Was searching the net if there was a Fathers day celebrated around the world. Fortunately, there was. But not sure if Mouthshut, would celebrate that day. So thought of posting this movie review along with Mother’s day celebrations
Not many have dared to touch this subject to this date. There have been movies in past that shows a person as a great family man and his sacrifices to the family. But they do not stress on the role of a person as a father. This is one movie that portrays the struggles and sacrifices of a father. Cheran has to be applauded for this tremendous effort.
Raj Kiran is the hero of the movie, if not on books, he is the actual hero for his performance. He plays the father of 2 sons, one being Cheran (the actor, director, hero). Raj Kiran owns a small printing press in the town near his small village. He struggles day and night, to make his sons educated. The boys grow up and they go to college. Cheran’s brother is the spoilt brat, while Cheran is less spoilt, but shows more love to his parents than his brother. Cheran falls in love with a girl and makes her pregnant. This prompts him to leave the house inspite of his love for his parents. He struggles along with his lover (whom he marries). How Raj Kiran, the father, shows love and support through all this tough stages of the boys’ life is the movie’s storyline.
Looks like a simple and straightforward story. But the way Cheran has handled the theme is not short of brilliance. Every movie of his has a social message; through this movie he leaves a strong message for the youth to make them understand the struggles of their parents. This could have been another sentiment movie, except for display in intensity of the relationship between a son and his father.
Every scene in the movie is so realistic. The rustic life is captured with so much of reality. The mother ( saranya ) is uneducated and shows lots of love, but since she does not have exposure to the outside world, she is not able to contribute much to the situations that happen around her. This is exactly the way it is in most of the rural homes and it is neatly addressed in the movie. One of the drawbacks of this movie is that it does not give attention to details. For instance, shirts and pants did not cost around 500 in the early 80’s. But this is the rate the street-shop seller tells Raj Kiran, when he goes to buy them for their sons. Displaying the flashback in color and the rest in Black and white was a refreshing change and was creative.
Raj Kiran stands out from the rest for his acting. The way he has portrayed joy, disappointment, hurt feeling, as a father is adorable. His acting particularly when he comes to know one of his sons had slept with a prostitute is the best of all. Saranya as the ignorant yet stubborn mother does brilliantly. Cheran does wonderful direction, but could put some effort into his acting. He over acts in some scenes, but Raj kiran would sweep away with all the drawbacks of this movie, with his stunning performance. Hope he gets an award for this movie.
People say this is a slow movie. If a movie teaches to love your father in less than 3 hours, is the movie not fast?