Spoilers ahead…
At the opening of Manikandan’s Aandavan Kattalai, these words flashed on screen: This film is meant to create awareness. My heart sank. The film is about debt-ridden Gandhi (Vijay Sethupathi), who, with the help of falsified documentation, attempts to get to London on a tourist visa, stay back, and make pots of gold. Or at least, pounds. But the “message” – a warning about shady agents who say they’ll subvert the system for a (big) fee – is delivered with such a light touch, you barely feel it. It’s almost as if Manikandan is slyly subverting the Tamil-cinema system. He probably knows how audiences (and many critics) here size up the heft of a movie solely by the weight of its message. So he’s throwing breadcrumbs and sending those viewers off on a false trail, while he gets down to the business of making a real movie. His first priority isn’t society. It’s cinema.
What we’re left with, then, is the story of an honest man (note that name again!) whose dire situation drives him to dishonesty, and who then realises that to turn honest again, he may have to adopt more dishonest means. There’s more. Gandhi’s London dreams, finally, come true due to his honesty. (He exposes a fraud.) Irony coils upon irony like a reticulated python. Like Manikandan’s first film, Kaaka Muttai, Aandavan Kattalai is a comedy of desperation. Manikandan zooms in on people whose plight should make you cry – he makes you laugh, instead. He doesn’t have an iota of the self-righteousness that inflates so many filmmakers that you want to stick a pin into them. (And let’s face it, some of our filmmakers – we won’t name them – would end up looking like voodoo dolls.) Take the point about violence towards women. We hear about it in the context of a press conference, but the situation is really about establishing Kaarmegakuzhali’s (Ritika Singh) character. Much later, we see a news sheet outside a tea stall – the second headline is about a woman murdered. There’s a lot if you choose to look. If you don’t, you still come away laughing at Yogi Babu’s lines (he’s fantastic). Entertainment that is about something, that says something – it’s the elusive grail Tamil filmmakers keep chasing. Only Manikandan seems to have found it.
It’s probably easier to list the things that don’t work – like that ten-ton title. It’s more suited to a Sivaji Ganesan movie. (Actually, it is the title of a 1964 Sivaji Ganesan melodrama.) Then there’s that contrivance about Gandhi landing up in Kaarmegakuzhali’s house just when her mother is arranging her marriage. It’s not a false note, exactly – it just doesn’t ring as true as, say, the fact that, when asked to think up a woman’s name, Gandhi picks hers, even before he’s met her. (She’s a television journalist. She signs off each segment with her name. It’s very likely he’s heard it, held on to it in a corner of his mind.) And I would have liked a line of closure that addressed Gandhi’s debts, and his sister back home. Then… that’s it. And even these are nitpicks, so forgivable in the face of the larger accomplishment. I’ve never seen a Tamil-film romance so understated. It isn’t even a romance. But we see they like the same things (truth, honesty) and dislike the same things (men who slurp their tea loudly). Compatibility is a far better indicator of happily-ever-after than love at first sight.
Manikandan and his writing team (Arul Chezhiyan, Anucharan) should hold classes for other Tamil filmmakers who want the story-screenplay-dialogue credit but reveal little understanding of these elements. Everything in Aandavan Kattalai is there for a reason. If Gandhi ends up working as the manager of a theatre group, he later finds himself play-acting in front of a judge. (Nasser is fantastic as the director, invoking Stanislavsky and the Method: Inside out… Outside in!) And the conceit of leaving one’s home and struggling in an alien land is a steady undercurrent. We sense it in Nesan (Aravindan, who’s very moving), a Sri Lankan who’s made Chennai his home. We sense it in Gandhi himself, who’s getting, in Chennai, a glimpse of what life might be like in London, trying to find a place to live in, trying to earn a living till something better comes along.
