Naan Kadavul: Oh My God!
iView Author: R. Gayathridevi (Chennai/India)
Email: gaya3ram83@gmail.com
Naan Kadavul: Oh My God!
Reams have been written about Arya’s beefed-up body, his whirlwind one-month yoga training to stand on his head, the supposed begging task given to Pooja before succeeding Meenakshi and Bhavana as the final heroine of the movie, how Ilayaraja developed goosebumps on watching the preview. I write this with immense sorrow that for me, none of these has translated into a worthy piece of cinema. Naan Kadavul is half-baked cinema cloaked in confused spirituality and a poor successor to Bala’s last maverick movie Pithamagan.
I feel sorry for poor Arya. I know he chose this film believing what Sethu did to Vikram and Nanda did to Surya, Naan Kadavul would do to him. When the ’story’ would have been narrated to thim, Arya’s eyes would have twinkled and his heart whispered to him ‘go ahead, man! take this up’. Arya pumped up muscle, grew his mane and willingly surrendered to Bala to live it up as a Aghora. There ends the story. Somewhere in between Bala lost all those ‘wow’ elements of his earlier films — a plot, a conflict, a structure and above all the characterization of the hero.
Wait, did I say hero? Was Arya the hero of the movie? That’s such a big joke. Arya as Rudran is a mere shadow, a circus performer dancing to the ‘now here, now there’ tunes of the ringmaster Bala. Seen with a string of black cloth just enough to cover his manhood in the posters, Arya is the real ‘item’ of this movie, not the hero. He appears at regular intervals to mouth hymns, smoke pot, utter pithy sayings and bash up the villains. He is a wonderful actor, no denying that fact. But this time around he got into Bala’s hands when the latter’s cinematic grammar went haywire.
In fact Rudran caused me more irritation and in certain scenes distraction. Arya is clearly overshadowed by some poignant and hard-hitting acting of those beggar folks. Their portions are the USP of the movie and it would make absolute sense if the movie is rechirstened ‘Naan Pichaikaran’ (I am a beggar). There were recent reports in the Chennai press that Bala feared that Slumdog Millionaire’s exposure of the ‘beggar mafia’ would make his own efforts bite the dust. He need not fear. With their native charm, authentic dialect and inherent humanity, Bala’s beggar folk outclass their counterparts in Danny Boyle’s movie. Amidst a caricature hero and a cardboard villain, they are the lifeline of the movie. Bala’s partnership with Tamil writer Jeyamohan seems to have paid off especially in these portions. Jeyamohan has used portions from his acclaimed novel Ezhaam Ulagam (The Seventh World) to feed Bala’s gory but stinging portrayal of beggardom. Jeyamohan’s dialogue needs special mention — witty, thought-provoking and suiting the scene without being cinematic.
The racket that Surya as Sakthivel created in Pithmagan is done in Naan Kadavul by real life deformed people. It was a bit difficult to see hoards of them in the villain’s den at first sight during the ‘pichaipathiram’ song. ( A gentleman behind me hissed like a pressure cooker when their faces were shown on screen. He then ooed and aahed.) Slowly I warmed up to their humanity — A deformed boy with a mouthful of mischievous words (he wants to buy hamsavalli, the blind beggarwoman played by Pooja, with his collection so that he could start his own business). A woman with a broken spine nurturing the dreams of wedlock and a family. Somehow in this agenda to bring out the god in his hero, Bala abandons them now and then.
Bala’s heroes are all incarnations of God. They are humans until they find a villain to be punished and realise the presence of god within them. In Nanda, Rajkiran addresses Surya as ‘avatharam’ — one who had taken birth to wipe out all evil. In Pithamagan, Sithan is the incarnation of Lord Shiva who kills the drug mafia kingpin Mahadevan and avenges Sakthi’s death. In Naan Kadavul, Bala goes a step further and announces that Rudran is god himself. Rudran is the saviour of those unfortunate souls who need deliverance from a shoddy life on earth. So how does Rudran save them? By gifting them death. He gifts a gory death to the evil souls who don’t deserve to live and a honourable ‘euthanisation’ to souls like Hamsavalli who want to get way from leading the ignominious life of being tortured to death every moment for refusing to bed a leper.
