I'm attempting to write a very brief review on a recent Thamizh movie that I happened to see. It's going to be about "Pirivoam Santhippoam".
Before I saw the movie, the title of the movie had suggested to me that this was going to be some mushy-mushy story about 2 lovers ---- meeting once in a while, and then being put to situations that would keep them geographically away every now and then, and then getting relief from situations that would facilitate them to have some interspersed meetings, and then finally ending up tying the nuptial knot. It was good to discover that this movie was indeed different from so many of its predecessors that would satisfy the above description I've provided. How many more movies of the same kind could we take?! Luckily, this movie does provide a much needed break. :)
It's about an arranged marriage ---- involving a guy, who's just started working, and a girl, who's just getting done with college. The girl's parents and the guy's relatives are the ones who do the initial talking. The guy's family is a huge joint family. The guy's parents are no more, but the home always buzzes with activity and people. The girl is the only child to her parents and their home is always filled with her friends - combined studies, movies and TV during the night and all those non-stop talks.... :)
Cheran fits the role pretty well. This is indeed actor Cheran's best. There are not many scenes which expose the loopholes in Cheran's acting. (Cheran is, of course, a great director. He establishes a separate kingdom for himself with "Thavamaai Thavamirundhu".) Sneha is homely and appealing. She too delivers one of her best performances.
So, before we go into further details...., wouldn't we want to know what exactly the title suggests or signifies? The title talks about the couple having to go away from the joint family, due to Cheran's employment circumstances and then their coming back to live with the joint family.
Unlike all other joint family movies, there are no negative emotions that run here. The biggest highlight of this movie is that there is not a single character who intends harm to any other character. Everyone is good. It's just happiness and nothing else. Hence, this movie, certainly, is a feel-good movie. The normal course is altered only by situations and not by people. It's nice to not see any of those exaggerated characters you get to see in movies and more prominently in television soaps these days. You feel like you'd also want to be a member of either the girl's family or her circle of friends or of the guy's joint family. No one is shown as a bad person just to project some one else as a good person or as a "too good to be true" person.
All the artists have fit their corresponding characters very well. Oustanding examples of the many good performances in this movie's supporting cast are those by M. S. Bhaskar, a member of Cheran's joint family, and by Jayaram (surprised?) who appears in the setting when the couple move away from the joint family when Cheran gets a transfer. Jayaram plays a doctor and does it extra-ordinarily well to go along with what the movie and the director demand. More talk about his above-average acting skills is really not required since he's already been seen to have delivered a performance on par with the one delivered by Kamal Haasan in "Tenali". M. S. Bhaskar, after his portrayals of "Annaachchi" in "Azhagiya Theeyae" and "Professor Sir" in "Mozhi", does it again in this movie. Brilliant! All of these are portrayals of characters who seem so close to real life, and they're all very touching and brilliant portrayals. :)
After marriage, Sneha gets very quickly adapted to the settings in Cheran's joint family. Everyone likes her and she likes everyone. Soon, Cheran and Sneha have to go to a hill station, quite a distance away from their home, due to Cheran's transfer. Sneha is very reluctant to go, but they have to go.
The rest of the movie talks about all the loneliness and solitude that Sneha is subjected to, in her new home, when Cheran is away at work. Vinodhini makes a come-back. She's one of Sneha's neighbours in the hill station place. Jayaram, the doctor here, keeps helping around all the people in the neighbourhood. Sneha is so bored that she has to invite people home, making functioning equipment malfunction on purpose, just to have a chance to have some conversations with human beings.
"Ganja" Karuppu (courtesy: Pithaamagan) plays an electrician. Though he appears for just 3 to 4 scenes, he provides what he's brought for. The main highlight from among the Ganja Karuppu scenes is the one where he says his complexion is not "black" and that it is "chocolate brown". :)
Sneha's loneliness makes her insomniac. Apart from inviting people like electricians by making things malfunction on purpose, she records different sounds during the course of the entire day and keeps listening to them back to back. I wonder why the director did not think of giving her a computer with an internet connection. :) (You may probably be wondering as to whether there's a TV which you may suggest that Sneha may have wanted to watch. Yes, there's a TV, but it does not have anything interesting to offer Sneha after the first few days.)
So, finally, when it comes to a point where Sneha is subdued because of all this loneliness, and Jayaram, being a doctor, observes this and explains this to Cheran, Cheran has to make the move to get back to his home town again. The film ends with a scene showing all the members in Cheran's joint family welcoming the couple back home again, using an Aarti - the traditional Thamizh method of providing a welcome.
Almost all the songs in the movie are pleasant ones. Vidyasagar stands out with his background scores too. Karu Pazhaniyappan, the director, deserves a lot of credit for the hassle free narration. It is certainly a good piece of work that he has put forward and he has moved several strides ahead ---- after "Parthiban Kanavu". He needs to be applauded not only for his narration, but also for the character sketches.
