…I guess must definitely go for this…
“if his principles let him, he could jettison the speechifying and end up making pure action movies – and a lot of money.” – Super
“with those strangely sinous eyebrows, she should be playing the evil snake queen in a remake of Kanavane Kankanda Dheivam” – lol…..I have wondered about this from her first film itself…even there she looks like that ….in another words she perfect to audtion for villian characters in the mega serials
“By not opting for a romantic track here (and in Peraanmai), Jhananathan is himself in the minority, at least among mainstream filmmakers.” – your finished with winning sixer here boss….
hats off
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Just Another Film Buff
May 20, 2015
“It isn’t a good sign when Macaulay calls him a fool and you kinda-sorta agree with Macaulay. It’s like watching a Robin Hood story and rooting for the Sheriff of Nottingham.”
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uniquebluerose
May 20, 2015
Vijay sethupathi – is he that bad???? I had high hopes from this guy…. was even becoming a fangirl…. well never mind I can always go back to Kamal…. thoroughly enjoyed his performance in UV!!!!
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Siddarth Senthilkumaran
May 20, 2015
I’m curious as to why you said Vijay Sethupathi has stopped trying. Don’t you think it’s nice that a hero is donning all sorts of roles. And also I felt he essayed the role of a slum dweller perfectly.
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Pranesh
May 20, 2015
Totally agree about Vijay Sethupathy. He’s just decided to maximize earnings in his 5 years or so in the spotlight.
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Ram Murali
May 20, 2015
“The hanging seems redundant – there’s very little life in his eyes to speak of. “
–> Ha ha! Idha naange thamizh-la “Seththa Eli Maadhiri Irundhaan Arya”-nu solluvom. Sounds so much nicer the way you put it in English!
I like SP Jananathan’s style of filmmaking. His films come across as a little cold. But then again, the worlds that he showcases aren’t the prettiest worlds. It was probably an hour into “E” that I realized that he was so far removed from mainstream thamizh cinema convention and that I had to kinda expect the unexpected, esp. in the interactions between the male and female leads. I was pretty stunned by some of the lines that he had written for Nayanthara.
BR – What are your thoughts on some of these movies like “E” (I have not watched P E P yet, so can’t comment) that make you think more than feel? That make you admire more than like… do you kinda prime yourself for these experiences based on the filmmaker’s past efforts? I remember how Rajiv Menon once described the climax of “Iruvar.” That Mani Ratnam – in real life – probably didn’t cry when MGR passed away and that reflected in the arms-length (I am parphrasing here) portrayal of the death scene. I could relate to that because when Prakashraj delivered his monologue, I admired the lines (“Saavilum Ennai Mundhivittaaya?” for instance) but was not moved at all…
That said, I am really looking forward to watching P E P soon…
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Jeeva P
May 20, 2015
Few problems I had with the film.
How does Jhananathan expect us to sympathise with Arya when he is nowhere allowed to grow into a revolutionary who genuinely and legitimately cares for people? Jhananathan assumes that our people would instinctively care for a Naxalite as soon as he is shown on the screen just like we would care for a pregnant woman character. He should have been shown like someone of Pasupathy’s stature in Jhananathan’s own E. And Arya , an under-grown actor for this role is another no-brainer.
I expected the tension between Arya and Shaam to match something that filled the room when Kamal and Nasser confronted one another in Kuruthipunal. This is where the execution along with scripting came out in all its pathetic hollowness.
SPOILER AHEAD
With respect to Peranmai, was not it a better film since, once it moved into the forest, it managed to remain air-tight never once letting off its steam forgetting its propagandizing intent almost completely? In Purampokku the tension seeps in only during the last half an hour or so and the climax was a dampener. In this type of escape dramas, when you are clear that you have to entertain (propagandizing coming next) a well-thought out, positive ending would have helped the film better. An arthouse can afford this type of a tragic finish.