It isn’t just about the protagonist’s journey. We, too, get to journey through the dense ecosystem he’s enmeshed in. Manikandan takes up a premise and examines it like a jeweller would eye at a stone – he brings out every facet. The landlords with their whimsical rules for letting out their flats. The lawyers (George, Vinodhini) who quail in front of the stern judge, when Gandhi’s divorce hearing comes up. (Yes, he isn’t married. And yes, he needs to end his marriage.) All those other couples getting divorced. The marriage counsellors. (The scene is a riot.) The visa officer who tells Gandhi he should see the Taj Mahal first before setting out to see museums in London. (There’s a message right there, just out of sight. The film teems with smaller messages like these: Don’t lie! Crime doesn’t pay!) The consequences of Gandhi’s actions reach even Kaarmegakuzhali’s mother, one of those triumphs of writing that makes a five-minute character as vivid, as memorable as one whose arc spans the entire movie.
What integrates all of this is a vision that envelops everything from the psychedelic opening-credits sequence to Shanmugasundaram’s unobtrusive cinematography (even amidst suffocating crowds, the scenes flow like silk) to K’s contrapuntal musical cues. (A heated argument between Gandhi and his brother-in-law is underscored by… a bouncy waltz.) There’s not a single bad performance. Ritika Singh’s lip-sync may be shaky, but she makes you buy her character even in the iffier moments – her reaction upon receiving Gandhi’s proposal says it all, complex mental calculations reduced to a small furrow in the brow, a smile she fights to control. And Vijay Sethupathi hasn’t been this relaxed in ages. With this actor, it’s often a very thin line between not labouring over a performance and not bothering to give one. Here, thankfully, it’s the former. And you have to acknowledge how he steers his box-office clout towards these smaller films, which might otherwise wilt and die. What he adds isn’t just star power. It’s sunshine.
KEY:
- aandavan kattalai = God’s decree
An edited version of this piece can be found here. Copyright ©2016 The Hindu. This article may not be reproduced in its entirety without permission. A link to this URL, instead, would be appreciated.
arun
September 23, 2016
“What integrates all of this is a vision that envelops everything” – One of the Best line I have Read..Fantastic Review BR!!
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Ramsu
September 23, 2016
The title itself is supposed to be ironic, no? I am assuming he is using the word aandavan to refer not (just) to God, but to the ones who ruled us, i.e., the Brits.
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Punyhulk
September 23, 2016
I think I just had a teeny tiny orgasm upon reading the last line. And I think it’s suffice to say that I might be having a huge man crush on this full bodied non filmy leading man.
Maybe it ‘s the way he look. You just feel a slightly bit relieved and gladdened that nice guys don’t end up last.
VA, more power to you, man.
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Ebert
September 23, 2016
Across the many reviews of yours that I have read, I find you despise movies that wants to convey messages. What is wrong with a movie trying to convey messages overtly or implicitly?
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Rohit Sathish Nair
September 23, 2016
K seems to be very underrated, considering the fact both he and SaNa have had a pretty similar trajectory, working with the new brigade of Tamil filmmakers.(Even SaNa’s films till Kabali had actors of a somewhat lower wattage)
I don’t know how good his Tamil songs are, but his work for Annayum Rasoolum was great.
i like how he tweaks old songs (‘Kaayalinarike’ and ‘Kandu Randu Kannu’ were remixes of fol songs), or in this case, invokes some kind of nostalgia without getting all that explicit
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sid
September 24, 2016
ebert: see there is nothing wrong in making movies that give a message.but that message shouldn’t be an excuse for giving a lazy film. there are many films which survive only because of “message”. that make the ppl go”padathula nalla message iruku adukaaga paaklam”. what they don’t realize is that if you take the message out of the movie there is just nothing else in the movie. i have’nt seen AK yet but BR’s line which says that manikandan’s priority is cinema and not society makes me want to watch the film. that was exactly what i felt in kaaka muttai. few examples of well made preachy films maybe anbe sivam,rang de basanti,iravi etc. these movies are much more than just the nice messages.
