Magical realism

I love movies, especially one which depicts human relations. Probably cos' it's a complex subject to begin with, human relationships that is.

Tamil films have graced my entire life...so you may guess why i adore watching movies on human relationships...you cannot separate tamil movies from human relationships. Each and every tamil film would revolve on this subject in one way or another. And me? Well, I'm not complaining.

I recently got the oppurtunity to watch Vaaranam Ayiram and Abhiyum Naanum. I loved them! The followings are my review on both these movies. For the records, I'm only commenting on the movie and the acting and there would be no comments on the music score of both these films.

Let me begin with Abhiyum Naanum. The movie starts off with a middle-age man going for his morning walks and the beauty of Ooty is depicted to its best as the man walks along the hills and park.

The man was Prakash Raj, needless to say. He meets a young father (Prithviraj) in a park and both gets into a conversation. Prakash starts talking about his life with his daughter and how each and every move of his is reflected around his daughter.

To cut a long story short, the movie talks about the love and relationship of a father and daughter. We see the father's love, his fears, his anxiety, his longings, his happiness and sadness on every frame of the film. I loved it.

Acting wise, Prakash is a dear to watch. So maybe he went aboard at times but he's a father as a father can be. In a particular scene, the daughter tells him "I know what I'm doing," and at that point, you could actually watch a slight sting on his face. And when she tells him the same words years later, he retorts, "Yes, you've told me this exact words years ago".

I could feel the depth of his words. The pain has not subside after all these years.

Trisha, Prakashraj and Aishwarya in Abhiyum Naanum

That's love, I guess. You want your kids to be independent nevertheless, you're afraid to let go of their hands. You want the kids to make mistake and learn from it, nevertheless, you're afraid of the hurt and pain they would suffer in the process. As a parent you wouldn't want them to go through that but reality has to sink in at some point of time.

Trisha plays the daughter in this movie, but for the life of me, I don't know why she cannot act. I remember reading an interview of hers in which she says that she hardly gets good roles to act in Tamil films. Well, my dear, you got a wonderful role here and you washed it down the drains.

She wasn't bad, actually. She was bearable, but then you cannot help thinking that an Asin or a Sandhya or even Parvathy (of Poo fame) would have done greater justice to this same role. I mean, her character is supposed to be one who is very clear of what she wants in her life. She's very confident of herself but somewhere down the line, she grows helpless and fails to understand her father's problems and why he is bent on protecting her. And you need to potray all these without saying a word. And Trisha? Well, Trisha was just there in the film. Period. Even Prithviraj who came in a cameo role stayed longer in my mind than Trisha had!

But the surprise package was Aishwarya, the mother. How i wished my mom was that cool. Aishwarya was definitely THE MOM everyone can relate too. She was loving, strict at times, giving in when she should and letting go when she has to. And for all the composed and cool attitude she had during the entire wedding of her daughter, you can't help but smile when you see her tears the moment her daughter leaves the airport. That's MOM, in capital and bold letters. And the father? You would have expected him to cry at that particular scene, but then, he would have a big grin on his face and you at that point you would know that he has finally and willingly let the daughter to move on with her life. Amazing movie:)

If Abhiyum Naanum is fantastic, Vaaranam Aayiram was phenomenal!

I got to make a confession. I like Surya...no, no, I don't love him or have a crush on him like millions of others do, but I like him. He's cute and very cool!

VA revolves around the same relationship as AN. That of a father and child. Only here, it's the father-son relationship we get to watch. I got to admit, this sort of relationships has been previously explored in Thavamai Thavamirunthu, but TT was too depressing for me. VA has the right balance of happiness and sorrow in it. It was classy and you would want to watch it all over again.

Surya plays both the roles of the father and son. Well, I'm not one who adore double action roles. Thinking of Sarath Kumar and Vijayakanth in the numerous double action roles they've done before make me cringe, actually! Ajith's double stint in Vaalee was an exception (I loved him in it!) but Citizen and Godfather or Varalaru or whatever-name-they-call-it-now was just plain pathetic!

Anyway, back to VA...Surya was a delight to watch in both the roles and he was fantastic in distinguishing the role of the father and son, so much so, you would feel like watching two different actors in the roles.



I loved the father Surya, he's not as loud or spontaneous like Prakash raj in AN but more of a mellowed, calm father. And Surya was amazing in every movement. The pat on the son's back ,or when he tells his son to do what his heart desires (when the latter expresses his desire to join the army)...or the glance at the son's face who was beaten up by bullies and telling the son to defend himself ("Why are you going to gym everyday?" or something like that, he would ask) were all just classic to watch.

When this movie was released, Suhashini Maniratnam commented on the father's character in her show. She was noted to have felt as if she was watching Sivakumar, instead of Surya during the father's scenes. I beg to differ.

I like Sivakumar, but during those scenes, Surya's mannerisms were more similar to Raghuvaran's than Sivakumar's. Surya was classy and he has the toned-down sense of humour that I've seen very often in Raghuvaran.

The son Surya was a different story altogether. We get to see him transform from the 16 years old insecured boy, who would do the mock fight in front of the bathroom mirror, to the tough army officer. Man, was he amazing! When Diya tells him that he looks like a million bucks, I could do nothing except nod approvingly.

I mean, for a long time, tamil heroes have restraint themselves from acting in negative roles, fearing that it might "spoil" their image. And here we have an actor who would go go all the way to break the barriers that others have set. Throughout the movie, you see him more as an actor than a hero, he's an average student, he drinks, he smokes pots, he cries like a baby to his father, he looks horribly sick in the scenes in Kashmir, he does practically everything that a star would not. That shows the confidence he has on his talent. And what a talent! He's superb!

Simran was fabulous, especially during the climax where she cries silently, watching the son kissing his late father's forehead. She's potrays a very dignified and dependable mother, someone whom you know would have the answers to all your queries and troubles. She looks kinda old to play the college girl role during the flasback scenes but she's beautiful all the same.

Sameera reddy played her role to the T. She looks believable as the top student she potrays. Her style, and height helps in giving the added charm to her character.

Diya was a let-down though. I kinda liked her in Pollathavan and the other Shaam's movie where she plays the negative role (can't remember the name of the movie). But here, her role was somewhat one-sided. She loves Surya, have liked him since she was young. She proposes, he rejects, she proposes again, he accepts and they get married and have a son. That's it. Her role lacks the "oomph" that the other characters bring out charmingly. Plus, her tamil diction is awful. But the movie is more about Surya than Diya so you may as well forgive her there.

In total, I'm not able to say which film I like better, AN or VA. I'm not judging either. I love them both, in a different manner altogether. After all, they are about us. I see a lot of myself in Abhi, and I could see myself in Surya too! What do I say? I love human relations:)

P.S: I know that these movies were released some time back, but i just got the chance to watch them. Hence, I thought of writing my thoughts about these wonderful films. Cheers!