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Iswarya V
May 20, 2015
BR: I’m just curious.. Do you find this director’s brand of propaganda different from that of Ram, the one who made Kattradhu Thamizh and Thanga Meengal?
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Gokul Pugal
May 20, 2015
I think everyone needs to be little lenient on Vijay sethupathi, as he would be coming up with new roles from the next film “ORANGE MITTAI”(55 year old man). Though his character in the film is a hangman which has not been done before. I think he did a good job in the movie esp at the climax. I thinks we need to give him time to get back to do a mainstream different role.
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Just Another Film Buff
May 21, 2015
I think Vijay Sethupathy has made the right decision by going full commercial. Haven’t people seen him act?! He wouldn’t have survived in the “independent” cinema circuit for long. The man can’t act his way out of a paper bag. But a star, there’s a hope.
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Gokul Pugal
May 21, 2015
In the experienced hangman role is given to yamalingam is because the government needs to provide details to the media and justify that the hanging had taken place acc to existing conventions without any cruelty caused to the convict. As the accused is a high profile convict any movement from the conventional/justifiable norms would be viewed with suspicion by media and would result in a furore on the government. The government can justify by the historical angle and non availability of hangman in the country for the case of yamalingam.
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Akshara
May 21, 2015
Brangan, I see nothing about the movie’s take on capital punishment and prisoners in general. My perception was that the movie glorified prisoners just to express their angst towards the ‘establishment’ and exaggerated Vijay Sethupathy’s horrifying experience as a hangman to send a message about capital punishment or even punishment in general.
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Shankar
May 21, 2015
Reading of Vijay Sethupathi’s role as a hangman, I was reminded of Oduvil Unnikrishnan in “Nizhalkuthu”… Of course, I’m not comparing the two… just harked back to that film. Oduvil’s was a classic performance.
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kums
May 21, 2015
I really liked the movie. Somehow I wanted to like most of his previous movies, but film-making wise they were sub-standard. He has improved much in this film. Hope he collaborates with a screen-play writer in the future. His concepts and stories are good, but if he improves in story-telling he will be a a top director!
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thotsvandi
May 21, 2015
“It’s like watching a Robin Hood story and rooting for the Sheriff of Nottingham.”
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Rajesh
May 21, 2015
@Shankar – Didnt you notice the framed photo of Oduvil Unnikrishnan on the walls of Yamalingam’s house. Clearly the director is showing respect to that role. Near to Oduvil, there is also a photo of Om Puri. I dont remember if Om puri ever acted as the hangman. I wonder, why Mr. Rangan didnt mention this aspect in his review.
Am grateful to those distributors who decided to release this movie in Kochi. Normally this sort of movies are not. So. Had only a few issues with the movie.
-Casting – While Arya didnt do it badly, it would have been better to have an actor with more raw looks (no disrespect to anyone, please), may be Pashupathi or Cheran. Shaam and Vijay S was fine, but Karthika, even if she traverse miles before she wont be ready to play such a role. May be, that heroine in Thenmerkku Paruvakatru would have been perfect.
This was definitely a good movie from Tamil main stream. The kind of detailing done on many things – for eg. when Arya is bought into the jail is something that you dont get to see normally in our popular movies. It reminded me a bit of the absolutely brilliant British movie – Starred Up.
Sir, There were many things in this movie, which you could have written more about, I mean, positively. Wondering, is it because of the lack of your kind of popular artistes behind or front of the camera.
Truly, Prakash Jha could learn a lot from this director.
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naina
May 21, 2015
yes, om puri acted in a movie called the hangman
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sanjana
May 21, 2015
When you review tamil films, you are on familiar grounds. With hindi films, you are an outsider watching the fun.