Sadly Rudran is the weakest of Bala’s heroes. As an Aghora, he leads an ascetic life devoid of human emotions or bondage. He neither has a sweetheart like Sethu had Abitha nor a ‘friend’(sometimes with gay overtones) like Sathivel (Pithamagan). Rudran is there for the sole purpose of destroying evil. He seemed to me to be a bouncer who was brought all the way from Varanasi to smash those evil villains and make a mockery of the police. That he was god appeared to me just as an excuse to display his machismo.
In spite of a spirited performance from Pooja and some inspired ‘bhakthi’ music by Ilayaraja, Naan Kadavul failed to connect me — it is a Bholenath with all brawn and no soul.
Tags: Aarya, Bala, Ilayaraja, Naan Kadavul, Pithamagan, Pooja, Tamil Cinema
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//Bala lost all those ‘wow’ elements of his earlier films — a plot, a conflict, a structure and above all the characterization of the hero.//
Good Bala has moved ahead from conventional cinema and you are still harping on the plot-conflict-structure and above all looking out for a hero and his characterization.
//Arya is the real ‘item’ of this movie, not the hero//
Was the show amusing to you ;)
//he wants to buy hamsavalli, the blind beggarwoman played by Pooja, with his collection so that he could start his own business//
Do you know Tamizh!!! He dont even indicate of wanting to buy ‘amsavalli’ FYKI.
//Sadly Rudran is the weakest of Bala’s heroes…Rudran is there for the sole purpose of destroying evil//
Cinema viewing is an art in itself as equal to the art of cinema making. Sadly you have missed the whole point of the movie. Rudran is there just like ‘Tat tvam Asi’ How much ever you try to connect with him you wont be able to do that, since he is beyond your/our perception. To me ‘Rudran’ is the most powerful of all cinema Heroes ever portrayed in the history of cinema. And he is not here with the sole purpose of destroying evil.
Its a pathetic trend that anybody who has the knowledge of English & the access to internet are becoming reviewers these days.
pulikesi: I must say that you have really practised hard hitting below the belt, bro!Real good job! Next time try and give some gaalis to the reviewer, I guess then your comment will become complete!
Well one will either love it or hate it but cannot ignore it, that ways Bala has succeeded.But yes its not his best yet ….
@ Pulikesi
Thanks for spewing all that venom.
Many men, many opinion.
pulikesi…i understand your love for bala…first of all tell me what is the film about…its just an exploitation of human suffering…the film begins with a father searching for his lost son…finds him…takes him back to the village…any normal person ( except for a genius like you) would want to see what occurs in his life…now you are parallely introduced to a world of beggars and existence of human suffering and brutality of the real world…now what??? aghore kills the evil…can you pls tell me what the theme of the film is…
a; there is no god
b. detroy evil; there is god in every body
i think its the first one…bcoz towards the end of film…pooja is told by a nun to trust in god and she would never face any trouble…but she gets a severe trouble where her face is mutilated…and finally the onlyone who rescuses her out of suffering is aghora…
i think project i view has a point…its a senseless film…gets no where…does nothing …doesnt touch any chord…except for making you uneasy seeing disabled humans…
if you still like it then plsss watch it 100 times and be happy!
Atlast someone who shares my view on the movie. This IS balas weakest movie till date. There is absolutely no story at all and certian scenes could have been avoided (the naach gaana at the police station, for example) and this took 3-4 years ????
@ Pulikesi : Thats freedom of speech and expression my friend !
@ Braveheart, Arjun — Thanks for your solidarity and also for making valid points on the movie.
shappa…mudiyalai.ithu weakest of Bala’s.intha reviewku chinja adika rendu pear.
awesome movie and u know what Rudhran kicked ass.
braveheart..rombha decenta neenga,pichaikarangala pakrathunala salipu varuthu illa,ofcourse it wud for u dude coz ur all prime and plush right.
can some one tell me what thisraj has to say…he is hanging in between tamil and english…
It is a good movie not a great one.Coming to performances the beggar folk is excellant and Arya and Pooja has also done well.But major disappointment was villain character,that guy was miscast,he was not at all convincing in that pivotal role.Look at his eyes,no expression at all.Technically this film has done well.Editing and cinematography is top notch.Stunt scenes are picturised well.Background music of IllayaRaja is good but songs were disappointing
Before writing this review, or even before watching this review, this “so-called” writer must have had a prejudiced biassed opinion on the film making style of bala and it has come out as this venom spitting “so-called review”.