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Naren
September 24, 2016
“Wear helmet to avoid legal action” – is this a real thing now? Is it now mandatory like “Liquor drinking is….” or Manikandan is jus mocking the censor board? And – the word “oomai” is ‘muted’ at every place given the fact that it in a way it becomes a major aspect of.. hmmmm ‘reticulated python’.. except at one place where KMK warns the lawyer not to use the word ‘oomai’ but ‘maatru thiranaali’. Okay..now because this line exists in the movie, did the director muted it everywhere else – to make a meta point or is he really being sensible against the usage of this word…Alas, at least I hope it is not Censor’s advise!
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sridharvisu76
September 24, 2016
//What he adds isn’t just star power. It’s sunshine.//
Fantastic. You should write dialogs in movies 🙂
great review.
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Siva
September 24, 2016
What master piece from Manikandan. Well said BR. Vijay Sethupathi is indeed a Sunshine in the lives of many quirky film makers. What a movie. Superb writing by Manikandan n superb performances. Yogi Babu, vijay the man the Sethupathi n ritika. Even the srilankan Tamil n the lady lawyer assistant.
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ramvaradan
September 25, 2016
Another good movie by Mani. We need the message not as a lip service but rather let the audience feel the pain or empathy in favor of such message.. When the Gandhi in the movie rues that he should’nt have done that, this .. the audience for a second can feel the pinch. Good movies always do that. I always abhor explicitly written dialgues with message unless you inject in such a way that you don’t feel lectured. In a way even Anbe Sivam fails to do that … I found that the movies of Kamal are very patronizing where the characters around him always ask him like “do you have belief in God”.. even if its out of sequence eg. Anbe Sivam, Dashavatharam, or even “Nee nallavana Kettavana..” line in Nayakan. Even, the dialogues between Kamal and Poornam Vishwanathan in Mahanadhi are loaded with social, philosophies etc. Its as though the directors lap up every chance to be pedagogues. Its bait that Manikandan clearly doesn’t take.
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Dhanya nair
September 25, 2016
maybe manikandan learnt it from pesum padam, mumbai express kind of films..
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Adithyan
September 25, 2016
Loved the movie and hatrick of sorts for manikandan who is now my favourite Tamil director along with vetrimaran, there was a debate on who is better between dhanush and VIJAY sethupathi in your KaKaKaPo review…
Well in my opinion VJ sethupathi miles better than dhanush simply because sethupathi choose good films while dhanush is completely opposite since his last hit VIP…. inspite of having great talent dhanush is wasting those by doing worthless films.. ..as for as the movie is concerned the best thing in the movie was dialogues along with yogi babu’s fantastic one liners.. Almost every dialogue had an either direct or indirect message in it…
There were lots of memorable moments in the film, if I had to pick one scene in the film which I felt wonderful then I’d choose the scene where vj sethupathi meets passport officer in the climax and gets his job done without any fuss .. And after watching the film i have decided to speak truth whatever the situation is…
And I can’t wait to see manikandan’s next film Kadaisi Vivasaayi
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Ravi K
September 26, 2016
Adithyan wrote: “Well in my opinion VJ sethupathi miles better than dhanush simply because sethupathi choose good films while dhanush is completely opposite since his last hit VIP…. inspite of having great talent dhanush is wasting those by doing worthless films”
I like Dhanush the producer better than Dhanush the actor. He produced two of my favorite Tamil films of recent years, “Visaranai,” and “Naanum Rowdy Thaan.”
Naren, this is the first is the first movie for which I saw the helmet warning. Are Indian films now going to have warnings for every dangerous thing we see on-screen? “Eating processed foods is injurious to health.”
I saw the film here in the US, and the word “oomai” was not silenced out. And I did not see the “This film is meant to create awareness” screen, unless I blinked and missed it. So maybe they released a slightly different version overseas?
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Adithyan
September 26, 2016
Ravi k, well I am of the same opinion too dhanush manages to give good films as a producer but same can’t be said about the films which he acts… hopefully vadachennai brings the best out of dhanush(the actor) as he is teaming up with vetrimaran again..
