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| AVAL
PEYAR TAMILARASI MOVIE REVIEW |
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| Review
by : Behindwoods review board |
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Starring:
: Jai, Nandhagi.
Direction:
Meera Kathiravan
Music:
Vijay Antony
Production:
Moser Baer Entertainment, Blue Ocean Entertainment. |
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Director
Meera Kathiravan apprenticed with one
of the finest writers of our times, the
late Lohithadas. For the same reason,
the Lohithadas stamps are palpable all
over Aval Peyar Tamilarasi (APT henceforth)
– a tale of love and redemption
set in the rural backdrop of Tirunelveli,
between a vagrant girl and an affluent
guy. Not that we have a dearth of love
stories, the treatment of the story stands
apart and the mellifluous narration deserves
a special mention.
The poetically shot APT unfolds leisurely,
at the pace of a slow moving train and
you often tend to feel like an unaccompanied
passenger in a mid-afternoon train. The
feeling is instantly recognizable towards
the end of the movie before which the
movie has more or less opened out itself
making it easy for you to deduce the finale.
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The vagabond singers belonging to the Tholpavai Koothu
community visit a village, Kottara Mangalam, in Tirunelveli
district. There is a little girl in the group who
befriends the wealthy grandchild of the village headman.
After their performance, when it’s time for
the singing faction to leave, the wealthy grandchild
coaxes his granddad to make them stay back. His wish
is granted and the family is put up in a house and
the girl sent to school. Their (Jai and Nandagi) friendship
develops and when they reach their school final years,
they are already in love.
Nandagi passes out with good grades while Jai flunks
the exams. Incited by his friends’ debauched
advices, Jai feels insecure and takes the extreme
step. He rapes Nandagi and sets off a series of life-changing
incidents. As a result, Nandagi’s mother dies
and she is sent to another vagrant family in Maharashtra,
now that she cannot continue her studies. Soon enough,
Jai repents and embarks on a trip to trace her whereabouts.
The multifaceted Jai shows that he is in the process
of grooming himself to become a well-rounded actor.
Be it in expressing his warmth and love for Nandagi,
his unrelenting anger that is also misguided or his
penance and the quest that will probably culminate
with his love of life, Jai shows us that he can bring
in complex emotions on his face at the drop of a hat.
Nandagi is a revelation and her physicality supports
the character enormously.
On the flipside, the movie is densely packed with
dialogues and the lack of activity tends to slacken
the pace resulting in bringing an art-house feel,
which is not a bad thing, if the cause of the protagonist’s
quest was anything greater than seeking repentance
for his offense – brought on him during one
of his weaker moments. It happens because we stop
caring for him, which again is the strength of the
character, the way it’s etched out. Nevertheless,
a little more editing could have helped curb the movie’s
insipid portions.
Vijay Antony’s background score gets full marks
and the Otha Vaartha Sollu number is soulful. P.G.
Muthaiah’s camera brings the Tirunelveli region
to life and the movie’s feel is greatly enhanced,
thanks to the brilliant cinematography.
After scoring with this one, Meera Kathiravan might
want to consider a lighter subject in his next venture
– and right his vision about women ending up
losing their dignity and ending up in brothel-like
places (albeit for a shorter period in this one) after
they are raped.
Verdict:
Full on tearjerker – try if you like serious
movies!
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