Aishwarya Rajesh, after Kanaa, gets a role that gives her the gamut. And Vijay Sethupathi is in marvellous form.
Spoilers ahead…
I’ll begin with a scene with a government official in Ramanathapuram. A young woman has discovered that her Dubai-employed husband has died. (He was one of the numerous anonymous Indians who worked in the numerous anonymous jobs there.) She wants the body flown back, to see him one last time and also to lay him to rest in the land he loved so much. But first, she needs to prove she’s the legal wife — and she has no proof. The marriage took place in a temple, and there’s not even a photograph to prove it happened. So she goes to the government official, because she wants some kind of marriage certificate. The government official asks for the relevant documents. When she says she has none, my mind — conditioned by years of Tamil-cinema training — conjured up what would come next. The man’s going to ask for a bribe. Or worse, he’s going to ask for her. But he simply shrugs and turns her away. What he says makes sense. What if another woman turned up another day and claimed that she was the wife?
Read the rest of this article at the link above.
Copyright ©2020 Film Companion.
Baradwaj Rangan 
Sundar Gopalakrishnan
October 2, 2020
I couldn’t read your post BR. When I clicked the Film Companion link, it shows the message “403 Forbidden”. Why this happens?
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brangan
October 2, 2020
The link works for me…
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Sundar Gopalakrishnan
October 2, 2020
I tried again. It still shows the same message “403 Forbidden”. Anyway, thanks for your quick reply.
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Yajiv
October 2, 2020
The link works for me, Sundar. Maybe try clearing your browser cookies?
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Enna koduka sir pera
October 2, 2020
I haven’t watched this movie yet, but thanks for these lines BR!
“Aishwarya may feel short-changed by an industry that keeps running after fair-skinned women (she gamely takes a “colour kammi” line, here), but she’s one of the very few heroines doing work that will be remembered.”
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Sundar Gopalakrishnan
October 3, 2020
@Yajiv I don’t know how to clear my browser cookies. Could you please tell me how to do it.
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Odiyan Hater
October 3, 2020
@Sundar Depends on what browser you are using sir. Please tell me what browser you are using and I shall tell you how to clear cookies.
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Siva
October 3, 2020
BR:
Please resume providing direct links to the full review in FC as the first line of your blog posts. Providing the link in the third paragraph makes it not appear in the email notifications. We are having to come here, only to be rerouted to FC again. I mean, we can always come back here if we want to comment 🙂
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brangan
October 3, 2020
Made the change, Siva. Is this what you asked for?
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Siva
October 3, 2020
” Made the change, Siva. Is this what you asked for? ”
Yep! Thank you 🙂
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Sundar Gopalakrishnan
October 3, 2020
I am using Firefox Mozilla browser. Please help me.
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Odiyan Hater
October 4, 2020
@Sundar: Sir, click on the ‘button which has 3 horizontal lines’ positioned right beneath the close button of your browser. Then select ‘options’ from the drop down. Now, go to ‘Privacy & Security’ on the left hand side. Here, you’ll find a ‘Cookies and site data’ section underneath which there’ll be a Clear Data button. Once you cilck on it and clear the data on your browser, close all tabs and open the browser again and check whether you’re able to access the website.
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brangan
October 4, 2020
So the film seems to have “grossed” Rs.1.4 crore on Day 1.
This may be the first significant data point of the OTT era — though we probably don’t know how to interpret it yet.
https://www.letsott.com/with-70000-views-in-a-single-day-ka-pae-ranasingam-sets-a-record-for-zeeplex
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Aman Basha
October 4, 2020
“Aishwarya may feel short-changed by an industry that keeps running after fair-skinned women (she gamely takes a “colour kammi” line, here), but she’s one of the very few heroines doing work that will be remembered.”
Am I the only one who finds her face full of life and having a zest or spark that would be wonderful to watch in a fun romcom? I got this total Julia Roberts vibe from her Ted Talk but she’s got a hell of a childlike innocent smile and she looks very pretty too. Always found dusky way more appealing than bland maida atta, white cement expressionless faces.
