BTW, no one says anything bad about Parthiban Kanavu . It is as close to an everyman — or, depending on your perspective, nearly man — movie that I can think of. It is definitely in my top 20.

If you want to take a swipe at me, I will give you an opening. I like Sachein

BTW, your attempt at humor is lame.

PS: From the last para, i again see a hell lotta extrapolations to the extreme… my comment could just as easily mean that I look for a movie where the characters (at least those who have significant screen presence) are connected through out (or at least at those points of the narrative which have some significant consequence), forming a story, which is the least a director could do while penning down his work.

PS1: and by “God Father”, I hope you do not mean the Ajith-KSR movie

It is well nigh impossible to convince someone that a movie is great. I have encountered far too many people who think that “The Godfather” is a trashy movie, so I know the difficulty in making the argument. Or you tell me what I need to tell you to reverse your opinion that Naan Kadavul is a mediocre documentary, and I will attempt to answer your points.

If the movie does not strike a chord in you, I would assume that you are too far removed from the reality that it depicts. That does not mean that I was a physically challenged beggar in some remote temple not so long ago. Frankly though, that is fine. You have likes and dislikes, and you don’t need to change your views to please me. I’m not your girlfriend. To me, personally, Naan Kadavul is an unparalleled achievement in Tamil cinema. It is not a movie that I will watch over and over again, but one that I knew the minute it ended that I could never forget or shake off.

But the reasons you have listed are risible. No definitive plot, characters that rise from and fall into obscurity, a protagonist (?) who has no bearing on the movie. It leads me to assume just one thing about you. You like movies in which heroes make grand entries — 10000 people dancing in lock step etc. — where the hero is in every frame, is all-powerful, all-knowing and reforms society in the span of 150 minutes, while simultaneously wooing the prettiest lass in town, killing 3 million bad guys and escaping the clutches of the law.

(sorry for multiple comments… i think im just too used to google chat!)

To quote from Gokul’s review of a few months ago:

The depiction of a social evil has been dealt with with brutal honesty – bringing out Bala’s obsession with the psychotic side of human nature. But if it upsets our carefully raised sensibilities on a diet of ‘do-good-feel-good-loved-by-everyone-guitar-wielding-hero and impeccably-dressed-heroine-mouthing-inane-declarations-of-love’, forget it.

Ilaiyaraja’s background score for this movie is from another galaxy. I have watched the movie just once, but when I do so the next time, I will check the credits to see if his name appears as the hero.

The main problem for many in accepting Naan Kadavul as a great movie is that such a view lacks social assent or popular appeal. (For one, it is not a conversation-starter with women.) People fear being tagged “odd” if they indicate preference with the movie. Or it is just that people are insensitive to the characters depicted, because they are removed from the ones we meet in everyday life. (This is not difficult to explain, as we would be just as puzzled watching a movie about Eskimos.) Finally, it is our “adimayin mogam”. If Danny Boyle had directed “Naan Kadavul”, we would queue in front of theatres, and the selfsame people who turned their noses up and said, “Yuck, what a sick documentary!” would be all praise: “Did you see how realistic that was? Wow. I wonder why Indian directors cannot come up with such a magnificent spectacle! Indian cinema is going to dogs, man!”

P.S: By the way, Arvind’s definition of what constitutes a documentary (no definitive plot etc.) is an affront on documentary filmmakers worldwide.

I actually liked all of Bala’s previous movies… but come on! 3 years… and all he has to show for is a community which is suffering and an indifferent protagonist who’s life/actions have no bearing on the events of the movie until the fag end… all characters come from obscurity, and fade away back into obscurity in the end, no definitive plot… all that qualifies for a documentary

These scenes are set in Maharashtra. And Ilaiyaraja has sung quite a few songs for his son. “Ariyaadha Vayasu” (Paruthi Veeran), “Engengo” (Nandha) and “Namma Kaattula” (Pattiyal) come to mind readily. I think Ilaiyaraja sung a song in Sarvam as well, a foot-tapping number that I thought I liked when I watched the movie.

Come of think of it, Ilaiyaraja is as close to a complete musician as any we know of. His composing talent is beyond compare. He is known to be an expert at playing many an instrument. And his singing… wow he has sung songs conveying every mood. I would list them down here, but a fresh post is in order.

Raw is exactly the word I would choose to describe this movie. Unsettling to watch. The same adjective aptly fits all of Bala’s movies, nothing more so than Naan Kadavul.

But yes, none of these movies have compromised on the technical aspects. Apart from Pudhupettai, the others are low-budget movies, and you need excellent project management skills to pull it off.

Basically, like Mr. Madhavan mentioned, these movies could easily loose their plots, because they are screen play dependant. So, making meaningful gripping movies is all due to the efforts of the technicians.