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Rahini David
September 26, 2016
But the “message” – a warning about shady agents who say they’ll subvert the system for a (big) fee – is delivered with such a light touch, you barely feel it.
Good. But is it better than “Gaja ka dhost?”
🙂
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athreya
September 26, 2016
I feel a bit like a party pooper here but I have to point out some flaws. The premise of the whole passport saga turned a bit weak in my view. VS could have easily confessed to Nasser about the mistake in the passport. After all it was done to defraud but he didn’t go through with the intention. And it didn’t lead to harm or loss to anyone. Second, the movie could have done with better editing. Each of the episodes, eg; house hunting, divorce went on for a tad longer than was needed. Maybe I have to work on my attention span. Lastly the music, for most parts it was good but what you cite approvingly as contrapuntal just occasionally detracts from the scene. Sometimes it is better not to give cues, contra or otherwise. I found this problem in Kaaka Muttai also.
Like you say, I may also be nitpicking and I was happy I saw the movie. The light touch and assured acting are definitely a relief. And I liked the reference to mattru thiranaali and the silencing of more derogatory terms. It is a sensibility that needs to be cultivated. Words have consequences and far too often people wield them unthinkingly. The helmet warning was confusing as it stopped appearing towards the end.
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Nivaz
September 26, 2016
@Ravi K, Sir, you can’t estimate an actor based on his Hits history.. things may go wrong for any actor in box office but his performances should not be compared on that basis. Kindly think and speak
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Mahesh
September 26, 2016
You have missed out the Investigation officer
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neabs
September 27, 2016
after watching the film, I realized how your title is so apt and perfect for the description of the movie.
The movie was such a terrific cinematic experience. It is one such movie which stays true to its characters and characters were so relate-able. I could relate so much to the character Gandhi ,
Spoiler ahead:
The film carried so many lovely moments too.
To Name a few i loved the part where Nesan buys a hair band from a store(initially it looks silly but later we realize how much he miss daughter). Gandhi says there is no one called Karmega kulazhi and the screen moves to the news channel.
As you have mentioned the compatibility between the couple was shown beautifully, i loved court sequence where kulazhi expresses her fear about marriage on hearing number of divorce cases as in a earlier scene Gandhi also expresses same fear.
Liked the way how the scene involving Yogi babu travelling back to his home town ended on a fun note.
Ritika’s series of expression after the proposal was so so beautiful. i just couldn’t resist myself falling once again in love with Vijay sethupathi , his innocence was priceless during the climax. Even if it lasted for few minutes the romance between the leads was so subtle and yet so enjoyable.
Overall the movie is a wonderful package of credible performance, brilliant dialog, wondeful screenplay and music. On top of all i loved the characterization so realistic.
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neabs
September 27, 2016
i forgot to mention Pooja devariya’s performance , she was like a fire throughout the movie.
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Aadhy
September 27, 2016
Spoilers
It’s been a while since we had a movie where everything was so underplayed. I loved how the director resisted the urge to make dramatic exclamation points out of issues like refugee crisis, divorce, fraud, corruption, urbanization, victim blaming etc. A slice-of-life vibe and tone was present throughout. Another thing that stood out for me was Yogi babu’s characterization. They didn’t make a caricature out of him to milk laughs, but a really fleshed-out character with grace notes here and there. One example is this scene that plays out in the Vazhka oru ottagam song. Yogi babu tells VS, Nesan and co. that his mogaraasi is the reason why his application was approved. Everyone laughs. A lesser film would’ve cut to the reaction shot of Yogi babu looking displeased, a la taking himself seriously. But here he joins in the laugh and we see the group having fun not at the expense of him, but rather with him. Every character had such interesting grace notes to them, be it the smart junior advocate who doesn’t like married women to be mocked, the stern CBI officer who shows some sympathy without failing to do his job, or the old signature expert who doesn’t like to commit forgery involving women’s lives.
