Movie: Naan Kadavul
Language: Tamil
Rating: U/A
Cast: Arya, Pooja
Direction: BALA
You might or might not be thinking the same when you walk out of the movie hall. This is my opinion and you may choose to disagree. And this might.... this does contain spoilers!!
The movie begins with a brilliant video footage of Varnasi. A brilliant footage. All the places and the essence of Varnasi were captured brilliantly. A very well shaped Yoga posture and Arya is introduced. A song in the background brings out the Aghori lifestyle Arya is used to.
A little drama here and there and a long lost father convinces his Aghori guru with the help of a local pujari to send Arya(Rudran) with him. The Guru tells Arya to get rid of all his ties and that he will know when it is time to come back. However, it leaves the viewers puzzled as to how the Father identifies Arya to be his son after 14 years of no contact. A missing link I wud say. They bring Arya back to a small town in South Tamilnadu to show him to his Mother.
An Aghori Arya has no ties to his mother or anyone and goes to live near a temple in the town. As all this happens. There is an introduction and build up of characters. An underground lair as we can call it, houses several physically handicapped and deformed people. This is a place where the 'Bad' man houses his Urupudis as they are addressed in the movie. The Bad guy makes these folks beg in various places and thrives on this earning. In this group he has a man named Muruga who takes care of a particular set of beggars who beg in a temple. Now comes the connection. This is the temple where Arya now lives all the time and does his weird routines. One of which involves smoking Ganja(Bhang/ Marijuana).
Muruga sees Pooja singing in a train someday. She begs for a living with a group of people. She is blind. She has done justice to the role for sure. She has a voice of a nightingale and Muruga sees the opportunity of earning much more with her in his group of beggars. He 'acquires' Pooja with the help of the local police and takes her to the underground lair of beggars. Muruga at some level has developed an emotional connection with his group of beggars and takes as much care as possible.
A Malayali, Nair....another bad man comes to the underground lair for buying out some 'urupudis' and takes away a lot of small kids from Muruga's group. Muruga is broken now. But, he still does it for the money. And then life goes on and people realize there is something weird about Arya. The next time round the Nair comes to the underground lair with a very rich but very very ugly customer who wants a a 'fine' woman who cant see his ugly face but satisfy his lustful desires. No points for guessing. They want Pooja. Muruga sees this and gets a heads-up and asks Pooja to go find some help.
Pooja goes to Arya and holds on to a sleeping Arya's leg. The bad guys try to pull her away and in the process disturb Arya. Arya beats the hell out of them and thrashes Nair like crazy and drags him into the dense woods. What happens to him, no one knows. Police arrest Arya and keep asking him questions to which he replies "Aham Brahmasmi". He proclaims himself God and that he gave Nair what he deserved.
He is produced in court without evidence and judge dismisses the case and postpones the hearing to 5 days later. The corrupt policemen tell the bad guy about Arya in the mean while and 5 days later Arya is acquitted as there is no evidence. While all this happens, Pooja is captured by the bad guy and is tortured like crazy.
Arya is shown in his 'Sirasasana' with a gash in his forehead bleeding and drops of blood wetting the steps of the temple. The bad guy waits to lay his hands on Arya and so he does. Again no points for guessing, Arya beats the bad man to death. Pooja comes to Arya when he is in the pose and rants about why she is tortured like this and that she cant take this anymore. Trust me, all fans of Pooja are going to be crying their hearts out to see the babe in that shape. She has a face that is swollen very badly and has various cuts on one side and hair pulled out of various places. A brilliant job on the make-up and to keep the emotion going, great job Pooja. Arya, sets her free from this world. He slits her throat and kills her. He sets her body ablaze and walks out of the little cave like place. He is shown taking a dip in the Ganges all of a sudden. He comes out of the water and walks towards his Aghori guru Kasi. Ends A film by Bala.
Moral of the story: "For people who can't take this life anymore, death is a boon!!"
A very short movie, a very loose plot. There is nothing that you can call a story in this movie. The amount of realism as shown in the movie grosses out many. I liked the realism though. At interval, all the characters in the movie were introduced and that is all. The word Interval at this point in the movie, a wild shock!!!! I expected more details with respect to the Aghori aspect of his life. And what Arya does to Nair and the Bad man.... no idea. How does Arya's father get to know Arya is his son, after about 14 years of no knowledge? Lots of missing links in the plot. May be some important scenes were taken off at CBFC India. Definitely, appreciate the guts of Bala to do a subject like this. But, has he stuck to the subject?? I dont really think so. In my view, the film lacked details where it was necessary to outline a story. I will give it a 2.5/5 . More was expected from Bala.
P.S: I am almost sure there is atleast about 40 minutes that was cut-off due to censorship problems. These 40 minutes would have made the vital difference. If someone knows of the facts of the amount that was cut-off due due to censorship problems, please highlight it.
Language: Tamil
Rating: U/A
Cast: Arya, Pooja
Direction: BALA
You might or might not be thinking the same when you walk out of the movie hall. This is my opinion and you may choose to disagree. And this might.... this does contain spoilers!!