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drhari
May 21, 2015
I am happy that filmmakers like Jananathan exist in Tamil cinema. The films which came to my mind when I saw the film were Rang de basanti and Lage raho Munnabhai. All these films are, for me, like a bridge the director builds between two mindsets. The two hindi films worked so well because the bridge was laid pretty strong at both ends. The directors, though were taking the viewers to a lofty destination, fully empathised with the other side. But in movies that Jananathan (and many other such people) make, one side of the bridge seems so weak that we don’t feel like stepping in at all. Hope he corrects it and presents the other side too with empathy. Example: in this film if he had somehow included the story of a youngster with capitalist mindset, and contrasted that with Balu’s, it would have added so much balance, instead of appearing as a propaganda-movie.
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brangan
May 21, 2015
Siddarth Senthilkumaran: I’m curious as to why you said Vijay Sethupathi has stopped trying.
Because there’s not one scene where he does anything interesting. He just shows up, says his lines — that’s it, really. It’s not enough to pick different roles. You have to do them well too.
Ram Murali: I don’t think a good movie is necessarily one where you are emotionally moved. Take 2001: A Space Odyssey. It’s a very cold film. But I find it fascinating. Or take something like GoodFellas. You don’t really “feel” for the protagonist. It’s more like being on a ride with him. That’s also a valid response: “How good was the ride?”
Jeeva P: Jhananathan assumes that our people would instinctively care for a Naxalite as soon as he is shown on the screen just like we would care for a pregnant woman character.
Superb comment. Exactly. The character needed to be fleshed out. We needed to know something specific about him, not just that he’s a generic do-gooder.
About Peraanmai, I was so pissed off by the early portions that I’d almost given up by the end. It was such amateur stuff the girls were doing — all that crap like walking around naked. It was all staged so badly.
In contrast, after about an hour, which was somewhat loose (though nothing as laughably bad as the early portions of Peraanmai), Purampokku began to engage me — and yes, towards the end, I was quite gripped.
Iswarya V: I find Ram’s characters quite random. They martyr themselves on crosses of their own making, almost as if they’re revelling in the masochism. At least Jhananathan tries to give us normal characters.
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brangan
May 21, 2015
Gokul Pugal: The government can justify by the historical angle and non availability of hangman in the country for the case of yamalingam.
Ah, thanks. They kept saying “experienced hangman” and we kept seeing someone who was not experienced at all — plus terrified about it. That threw me off a bit.
Akshara: But is this film really about capital punishment? It’s more about the establishment versus the sole crusader, no? Yes, Balu is sentenced to death, but that aspect led to the prison-escape drama rather than something like “Virumaandi,” where the two different stories told us how slippery the truth was and how inconclusive to base a hanging on.
kums: Yes, he has improved as a filmmaker. I was very surprised by how taut the latter portions were. Even screenplay-wise, quite an improvement.
Rajesh: Wondering, is it because of the lack of your kind of popular artistes behind or front of the camera.
“your kind of popular artistes”? I’m quite speechless, really.
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Shankar
May 21, 2015
@Rajesh…I haven’t seen this film yet.
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the BRangan fan
May 21, 2015
sir
may i ask u a few questions?
1)what was the first film you saw as a critic?
2)what is the oldest film you have seen?
3)what would be the last film you would like to see?
4)what is the film you have seen the most number of times?
(can’t wait to see your answers)
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Ram Murali
May 21, 2015
BR, thanks for the explanation. Completely agree on “2001: A Space Odyssey” but “Goodfellas” is a film where I not only enjoyed the roller coaster ride but also felt for Ray Liotta and Lorraine Bracco. By the time the film reached its climax, Scorsese did make me care for them even though they were far from the nicest human beings on planet earth. I guess I have different expectations for Thamizh movies with regard to the emotion/empathy quotient. For instance, I enjoyed “Virumaandi” a lot more on second and subsequent viewings because I kinda knew that I wouldn’t really feel for the Kamal character at the end but with that out of the way, I could really relish how superb the filmmaking was…
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avan
May 22, 2015
If only Jhananathan had made an attempt to scale up the impact with a better actor, Balu’s character would have been in par with Coffey’s from “The Green Mile”.
