Nov 07, 2003 01:06 PM
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(Updated Nov 08, 2003 06:59 AM)
“I’ve got a peculiar weakness for criminals and artists –neither takes life as it is .Any tragic story has to be in conflict with things as they are “
Stanley Kubrick
Kubrick once commented that a film has to be a progression of moods and feelings. The theme of the film, the meaning should come later. If there is no conflict in the film, the film might be boring. Film makers find criminals, artists and eccentric people as good subjects for their film because their life would be filled with challenges, surprises and abnormal tendencies which would be interesting to film.
No one is a born criminal or a psycho. It is the circumstances that make even a normal guy do crazy things. Vinod (Dhanush) is no exception to this unwritten rule. He was brought up in an orphanage by Father Rozario(Nagesh)..Even though he is a genius and very good in studies, he refuses to go to college because he is very comfortable in the orphanage. But ,he is forced to study in an engineering college in Madras .He is suddenly exposed to the big bad world which he had wanted to avoid. He refuses to mingle with the students in his class because of his extremely shy nature .Divya(Sonia Agrawal) recognizes his intelligence and starts to interact with him in order to get her doubts clarified.Soon,they become close friends. He mistakes friendship for love and falls in love with her. When Div-ya confesses to Vinod that she is in love with Aadhi (Sudeep), he realizes that he should have expressed his love to her much before and that it is too late now.. He acts as a messenger between Div-ya and Aadhi reluctantly. Div-ya’s father (Srikkanth) is against this love and threatens Aadhi to forget her. Vinod suggests to them that they should elope .They agree to this idea .
The next day,Vinod takes Divyaa to a far-off place in the pretext that Aadhi would be coming soon to where they are. He treats her like a queen and tries to impress her .Div-ya comes to know of his childhood days which has been very traumatic. She consoles him and tries to cheer him up. By then, the police tracks down where they are with the help of Aadhi and takes control of the situation .Sonia refuses to believe that she has been kidnapped by Vinod.The film ends on a tragic note after a series of unexpected incidents. The character of Vinod is very complex. He is an eccentric genius. He is sometimes, very cold blooded and doesn’t hesitate to kill people if they stand on his way. His obsessive nature is because he had craved for attention all along. When Div-ya showed him the much need attention, he didn’t want to lose it at any cost. He wanted her to be with him always. That is when his psychotic tendencies come to surface. Dhanush has done an excellent job .It is difficult to believe that he is just two films old. Though he doesn’t have the looks of a typical hero, he compensates it by his acting skills.
The other guy,Sudhip shows promise .But the real hero of this film is the director,Selvaraghavan . He has brought out the best from the actors even though most of them are new faces. In the first few scenes, the film does have shades of Thulluvadho Ilamai (TI) ,his controversial first film ..The latter half of the film resembles Guna , a Kamal film which had a similar subject (hero obsessed with the heroine) .
The flashback scenes which showed the childhood days of Vinod are very hard-hitting. It focuses on how young children who work in factories are abused and taken advantage of . It could have been more subtle though.Probably,the director wanted it to create an impact on us so that we could understand the abnormal behavior of Vinod. I would have given this film five stars if only he had avoided the scenes which resembled TI ,which I felt was totally out of place in a film like this.Also,these scenes had some vulgar dialogues and visuals which spoilt the mood of the film. The background music by Yuvan Shankar Raja enhances the mood of the film .All the songs in this film are good and has been picturized well .
Check it out if you haven’t seen this movie. A must-see for all the Tamil movie fans!
