2 / 4 STARS
DIRECTOR: KASTHURI RAJA
ACTORS: DHANUSH, ABHINAY
ACTRESS: SHERIN
MUSIC DIRECTOR: YUVAN SHANKAR RAJA
STORYLINE:
A story of six friends, each with their own problems, who run away from home and live together with the support of an older friend of theirs. They have to deal with many problems, from the rejection of their parents, to how to make money, to rowdies, to their feelings for each other (sexual and otherwise).
The story is told in flashback as one of the characters comes back to his old school and remembers his youth.
COMMENTS:
Hmm. I can't. I'm sorry. A part of me wants to endorse "Thulluvatho Ilamai" as a really great movie. But in all fairness, I can't. Yeah, the subject matter is refreshing, and the story is novel and everything.
But no, I can't say this is a good movie. I didn't particularly like the characters (except for Harish, who I seemed to like) who all came off as whiny brats to me, and I didn't particularly like the message. I also didn't particularly like the execution, come to think of it.
The young actors have all done all right, considering it's their first movies. But that's not the problem. The problem is all the stuff the director Kasthuri Raja loads into the script. I grew up in America, for God's sake, and I'm watching this movie, and thinking, "MY GOD! INDIA IS SO MESSED UP!" If all of this stuff is true and happens, God help India and India's youth. There are some scenes that really affected me -- who couldn't be by the young drug addict girl willing to do anything for her fix or the young boy who's beaten savagely by his father for hosting a party. There are others that only disgust me, such as the way that Harish earns his money by massaging the fat lady in the massage parlor (overt sexual scenes like that, with no relationship to the story, make me wonder if the sexual obsession is the young protagonists' or the director's).
And the ending. My God. I felt like yelling at Vijayakumar when he rails off on the kids' parents. He's telling them that kids only get screwed up because they have bad parents. Is the director trying to tell us that sheltered kids with good parents can't go bad? Is he trying to go with the traditionalist view that "aviya valattha vidhamae appidithaan"? Come on. Get with the times, Kasthuri Raja. Kids have brains--they act like they will. Parents share only part of the blame.
Nah, this was a movie that could've been a clean art flick with a clean message. Instead, it's a front-bencher flick for front-benching high school and college boys. Many are going to pretend there's more to this movie than there actually is. I'm not being a prude, I'm just saying -- this movie isn't that powerful.
NOTE ON THE MUSIC:
The music. I love the music to listen to. I have the album. But somehow, I don't think Kasthuri Raja did justice to the picturisation. There are good songs -- in fact, they're all good songs -- but I'd rather listen to them than watch them, thanks.
RECOMMENDATION:
Depends. If this sounds like your kind of thing, watch it in the theater (it did run over a 100 days, so somebody must've liked it). If not, wait for the video or skip it completely.
VIJAY VANNIARAJAN