Balancing in Life!

If you think this is going to be another one of my philosophical posts, you are wrong! The title is just sarcastic. Two movies that I saw in the last couple of days tempted me to write this post. Those of you that do not see Tamil movies, you probably might not be able to get 100 % out of this post. But let me try to be more explanatory to you too!

Aaru (meaning, the number ‘6’ in Tamil) and Thavamaai Thavamirunthu (meaning, after a great penance, like Tapasya in Hindi) are the two movies that I watched. Now let me review them one by one.

Warning: Spoilers below!

Aaru

Starring Surya and Trisha – this movie has been directed by Hari – He is the one who directed the super hit movie ‘Saamy’. I obliged my friends’ requests to watch this movie for 2 reasons – Surya and Hari. For those of you who are not familiar with Surya, here is a brief description about him. Surya is the latest heart-throb of the Tamil cinema industry. He is known for his great acting and his brawny looks. He has acted in some fantastic movies like ‘Kaakha Kaakha’ and ‘Gajhini’. He is an actor with a great potential. Most of his recent movies have been blockbusters.

Now coming to the movie (henceforth denoted as 6!), 6 is a disaster. It is just another one of those typical ‘masala’ movies directed merely for commercial reasons. The story is mediocre. Surya is a thug who works for the villains, not knowing they are villains! His name is Arumugam and the abridged version is Aaru. Trisha is a smart girl who falls in love for him. You might wonder, then how could she be called smart? Now, that’s a million dollar question. She says, she likes him for his ferocious stunts. A bad reason to fall in love, at least I feel so. But I have heard people saying love is blind. So lets grant amnesty to her role. The villains use Surya for eradicating their political enemies. But our hero has an emotional attachment with the Villain’s sister. Don’t jump in to conclusions. Trisha is not the one. So he doesn’t know their intentions till the point when they kill his friends for a filthy political cause. The story is how he avenges his friends’ death. The music is very poor and there isn’t a single number that can be called OK. In all, the movie is a total failure. It kept me guessing why on earth did Surya sign up for it? Well, he needs to be a little cautious while choosing his films.

Thavamaai Thavamirunthu

Starring Cheran and Padmapriya – This movie has been directed by Cheran himself. Cheran is the one who gave the huge blockbuster of 2004 – Autograph. He has lived up to the expectations in this movie. The story is family oriented and has taken in to account the anecdotes that happen in our day to day lives. It is all about a father who raises his two sons among all his poverty. He works hard to educate them. The later part of the movie elucidates how the sons treat him in return. Cheran plays the role of the younger son Ramalingam and the elder son is Ramanathan. Rajkiran plays the father role. He runs a printing press which only serves him to take care of the basic needs of his family. But with good will that his sons should not endure what he is going through in his life, he takes heavy loans to educate them. The elder one gets a polytechnic degree and the younger one gets an engineering degree. The elder one gets a job in a mill and is getting married. His wife doesn’t like him repaying all his father’s loans, so she pesters him and separates him from his family. This comes as a mighty blow to the father. Cheran (the younger son) who is in college falls in love with his classmate Padmapriya. There comes a situation in their lives, when they have sex. She becomes pregnant and Cheran doesn’t have the guts to tell this to his father. So they both elope to Chennai.

They suffer in Chennai without a job. In the meantime, Padmapriya gives birth to a girl. Knowing this from one of Cheran’s college friends, his father comes to meet them. Cheran pleads guilty and asks for pardon. They decide to live with their families again. Now, Cheran and Padmapriya get jobs in Chennai and they become well off. They bring Cheran’s father and mother to stay with them and want to keep them happy till the end of their days. After a few years of happiness, his mother dies off peacefully. His father wants to go back to his village and live alone for sometime. In the meantime, the elder son who is not economically settled in his life, comes to his father and asks him to give the house to him. He blames his father for making him a diploma holder while making his brother an Engineer. He accuses his father for being partial.The old man is heart broken on hearing this and he dies.

At the end, Cheran assures to help his brother and they decide to keep their father’s house as his memorabilia. They feel sorry for their misgivings in life and they understand what their father had done to them.

Though the story might not seem to be superior, it is the screen play that steals the show. The actors have lived as the characters. The background music is phenomenal. I’m sure everyone who can empathize with this story would shed a drop of tear in a few scenes. This movie has been targeted to people who leave their parents suffering for their selfish reasons. But for everyone, this movie is worth watching.

Now you must have understood the meaning of my title. I watched a horrible movie and it’s effect was balanced by another very good movie!