I just have a minor quibble. The motivation for Gandhi to put himself through the labyrinthine process of undoing the fraud, seemed a bit shallow. I mean, I know that he wants to be virtuous, doesn’t want to betray his boss and also doesn’t want to screw his chances of traveling to London with the troupe. But would he really consider these factors more important than the bigger issues he had, that made him come to Chennai in the first place. He had huge debts and he desperately needed to go to UK because he wanted to make use of the migrant schemes’ there, which would’ve required him to stay there longer than the period he would’ve spent with his drama troupe there. I couldn’t buy how he ditched his larger problems for smaller ones. He could’ve owned up to his boss, and even if he had gotten himself fired, he could’ve taken up some other job, since this was just a temporary phase before his second attempt at Visa. This was just a small niggle in an otherwise refreshingly good movie.
The score by K, although sounding a bit Santhosh Narayananesque, was so good. And I believe the editor and scriptwriter Anucharan is the same guy who made the brilliant Kirumi. These guys are doing some amazing work and I hope a lot of people watch their work, so that they don’t sell out and make compromised movies.
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lowlylaureate
September 27, 2016
2016 should officially be declared as the year of Vijay Sethupathi by UNESCo (who else)
Here is our Rs 1.05 (approx 2 cents USD) on the same
Nandri Ji.
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pato
September 27, 2016
I was able to buy the fact that gandhi didnt want to break nasser’s trust.Few scenes before that incident when gandhi’s brother in law met him,nasser gave guarantee that he would pay the amount if gandhi failed to pay.That scene elevated vjs and nasser’s relationship to another level.So obviously it would have been been difficult for a character like gandhi to break nasser’s trust.
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brangan
September 28, 2016
I did not have a problem with Gandhi adopting underhand ways. He wants to do good by Nasser. He doesn’t want to “fall” in front of Nasser’s eyes. He’s in a new place, and this is the only “system” he knows.
The thing that I had a problem with — a small one, though — was the non-acknowledgement of the loans etc. back home. That was why all this happened in the first place.
Yes, speaking of the arc of the screenplay, “going to London” is a subset of “going to London to make money to repay debts”, so at least that ambition is fulfilled. But I somehow got the impression he needed to earn in pounds to repay these loans. And now (after the theatre performance) he’s going to have to return to India and earn in rupees.
Yes, he can still repay those loans this way (which is why it’s not a total deal-breaker), but I was a tad puzzled that the issue didn’t come up at all.
Though, of course, you could argue that the loan is just a McGuffin. It just gets the plot going and then is of no consequence. Which is how you know this is great writing. You could make a case for even the things that don’t work for you 🙂
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Aadhy
September 28, 2016
BR : But I somehow got the impression he needed to earn in pounds to repay these loans. And now (after the theatre performance) he’s going to have to return to India and earn in rupees.
This was what exactly I meant to say. Let’s say he had two problems.
1) Huge debts.
2) ‘Falling’ in front of his boss’s eyes. Or being accused of dishonesty by someone he regarded very high.
I would say problem 1) seemed bigger than problem 2) because they let us know the amount of money Gandhi owed his lender, some 7 lakhs. If it was a McGuffin, it would’ve worked had we not known this amount. It would have seemed inconsequential to the flow of events then. Now that we know what is at stake (by numbers), I was more invested in him finding the solution to problem 1) rather than 2).
But I see your point. Let’s look at the solutions for these two problems.
A) Earning a lot of Pounds in London through Kumar’s shady ideas.
B) Staying with the drama troupe, earning a bit in Pounds and later in Rupees, but with a stable income and respectability.
Solution A) solves problem 1). Solution B) solves both problems 1) and 2), albeit taking a much longer period. Adding to that is the uncertainty factor around solution A). Gandhi doesn’t know if solution A) would actually work, as he hasn’t applied it yet. But he is applying solution B) in the present, through his job. Plus there is the scene Pato mentioned, strengthening his relationship with the boss, establishing the solution he’s gonna apply. Now everything makes sense. That’s why maybe there wasn’t any closure written for debts. It’s implied that he will eventually repay/solve his problems through honest means, even if it takes a longer period, which is what someone sharing the lead character’s name did long ago to his… aandavargal .