Like I have already mentioned, this one is surely a feel-good movie. It deserves to be seen atleast once. I may want to see it a second time too. And, I'm not a person who really goes by numbers. So, I will not be rating this movie on 5 or on 10 or on 100 or based on its box office collections. "Hey Ram", the best Thamizh movie, according to me, is supposed to have made one of the poorest box office collections. So, would you still say that numbers do matter?! ;)
Sunday, March 2, 2008
Just Getting Back from a Game of Tennis....
I'm just getting back from a game of tennis.... It feels nice to have the sun shining on your face once again.... The warmth is special. The sun's caress feels like the touch of a baby's hand on your face....
It's nice to have been able to break out of the last 4 or 5 months of literal house arrest, imposed by the unforgiving climate.... I'm reminded of a scene from the well crafted movie "Bharathi" ---- a scene where Subramanya Bharathi comes home with a cart full of books, unpacks the sacks, picks out a book and reads P. B. Shelly's lines ---- "If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?", keeping himself totally out of his immediate physical surroundings and getting drowned in that piece by Shelly.... :) Oh! Subramanya Bharathi! What an admirer and what a creator!!!!
It was a good game of tennis - an engrossing singles 3-setter. It feels nice to be able to get the limbs to move again. It feels like you want to put into use all the theoretical observations you've made when you've followed all the French Open and Wimbledon tournaments during those good old summer holidays. One player, who all of a sudden seems to dominate the thoughts, is Jana Novotna ---- becuase of the beautiful serve and volley game that she used to put out there for everyone to see....
The good old days of badminton are always cherished.... The few days of tennis I've had so far in my life have been equally close to heart. These racquet games - badminton, tennis and table tennis - the only 3 of this category that I've tried - are pretty cool.
It's always a very special feeling to discover that you're picking up a new game decently well. It's like the feeling you get when you start floating in 6 feet or more of water on the 5th. or the 6th. day of your swimming classes.... You feel in such great harmony with the world. Some feelings are incomparable. They're like the nap that you go into when you put your head to rest on your grandmother's lap or on your mom's lap.
Every game has got a lot to teach. Each time you play the same game one more time, you learn something new, not only about that particular game, but about life in general. Each time you take to a new game, learn it and get used to it, you learn something - once again, towards life in general. You get a feeling similar to what Vasco Da Gama would have experienced when he first saw the Indian sub-continent.
This post is to celebrate the joy of having the opportunity to try my hands at a lovely game like tennis and for the spirit of sports in general.
I remember the following lines from an e-mail forward that I came across a couple of years ago. "How a man plays a game shows some of his character. How he loses it shows all of it."
It's nice to have been able to break out of the last 4 or 5 months of literal house arrest, imposed by the unforgiving climate.... I'm reminded of a scene from the well crafted movie "Bharathi" ---- a scene where Subramanya Bharathi comes home with a cart full of books, unpacks the sacks, picks out a book and reads P. B. Shelly's lines ---- "If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?", keeping himself totally out of his immediate physical surroundings and getting drowned in that piece by Shelly.... :) Oh! Subramanya Bharathi! What an admirer and what a creator!!!!
It was a good game of tennis - an engrossing singles 3-setter. It feels nice to be able to get the limbs to move again. It feels like you want to put into use all the theoretical observations you've made when you've followed all the French Open and Wimbledon tournaments during those good old summer holidays. One player, who all of a sudden seems to dominate the thoughts, is Jana Novotna ---- becuase of the beautiful serve and volley game that she used to put out there for everyone to see....
The good old days of badminton are always cherished.... The few days of tennis I've had so far in my life have been equally close to heart. These racquet games - badminton, tennis and table tennis - the only 3 of this category that I've tried - are pretty cool.
It's always a very special feeling to discover that you're picking up a new game decently well. It's like the feeling you get when you start floating in 6 feet or more of water on the 5th. or the 6th. day of your swimming classes.... You feel in such great harmony with the world. Some feelings are incomparable. They're like the nap that you go into when you put your head to rest on your grandmother's lap or on your mom's lap.
Every game has got a lot to teach. Each time you play the same game one more time, you learn something new, not only about that particular game, but about life in general. Each time you take to a new game, learn it and get used to it, you learn something - once again, towards life in general. You get a feeling similar to what Vasco Da Gama would have experienced when he first saw the Indian sub-continent.
This post is to celebrate the joy of having the opportunity to try my hands at a lovely game like tennis and for the spirit of sports in general.
I remember the following lines from an e-mail forward that I came across a couple of years ago. "How a man plays a game shows some of his character. How he loses it shows all of it."
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