Nadodigal

The problem in seeing a movie after some considerable time since its release is that I end up reading reviews that are both favorable and unfavorable which affects my perception subconsciously. Initially, I had some friends tell me that this is a good movie and then I read reviews which said the movie had nothing new to offer.

The movie is directed by Samuthrakani (who is the director of mega serials such as Selvi and Arasi). Sasikumar plays the key character in the movie. It is worth noting that previously Samutharakani acted in Sasikumar's Subramaniyapuram. The movie unfolds at a village near Rajapalayam. Sasikumar plays the role of Karunakaran who is a BA (History) gold medallist. Not surprisingly, that doesn't fetch him any job and his father makes sure that he criticizes Karunakaran for that. Karuna has two friends Chandran and Pandian. Karuna is in love with his uncle's daughter whose father is adamant that he will give his daughter to him only if he has a Government job ala Mudhalvan. So Karunakaran tries his best to become a policeman, write IAS exams etc. Chandran has dreams of opening a computer center and settle in life. He is in love with Karunakaran's sister. (I should mention here that this girl is played by Abhinaya who is deaf and dumb. It is really incredible that you cannot notice it in the movie at all) Pandian wants to go abroad and get a job. Things go at their own pace till an old friend of Karunakaran, Saravanan, comes to their village. Saravanan is in love with a girl in Namakkal. Her dad (who is a big shot) disapproves of it and he comes to see Karunakaran for an unapparent reason. When Karunakaran comes to know of his depression (after Saravanan attempted suicide) he decides to kidnap the girl and marry them. His friends Chandran and Pandian accompany him to Namakkal. When they try to kidnap the girl things go horribly wrong as the henchmen of the girl's father (whose character is incidentally played by the guy who was the school teacher inPasanga) chase and attack them. While running away from them Chandran accidentally gets run over by a truck and loses his left leg. A rowdy strikes Pandian on his left side of the head with a steel pole and as a result Pandian loses his hearing. Karuna sustains a gash on his right forehead. Somehow they successfully get Saravanan and his lover married. Karuna gives Saravanan money to elope and also arranges for them to be with another friend of his who works at a resort. The girl's father files police complaints and the police arrest Karuna and his friends. With a criminal history to his name, Karuna's hopes of landing a Govt. job is dashed. Pandian and Chandran, who lose their hearing and a left leg respectively, are forlorn too. The rest of the movie is about how they stick together and slowly limp back to life coping with the dissapointments of lost love and dreams.

Meanwhile, the married couple lose that initial fascination they had for each other and slowly arguments start creeping into their lives. Lacking a conviction to keep their marriage going and sparing no thoughts for the personal sacrifices of their friends, they decide to get divorced. This irks Karuna and his friends a lot. They feel cheated and are furious at having given their lives and futures away in vain. Pandian wants to kill the couple but Karuna talks some sense into his head. Eventually they just vent out their frustrations by kidnapping the couple to an isolated spot. Karuna and Pandian vent out their frustrations verbally at the couple and leave them alone in each other's company. The movie ends with a scene where the trio are at a tea shop when some stranger is talking on the phone about arranging for some people to help his friend with his love. Karuna and his friends brighten up and offer to help the stranger's friend.

The movie waxes praises on the virtues of friendship and how a friend is someone who is there for you when you need him the most. The message is conveyed at various points of the movie. Some times it comes across effectively and some times it feels highly contrived. Towards the end love is also praised by the director and it is not clear if the director was trying to say friendship is the only purest form of relationship or love is equal to that because the trio are ready to help strangers with their love even after suffering so much. There are several references made to current day scenarios of divorce cases queing up in court and how such things should be and could be avoided.

The first half hour of the movie is frivolous and the acting of the cast are even more so. Their facial expressions seemed highly artificial with a narrow range of emotions. Sasikumar, definitely, does not have his best moments of the movie in the humorous scenes. But once the kidnapping scene begins the movie moves faster and for some unknown reason all the cast members seem to slip easily into role of their characters with a loud click and the movie makes a rivetting view till the end.

I would say it is one more to the list of good movies that Tamil cinema has churned out in the last two years. Irrespective of his suspect credentials, Samudharakani has given a good movie with a smooth screenplay and direction.