Naan Kadavul.. You wish...

Bala gets his priorities wrong - finally.

In a movie that loses its sense of purpose somewhere in the first half of the first half, the only thing that really stands out is Bala's whole hearted attempts to bring to the screen a part of the world (which you can personally witness less than a mile from wherever you are in India, but yeah) that has been completely forgotten even as the world continues on its evolution spree.

But like I read somewhere, at the end of the movie, it leaves you with one nagging question, "What was he hoping to achieve?" That beggary in India is not what it seems like? That there is an horrifyingly elaborate syndicate of bad guys who make beggars what they are today? We all know this, Bala. And yours is not the first movie to bring it out. Ok, if it is not about completely about physically challenged beggars, it is about agori swamis. What about them? Yeah, they exist. So ? In a Bala movie titled “Naan Kadavul”, the least I expected was intelligent dialogues about theism/atheism and with all due respect, I have been in theistic discussions in ninth grade that have been more progressive than this.

When we talk about cinema and how them being realistic is a good thing, there is only so much realism that the modern day viewer can tolerate. Make no doubt, Pithamagan was realistic. But it was still cinema. The idea of an undertaker who has never seen the social side of the world falling in love, realizing what a friend is.. All this makes up for a good plot and it was carried out to perfection.

But in "Naan Kadavul", where is the plot? There is this guy who believes he is God, there is this guy who makes the life of fifty others miserable, there are these fifty others whose lives are made miserable by a guy and then there is this girl who delivers some of the most rhetoric dialogues towards the end of her ordeal that leaves no doubt in the viewer's mind as to what is going to happen to her next. Hell, I didn't even get to see Arya ‘s performance(in a role that you rarely get to see in Tamil Cinema) as much as I would have wanted to. Comedy in the movie is brought out by the people who Bala hopes to bring to light. Though not as hilarious or as slapstick as they sometimes are in his movies, they were ok. To which, you can sit back and say, “Not Bad”. But god damn, it is Bala. And Not bad is just not cutting it. What was the tape like musical voice that Pooja sings in? Couldn’t somebody have noticed that and said it didn’t fit in well?

Bala – stereotypical?

Mani Ratnam during the music release of Naan Kadavul said, “I’m here as a fan of Bala”. Now, that is a compliment. Which means, you live up to it. What is it with Bala and lead actors(heroes?) who talk less, have an almost non-existent social life and manage to impress one girl and can beat the crap out of just about anybody? What is it about his movies and the lead actor/actress being killed at the end almost on general principle? The good thing about the other three of his creations is that he pulled it off. Here, not so much.

I m not trying to think in callous terms. There were just too many scenes showing physically challenged people at camera angles that was designed to make people go, “che.. ayo pavam”. Doesn’t he know that half the people who would be in the theatre are the ones who turn out and look out the window every time somebody with a burnt hand hands it to ask for money. All the characters are people who we can pretty much get to see almost anywhere in India. Was the idea behind making a movie on them to incite public outrage and bring to justice those who traffic in human misery? I’m sure Bala is sensible enough to know that the people who would be able to do something about it would be watching his movie in an AC theatre too relaxed to care, and the ones who would care to do something about it would be watching it a not so posh theatre too weak to able to do something??? Or was he trying the sympathy chord to resonate with the audience? If he did, I am not sure it worked. I was sitting in an AC theatre myself and I could see people visibly not impressed with the movie. Bala has a good heart going by the motive of the movie. I’m not sure movies are the right way to combat your angst against this injustice you have elucidated.

Bottomline : Bala is truly one of the greatest directors Indian Cinema has had, which is exactly what makes “Naan Kadavul” disappointing.