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Siva
October 4, 2020
Aman Basha: ” Am I the only one ”
Nope. I’m game too 🙂
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Aman Basha
October 4, 2020
@brangan sir: I think that figure is extraordinary, firstly Behindwoods gave that Kanaa made approximately 49 lakhs in its first 3 days from Chennai and that was easily a bigger and more crowd pleasing film than this one. So, it clearly means that Aishwarya has gained far more popularity in the meanwhile. What’s left to wonder is how the final gross will be or if it will have legs despite easily available online copies. Either way, the greater achievement is that this is the only film released non theatrical which has given any figures at all. Especially pertinent is the fact that not only this one but a much bigger Khaali Peeli released the same way and we have no information about it at all. If my assumption that the latter underperformed heavily is correct, the language barrier is smashed to a pulp courtesy OTT. Anyhow, all good news.
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Sundar Gopalakrishnan
October 4, 2020
Thanks for the information @Odiyan Hater
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hari
October 5, 2020
Is this movie getting screened in Zee5 for subscribers? or does one need to pay extra for this movie? Not entirely clear.
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Siva
October 6, 2020
hari:
I have Zee5 Premium subscription. The movie isn’t accessible for me. It is PPV. It costs Rs.199. I am not sure if non Premium users could access it for the same price, though.
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hari
October 6, 2020
Thanks Siva, yes even I have a zee5 premium subscription, but was not able to view the movie. zee5 interface in firestick sucks.
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Srinivas R
October 6, 2020
It is available in Tata Sky,haven’t tried it yet though…
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sorenkierky
October 6, 2020
Surprisingly good watch, had many great little touches and even the parts where the film falters a bit, it manages to still hold your interest. This film could really have gone south real quick, but Virumaandi really nailed it I’d say. Raju Murugan et al should take cue.
I heard Aishwarya say that Vijay’s role got more meat post him joining – and usually that’d have worked against the film, as the film belongs to Aishwarya, but worked very well here. VS’s role really adds to the quite harrowing climax.
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Guru
October 10, 2020
I wanted to avoid this movie after watching the trailer, thought it will be another Samudrakani, Murugadoss kind of message movie where the hero/heroine fight against corporates or for saving farmers. However, watched it after BR’s review, and quite liked it, for presenting it differently. I still had some curious questions …
Any reason the body should be claimed only by the spouse ? If they don’t have a marriage certificate, why not the father or mother or sister claim it ?
There are many Tamil movies in which there is usually one cunning character (either a govt worker or a lawyer or equivalent) who is typecast by his caste including here. Why are filmmakers so angry with this particular caste ?
I disagree with Vijay Sethupathi role getting more meat worked for the movie. It unnecessarily dragged the movie to almost 3 hours. They could have saved 2 fight scenes and at least 20 minutes of romance and focused only on the second half. However, Vijay Sethupathi does bring bring business to the movie.
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Raj
October 11, 2020
Ok does anyone have any sources/anecdotes on the true story behind this? I couldn’t find anything and really really want to know how much of the movie actually happened.
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Guru
October 11, 2020
@Raj, I was wondering about the same. It’s probably way too exaggerated to say the PM waiting till Ranasingam’s body is dispatched. Looks like director took some cinematic liberties for the sake of the movie, to show these things. Otherwise, a lady breaking the barricade to stop the MP’s convoy, and then blackmailing PM (no less) to commit suicide with a child, will not be taken so lightly.
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Karthik
October 23, 2020
I wrote about the political subtext in this movie. Its on Film Companion as a Reader’s write (thanks, BR and Team FC):
https://www.filmcompanion.in/features/tamil-features/tamil-movies-ka-pae-ranasingam-aishwarya-rajesh-vijay-sethupathi-the-political-undercurrents-that-flow-in-the-movie
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