The movie begins with a brilliant video footage of Varnasi. A brilliant footage. All the places and the essence of Varnasi were captured brilliantly. A very well shaped Yoga posture and Arya is introduced. A song in the background brings out the Aghori lifestyle Arya is used to.
A little drama here and there and a long lost father convinces his Aghori guru with the help of a local pujari to send Arya(Rudran) with him. The Guru tells Arya to get rid of all his ties and that he will know when it is time to come back. However, it leaves the viewers puzzled as to how the Father identifies Arya to be his son after 14 years of no contact. A missing link I wud say. They bring Arya back to a small town in South Tamilnadu to show him to his Mother.
An Aghori Arya has no ties to his mother or anyone and goes to live near a temple in the town. As all this happens. There is an introduction and build up of characters. An underground lair as we can call it, houses several physically handicapped and deformed people. This is a place where the 'Bad' man houses his Urupudis as they are addressed in the movie. The Bad guy makes these folks beg in various places and thrives on this earning. In this group he has a man named Muruga who takes care of a particular set of beggars who beg in a temple. Now comes the connection. This is the temple where Arya now lives all the time and does his weird routines. One of which involves smoking Ganja(Bhang/ Marijuana).
Muruga sees Pooja singing in a train someday. She begs for a living with a group of people. She is blind. She has done justice to the role for sure. She has a voice of a nightingale and Muruga sees the opportunity of earning much more with her in his group of beggars. He 'acquires' Pooja with the help of the local police and takes her to the underground lair of beggars. Muruga at some level has developed an emotional connection with his group of beggars and takes as much care as possible.
A Malayali, Nair....another bad man comes to the underground lair for buying out some 'urupudis' and takes away a lot of small kids from Muruga's group. Muruga is broken now. But, he still does it for the money. And then life goes on and people realize there is something weird about Arya. The next time round the Nair comes to the underground lair with a very rich but very very ugly customer who wants a a 'fine' woman who cant see his ugly face but satisfy his lustful desires. No points for guessing. They want Pooja. Muruga sees this and gets a heads-up and asks Pooja to go find some help.
Pooja goes to Arya and holds on to a sleeping Arya's leg. The bad guys try to pull her away and in the process disturb Arya. Arya beats the hell out of them and thrashes Nair like crazy and drags him into the dense woods. What happens to him, no one knows. Police arrest Arya and keep asking him questions to which he replies "Aham Brahmasmi". He proclaims himself God and that he gave Nair what he deserved.
He is produced in court without evidence and judge dismisses the case and postpones the hearing to 5 days later. The corrupt policemen tell the bad guy about Arya in the mean while and 5 days later Arya is acquitted as there is no evidence. While all this happens, Pooja is captured by the bad guy and is tortured like crazy.
Arya is shown in his 'Sirasasana' with a gash in his forehead bleeding and drops of blood wetting the steps of the temple. The bad guy waits to lay his hands on Arya and so he does. Again no points for guessing, Arya beats the bad man to death. Pooja comes to Arya when he is in the pose and rants about why she is tortured like this and that she cant take this anymore. Trust me, all fans of Pooja are going to be crying their hearts out to see the babe in that shape. She has a face that is swollen very badly and has various cuts on one side and hair pulled out of various places. A brilliant job on the make-up and to keep the emotion going, great job Pooja. Arya, sets her free from this world. He slits her throat and kills her. He sets her body ablaze and walks out of the little cave like place. He is shown taking a dip in the Ganges all of a sudden. He comes out of the water and walks towards his Aghori guru Kasi. Ends A film by Bala.
Moral of the story: "For people who can't take this life anymore, death is a boon!!"
A very short movie, a very loose plot. There is nothing that you can call a story in this movie. The amount of realism as shown in the movie grosses out many. I liked the realism though. At interval, all the characters in the movie were introduced and that is all. The word Interval at this point in the movie, a wild shock!!!! I expected more details with respect to the Aghori aspect of his life. And what Arya does to Nair and the Bad man.... no idea. How does Arya's father get to know Arya is his son, after about 14 years of no knowledge? Lots of missing links in the plot. May be some important scenes were taken off at CBFC India. Definitely, appreciate the guts of Bala to do a subject like this. But, has he stuck to the subject?? I dont really think so. In my view, the film lacked details where it was necessary to outline a story. I will give it a 2.5/5 . More was expected from Bala.
P.S: I am almost sure there is atleast about 40 minutes that was cut-off due to censorship problems. These 40 minutes would have made the vital difference. If someone knows of the facts of the amount that was cut-off due due to censorship problems, please highlight it.
your blog is so good......
ReplyDeleteeven I agree that the aghori part cud've been well researched and longer..am sure many pivotal scenes were cut by the censors..we could feel it at many points in the script..
ReplyDeletebtw, revealing the whole story can be a spoiler to ppl who have not seen the movie
whole story?? story ?? I am tryin to figure out where tat was........ :-s I have mentioned it in bold this contains spoilers........... and cant agree more ...almost 30mins is off man... I think it wud have made the movie amazing !!!
ReplyDelete