These people readily lap up whatever crap labeled as world cinema and can’t digest the fact that one person from kollywood has gone to this extent to give a raw movie.
Any one who gives a passing glance to this review can sense the careless words of analysis of the movie and can find it filled with showcase-my-vocabulary attitude.
I don’t understand what kind of movies would these reviewers find interesting – Perhaps, Perarasu’s classics?
Well,as far as your grievances about there being no plot-conflict-structure goes,Bala has never been a director who has emphasized on plot or story.His films have always been character driven with the protagonist always being a larger than life character far removed from the mundane average Joe.They all have a tendency to be extremely violent which is why I have never been able to admire his movies as it is not easy to connect with the main character.Sometimes they even comes across as gimmicky,but nevertheless, give me a Bala movie any day as opposed to a Simbhu or Vijay flick.
firstly surya…a raw movie or stark movie doesnt necessarily has to be a good movie…a film can be real…stark hyper real…and can be any thing or everything on the earth…the point abt naan kaduval is what’s the point? if you can explain…we will be super enlighted…and what is bala kind of cinema??
secondly bala…its obvious that you r a fan of bala…to contradict you bala’s sethu is basically a love story…and the main conflict of the film is hero becomes a vegetable and lands up in a n asylum…which is captured very stark and he spends time showing th sufffering of sethu…it is a story of sethu….
pita magan is a story of a guy who doesnt have any experience of our world…born and brought up in cremation grounds…and the film is about how he develops a bonding…experiences human relations …
Nanda is a story of a guy who right fromhis childhood fought against evil …and what is the price he always paid
all the films have a plot . story, conflict though these are journey’s of characters… naan kaduval misses everything…i thnk the reviewer has valid points…
always I have been bala’s fan since then i know him in film making. I watched NK on first day last show. first to tell is the performance of pooja is extremely good and arya was acted like never before.
but when i was watching this movie the differently challenged people’s scenes are numerous and indigestible.
and technically speaking they have done outstanding in all department. NK is more than a drama. I never experienced a person like bala as so dedicated to cinema.
but I don’t know whether the censor board have forced to cut the movie’s important clips or they have themselves have reduced the film to 2hrs and 15 min. bcaz there is no continuity between the scenes. I think the censor board have spoiled this masterpiece. if any body know baka’s mail ID pls tell me I will ask him to send the full moive (actually I heard its worth watching for 6 hours)uncut by the censor board.
*SPOILER ALERT!!*
I recently watched Naan Kadavul, and found it a wonderful cinematic experience and I believe that is what Cinema should be all about,the experience!. A good film need not have a message, need not have a strong plot. There are several good films, which have such weak plots, neither do we need strong characters. A character is perceived in different ways be different people.
Having said that, I cannot agree that Naan Kadavul lacks good characters. Take Rudran for instance. He is an aghori, a sect of Shaivite Worshippers who are considered very radical in their beliefs and live on the ganges, in severe penance, eating corpses and the like. Their lives are well-documented and are generally found to be aloof from the rest of the world. While there is no proof of them having attacked any normal civilian, Rudran is raised up as God incarnate and is responsible for the safety of other saints at Banaras, He is aloof from the rest of the world. His detachment from normal day to day life is like a metaphor established, with how detached his character is from the rest of the plot in the movie. Now how many movies in Indian Cinema history have approached a subject like that.? How many Hindi movies for that matter have examined and analyzed religion as bravely ? It took a tamil director to make a film on Aghoris, something seen near ganges.
