A happy-go-lucky Rasa living in a pre-independence Indian village falls in love with village belle Angamma, whose mother disapproves of their union due to Rasa’s unemployment. To marry his beloved, Rasa scouts for a job in a bordering village and comes across Kangani who promises of work at a hillside British Tea plantation. The response of the villagers along with Rasa to the job offer and their fate thereon unfolds into a dark reality.
Language:
Tamil
Running Time:
126 min
Rating:
U
Release date:
15 March 2013
Directed by:
Bala Pazhanisaamy
Produced by:
Bala Pazhanisaamy
SM Venkat Manickam
Written by:
Bala Pazhanisaamy
Nanjil Nadan
Starring:
Atharva Murali
Vedhicka Kumar
Dhansika
Rithvika
Udhay Karthik
Music by:
GV Prakash Kumar
Shot by:
Chezhiyan
Editing by:
Kishore TE
Distributed by:
JSK Film Corporation

What’s Hot

  • The director Bala strikes gold with a sound adapted script of enslaved tea- plantation workers from pre-independence era. When thousand things could go wrong owing to the period in which the movie is set, the art director Bala Chander’s effort & execution treads the path carefully taking visuals to the zenith of perfection.
  • The agility and the length of the opening shot stands testimony to the commendable effort from the cinematographer Chezhiyan. The scintillating scenes canned in difficult geography show his expertise. A sepia tone to the village life and a steely grey shade to the hilly side bring about a sublime difference visually and emotionally.
  • Atharva shines as Rasa leaving a lump in our throat with his emotionally moving performance before the end credits. The female leads Vedhika (as Angamma)and Dhansika (as Maragadham) play their parts perfectly, balancing their docile side with impressive strength in character.
  • It would be unfair to not give the supporting actors their fair share of compliments. Rithvika as an ever dutiful wife and Kangani as the evil plantation manager bring the important twists and necessary turns to the simple straight plot. Kudos to Bala for choosing such a cast and getting the best out of them.
  • The music and background score by GV Prakash meets the standards of Bala, if not exceeding it. Together with the lyrics from Vairamuthu the songs strike the right chords conveying emotions like pathos, happiness and suffering aptly.

What’s Not

  • While it is commendable to see the effort behind wanting to bring mass conversion of untouchables into Christianity to screen, the placement and execution of the “Thannai Thaane” song illustrating the same leaves us disoriented with Sivasankar looking more like a kangaroo-gone-cuckoo making the song a funny affair to watch. It is also really surprising how such a sensitive issue made it to the silver screen.

Badges

Verdict

Paradesi_Stamp

“Grass is always greener on the other side” would befit this grim tale like a sock to foot; iced with right amount of happiness and balanced by a sumptuous share of debauchery & slavery.