Shop street

Yesterday I watched this tamil movie "Angaadi theru" which approximately gets translated into "Shop steet" in english. :-). I didn't like the movie right from the beginning. I thought it was turning out to be another movie which Kollywood is churning off late with the the theme currently in vogue and that is, a few village blokes coming to the city to earn money and the difficulties they face and the misery they end up in. All the characters barring a few were like caricatures deliberately exaggerated in their performances, way over the top. The movie was very loud and I wonder how my ear drums endured that loudness. Though it's a small budget movie, considerable share of it has certainly gone into the purchase of glycerine, it seems. Because almost all the characters cry all the time. Even Poseidon couldn't have produced so many tears within the short span of about two and half hours, I guess.

As my thoughts were leading in this direction, somewhere it started to change its course and to my surprise I ended up loving the movie. What made me say this? Here we go...

Though the movie's theme may be redundant its picturisation was very natural.
Though the treatment was cliched and loud, the intention was pristine.
Though the faces were new and raw, they were natural and can be easily related to.
Though the movie sashayed with a negative vibe it ended up as a tragedy with a damn good positive vibe.

This is more than just a story projected on a celluloid. It's the depiction of an altogether different lifestyle which we either ignore or are unaware. This reminds me of some of the novels written by Arthur Hailey like 'Airport", "Hotel","Wheels", "Final diagnosis" in which he elaborates all the nitty,gritty and minute details of respective professions or fields. He beautifully brings the other side of all these professions into our full view. The characters in his novels serve mainly as a means and they don't move the plot by themselves. This is what I exactly felt when I was watching this movie. The characters by themselves don't move the plot of the movie but they are just part of the bigger picture and it felt like a breath of fresh air.

One uncomfortable reservation I have with this movie is its music. Though it could be because of the pathetic audio system in the hall, there are some moments in the movie which could have been memorable except for the mistimed music score. I guess our directors have to know the best way to use music and that is by not adding any music at all. They should apply it subtly and should give importance to silence. In one scene the camera pans out from the hero's face to show us the situation of the room in front of him. Though I can not tell how better the music could have been scored for that situation, it still could have made an excellent impact with no music at all.
I didn't like the movie because it wanted me to sympathise with the characters, but only in the end it succeeded in making me empathise with the characters and for that I like the movie.

Verdict: I'll never watch this movie again, except for the climax for which I can watch this movie any number of times.