Now talking about scenes about beggars and mutilated people shown in the movie. Many of the commenters seem to find that disgusting. To all those people, let me tell you, that all those people are real beggars and their handicaps are as well real. Now think about this, The movie actually creates lovable characters out of them, with amazingly funny dialogues and have shown them to be normal people, who are unfortunately in tough situations. Exploitation would have been, if the film maker had played on their weaknesses and simply cast them as cursing their fate. Here we actually start loving those beggars. i dont realize how that is exploitation.
Coming to the whole concept of violence in the movie, It is believed that an Aghori Saint, can actually on sight, determine, whether a person is good or evil. According to Rudran, Death is an answer to life. They are two sides of the same coin. Death, is a punishment to those who are evil, It is a gift, for those who are finding life unbearable. Not that I personally agree with this idea, but this is how the character of Rudran thinks. He has the power to bestow death, grant salvation. When he kills the villain, he has punished evil, When he kills pooja, he has gifted her salvation. So Bala, creates an atmosphere wherein, we suddenly look at the situation from Rudran’s viewpoint, who was a character allof from the whole plot until then.
It is a brilliant cinematic effort and perhaps a more abstract piece of cinema, from bala, but definitely worth a watch.! The sheer atmosphere he creates is spine chilling.!
Agree with the reviewer completely. When i read this before seeing the movie, I thought, well, this reviweer seems to be wrong. But, now, after watching it, I completely agree.
Yes, movie watching is an experience. But whats the theme here? whats the concept? I dint get any.I feel sad for arya. He wasted 3years for this!He had the perfect build of a yogi in the opening scenes and towards the climax he was beefed up and looking chocolatey even with a beard
But he was good whatever little he did. Pooja’s acting was very average. I dont know what people are raving so much about her performance.
Beggars were good. but again whats the movie about- the god, sanyasi , aghora or beggars. I am confused. I dint like the movie. Pithamagan was brilliant. So was Sethu.
Hats off to Gayathri devi for a very honest review that is not biased by all the hype. Thanks.
@ Murali — am honoured by your appreciation sir!
I am also happy that passionforcinema has provided a platform for the expression of such diverse opinions on a single movie. I strongly believe as long as we movie buffs keep reacting in a constructive manner, good cinema will prevail.
Dear Ms.Gayathridevi,
I see how happy and honoured you are, coz, a Mr.Murali agrees with u and appreciates ur review.
If a 10 minutes of writing out something on a movie gets these many mixed reactions from readers, just imagine the 4 years work of Bala getting thrashed by your damn biased review. You had started reviewing this movie with a hatred for the director or the movie as such. I googled up your name and found your recently started blog. I just couldnot believe my eyes reading your review of vaaranam aayiram. You had literally drooled at Surya and you had written all sugar coated words on the movie. On contrast, you didnot find any thing worthwhile to write good about Naan Kadavul.
First, people like you should GROW UP, then think about typing some crap…
This films talks about the disabled who are either ignored or sometimes condemned. This film is not a fairy tale. The depiction of poverty and suffering in this movie is so real against the sugar sweet depiction of poverty of “Slumdog Millionaire”. Bala has tried hard to change our perception that only able bodied people exist in this world.
Mam, you totally missed the soul of the film. This film is about the unfortunate lot of this world,about lesser known people like the maimed, deformed, visually handicapped, their joys and misery.And who are still exploited, tortured and forced it to beggary.
The depiction of suffering is not exaggeration at all. Bala has tried so hard to change every1s viewpoint. He has also offered a solution to such misery which is mercy killing granted by god(aghori) himself.
I really feel that Aarya was a misfit for the aghori character. Ajith was a better choice.
And most of them have missed the whole point of this film and are worried about jump cuts, continuity and what not.
if most of them have missed the plot of the film, then it is Bala’s failure. isn’t it?
I just loved the movie.
Persons sitting in AC rooms and writing such trash reviews would not be able to relate to this kind of movies.
To this dear lady who has come up with this piece of s*&t, go and watch some local masala tamil and telugu flicks…
the original movie is 6 hours, the censorship board had cut too many scenes. obviously thats why you dont feel the transition of the story in the movie you saw. no one can complain about the ballsy efforts of Bala. i hate directors who just deliver what the crowd wants. i love the story, i love Bala’s work. looking for the uncut version.