I know this is reading too much, but I feel this movie merits such a discussion 🙂 . An example for a movie letting us think about it rather than telling us explicitly what to take out of it.
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ramvaradan
September 28, 2016
They left the village because there was nothing to do there and the debts kept piling up.. Once the idea of going to London fell flat – Nasser took him under his wings, and dissuaded the fighting Machan, assuming the role of guarantor of the loan. Also, there was a side punch that this was an ill-gotten dowry money. Without much further ado, that was that. I felt that the bit about rental house hunt was a bit out of line with the story, but certainly funny enough.
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Aditya (Gradwolf)
September 29, 2016
I watched it fairly late (3rd day is late these days) and by then so many reviews had poured in, consumed and digested. What captivated me was the crisis of identity that haunts the film from start to finish. Thematically, not sure if this can be done any better. A black comedy where every funny situation/set piece is a byproduct of that very question of identity. A comedy of identity is made with the tropes of the comedy of errors. Well disguised too. Like how the 80s graphics opening credits suggest that the problems from that era like unemployment, effects of gruesome civil war, the obvious ambition to move to another country for better prospects etc still exist. A passport here, a voters ID card there and a nonexistent wife. And the nonexistent wife’s name is conjured out of thin air in full cognizance of Nesan, standing right there, who is looking for his fully existing wife and child. And this nonexistent wife has to be divorced like how Pandi and Gandhi have to divorce the country at any cost. But Nesan is here looking for a bond to forge and it is again not his country. The only person Gandhi is his Gandhi self is the acting coach Nassar, who assumes several identities for a living. Or teaches to. Like Rangan, I too got the feeling that this is a film that would reward multiple viewings. And how the heart wrenching moments end with humor but loaded! As Pandi gets off the Tirupati bus, the friend says – rendu busum velaya irundhudhu, ethi vitten – I wondered if it has something to do with escaping to the West, our fascination with the white. And coming from that identity standpoint, the title makes absolute sense because that is the only thing you don’t choose – your identity. It comes preordained and whether you take it or leave it depends on you and your circumstances.
So yeah, I am all in on the loans as McGuffin idea.
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brangan
September 29, 2016
Aadhy: … some 7 lakhs. If it was a McGuffin, it would’ve worked had we not known this amount.
Not necessarily. The more specific a McGuffin is, the more its inherent… McGuffin-ness 🙂
Consider the greatest, most famous McGuffin in cinema history. The one in Notorious. Hitchcock could have just said it’s something vaguely dangerous, like “secret plans” or “incriminating evidence.” But no. He says it’s “Uranium in wine bottles” 🙂
I mean, how much more specific can you get about something that needn’t even have been in the film? 😀
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bingethinkings
September 30, 2016
Any thoughts on the self reference to vijay sethupathi’s days as accountant in koothu pattarai? I mean… what a riot shivakarthikeyan would have made out of if he played a stand up comedian now.
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Aadhy
September 30, 2016
BR: I agree. Even the McGuffin in Psycho was a specific 40,000 dollars. McGuffins could be very specific. What I’m saying is, while they may not be significant to the overall plot, aren’t they still significant to the characters driven by them, inside the movie? Those 40,000 dollars were important to Marion till the moment she died (she does some tallying calculations before she goes to take bath). Even after her death every other character brings up those 40,000 dollars at some point.
But here Gandhi seems to have completely forgotten about the loan. His priorities change after Nasser comes into his life. His problems change. The series of events that follow may make that loan insignificant in the whole scheme of things, to us . But to him , shouldn’t it still be a driving factor? Maybe not. But the specific nature of the McGuffin misled me, making me think there was a discontinuous jump in his character arc when he stopped thinking about those 7 lakhs he owed. Maybe that’s the job of a McGuffin in the first place :). In retrospective thought, considering his character and the choices he had, everything does make sense.