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Anon
May 22, 2015
BR, since we are talking of miscast actors, a question that you or other knowledgeable readers here can answer – How exactly does casting happen in Kollywood/Bollywood?
I guess Bollywood has casting directors et al that actually get actors to audition for parts (like what we saw in Luck By Chance) But do popular/established actors go through audition too? Somewhere I read that Anushka auditioned for Kareena’s part in 3 Idiots and didn’t get the part. That means somewhere a fair system of judgement seems to be functioning despite all the the nepotism, at least in parts.
But is Kollywood even aware of such a concept? 🙂
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MANK
May 23, 2015
Anon,in a big super star film, the heroine is fixed by the superstar himself, or it is handled by the consortium of distributors and exhibitors. This is how its done in Bollywood, kollywood, mollywood – there are also inputs from TV channels who by the TV rights. unless the producer/filmmaker is very powerful like yashraj or hirani, Mani rathnam or Shankar
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Anon
May 23, 2015
MANK: Hmmm…ok, I gather then that not much effort goes into selecting the heroines (surprise, surprise).
But how about the lead himself? For Indian superstars, roles are probably tailor made – and they take get to play these with absolutely no questions asked. But how is someone like Arya (neither a rookie nor a superstar yet) picked? Do they go simply by his past work or do they even attempt to test if he is effective enough to carry off that role?
On the other hand, I assume Hollywood, being the professional place it is, ensures that even A-listers audition/do screen tests to earn their right to play their roles rather than let things just fall into their laps automatically
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Madhu
May 27, 2015
and a line that references the Biblical story of God asking Abraham to kill his son Isaac
Imagine that! I went all Hindu on this, I thought it refers to “pillai kari” request of Shiva to his Nayanar.
Karthika totally put me off, why on earth did the director need a perfectly-threaded-eyebrows-and-hair girl in this movie! In all the scenes she appeared, I kept wondering how will she fit in her salon appointments between all the “saving Balu” thingy that she is doing! And yes, she has that “evil-witch” look about her. But I was really glad that she was not in love with either Balu or Yamalingam.
“En uyir thozhan” Rama as Yamalingam’s mother was awesome: I liked that mother who tells her son not to be involved in “killing” someone in one scene and then do a U-turn and convince him to do it, just so that he would get a stable salary and benefits.
There was nothing here like “Peranmai” where I was totally put off by the rich girls disliking lower caste hero routine. The songs I generally forgive as commercial compromise or whatever. But, I am just not able to make up my mind if I liked or hated this movie.
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brangan
May 27, 2015
Madhu: Could be that too. After all, all religions have flicked their yarns from one another. I went with the Biblical one because of the unexpected Jesus photo in the middle of all the other gods.
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Madhu
May 28, 2015
Yes, of course, I get that. What I meant was how the same dialogue meant different things to us. And both quite feasible.
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chenab35
June 11, 2015
I liked his film Iyarkai. It was an interesting story. The pacing was not right and there was few issues with the storyline- but overall the film seemed decent.
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MATHEW
June 21, 2015
Thought that the first half was amateur . Songs totally unnecessary . Kuyili wearing tights and looking prim and proper all the time. The prison sequences were very different and the end was gripping. Good show by sham and V. Sethupathi . Poor show by Arya . Pathetic show by Karthika
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Jayakrishnan Unni
July 4, 2015
@brangan.. Curious about the family lineage of Yemalingam. The picture of Oduvil Unnikrishnan (From nizhalkoothu’) on the walls of his house, he humming the lines of popular malayalam song ‘kadalinakkare ponore’ and oduvil unnikrishnan’s character in nizhalkoothubeing a person of tamil origins make me wonder. Imagine if he is, say, the grandson of oduvil’s character? Wont it be uber cool? 😀
PD: there is also Om Puri on the walls. Still I am very curious !
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