Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Review of 'Naan Kadavul' - Tamil Movie

Here is the review of latest movie by Bala - Naan Kadavul. Bala is a well established director in Tamil film industry, he has done only two films so far and he has won more hearts plus awards. The first was Sethu which won National Award for Best Feature film in that year and the next was Pithamagan for which the lead character Vikram got National Award for best actor.

His third film Naan Kadavul is in the making for 3 years now. The film got into delays right from the start which included selection of lead actors opting to drop out and lead actress was asked to leave. All sorts of things was happening for this film and when everything was settled one year was over. The film ran into trouble again when the film was completed. This time it was between the director and producer over film cost. Finally, everything was settled in Dec'08 and film was released last 6 Feb'09.

So, after 3 years you get to watch the much awaited movie. What do you get? I can say it is NOT the best movie of 2008 (since it was censored in 2008) and from Bala you expect more, I mean MORE. The movie is good, no doubt about it but could have been better.

The protoganist in this movie is who claims himself 'I am God' a literal meaning of title Naan Kadavul. I guess there are lot of 'sadhus' in Kaasi in North India where they claim themsleves as God. They are called 'aghori sadhus' and Rajinikanth has also written in his appreciation letter to Bala that he has met many aghori sadhus. The story does not revolve around him but a group of disabled persons who are asked to beg in front of a temple. The beggars money goes to one of the leader (the villian) in that sorrounding area. The villian is merciless creature (as always!) who will make people handicap so that they earn more!

I need to mention that Pooja - the lead actress has done an excellent job as blind beggar who can sing well. She is outstanding and brilliant, I am short of words. I hope she will go places after the success of this movie. She has given a mind blowing performance! She is forced to join this beggar group. The movie goes on fine with some hilarious moments and the dialogues, delivery of dialogues makes you clap with full heart. The music is outstanding as always from Ilayaraaja.

Arya, the lead character has given fine performance and I would say he has transformed into aghori sadhu. The voice modulation has worked effectively and people around him watch him like he is a maniac or is god. We have the same feeling watching in the theater, such is the power of screenplay from Bala. Finally a day comes when this god comes face to face with the villians. The intensity of the fight sequence hits you hard. You feel that they deserve it and feel that the protogonist is actually God. The supreme power, the intensity with which he hits out at the villians is powerful. I am not going to reveal the climax here but it has equal depth as that of the whole movie. You will find the answer for 'Who is God?' in the climax.

Now, the only weak link in the movie is Arya's state. How did he become Aghori Sadhu? In the last two films all the characters have purpose and we know the characters well. In Naan Kadavul the characters come as is condition. There is no background and do not know why they act like they should.

My rating for this movie is 3 stars out of 5.

Rating Details:
***** - Classic & Outstanding.
**** - Must Watch. Don't Miss!
*** - Good Movie. Watch it.
** - Watch it only if you really want to.
* - Not worth your money.