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aravindan
October 5, 2016
Watched the movie last night. Vijay Sethupathi is a riot as the 30 year old Gandhi. This was his FIFTH release this year and he has a few more to go. What I like about him is that he doesn’t fuss around about his art much and has a rather simplistic approach to acting. I guess, that is all that is needed, even to pull off powerful characters like the one in Iraivi.
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pato
October 5, 2016
The disclaimer that “this film is created to spread awareness” at the beginning of the film and beeping of oomai word was ordered by censor board.
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sridharraman
October 12, 2016
Finally caught this movie last night. Strangely, it was a one-off show screened in Oxford, with just a total of 5 people as the audience. (I am extremely glad they released the movie, but really wonder how/why did they decide to screen it almost 3 weeks after its original release!)
The movie was brilliantly made. Almost every character was a “known-ish” face and a natural performer. The level of dedication to suffuse the movie with so many capable actors is amazing!
Despite (or maybe because of) all the light-heartedness, Nesan’s arc weighs even more, with they way it ends – “poraliyaa?”
</spoiler alert>
I know Yogi Babu had a lot of amazing one-liners, but, given the context and all that he had been through, his annoyance at their putting him in the wrong bus was the best, to me! When the mind comes up with all kinds of possibilities – is he going to run back to them? Is he contemplating something dire? But no … just the wrong bus! 🙂
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Venky
October 14, 2016
I loved the movie. I don’t know if I am the only one thinking this. I found two things very interesting
1) Is the voice over given for the introductory statutory message ( Smoking kills) deliberately voiced by someone with brit accent trying to read tamil? The accent of the opening voice in that message seemed very deliberate. If this is true – this is bloody good. How to set the agenda of the story with the default message?
2) The movie is a classic case of obliquely putting together messages. Look at the messages highlighted in the movie
1) Urban-rural conflict ( which sets the tone for his next movie: Kadaisi vivasayi) – Scene in point: Towards the end, when Gandhi is thrown out from that house
2) Gender parity
3) Bureaucratic mess created by public administration systems
4) Agonies of house-search
And lots more.
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R Balasubramanian
November 7, 2016
I think you want to fix a beauty spot on a wonderful face. “And I would have liked a line of closure that addressed Gandhi’s debts, and his sister back home. Then… that’s it. And even these are nitpicks.”
With this kind of intelligent film, why would you need a spoon feeding for the audience. Is it not just possible to infer, that he is settled and along with that all is well. All said and done Manikantan movies are not for masses and it sure has a different target group.
I am of the reviewers. does not have to work like auditor with some scepticism.
Finally, a fitting review for one of the best films I have seen recently..
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Tina
November 17, 2016
And it didn’t irk anyone that the heroine goes full on sari after marriage? If it irked us in mayakkam enna, then it should annoy us here too.
Good movie otherwise though. Quite enjoyed it
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Aadhy
November 17, 2016
Tina : I’d thought about this too. But I think in this case, she wears the saree out of her own choice, and not because she’s necessarily expected to wear it post-marriage. In an earlier scene, when a prospective groom suggests her to wear a saree, she shoots back at him, asking why he wasn’t wearing a dhoti. So it’s clear that she’s someone who’d hold the concept of personal choice higher than any of the supposedly ‘cultural’ norms.
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Tina
November 18, 2016
Aadhy: yes, you are right. Makes sense!
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Zero
November 18, 2016
Also, for what it’s worth, I checked the last scenes – there’s a court scene where they take back the divorce application, in which she’s wearing a churidar (following the proposal scene and the montage in which she’s in a sari).
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Santosh Balakrishnan
March 22, 2017
every time i watch this movie (just finished 5th round), i end up in this page enjoying your review as much the movie itself.. for me this review is the end credits of this fabulous movie!!
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brangan
March 22, 2017
Santosh Balakrishnan: What a nice thing to say. Thanks so much!
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Madan
January 1, 2019
Finally got around to watching a Manikandan film and it was well worth it and more. Wonderful movie.
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