Iraivi
I don't remember the last time I walked out of a theater zoned out. I don't remember the last time I was at a loss for words. I don't remember ever thinking of S J Surya as a good actor, let alone a great one. I don't remember the last time I had difficulty terming a movie as a good one merely because it was too hard-hitting for me to say so.
The guy who gave us "Pizza" and "Jigarthanda" is back, this time with a tale of three men and how their decisions (mostly bad ones) affect the women in their lives.
The plot starts off with Arul (SJ Surya) drowning his sorrows in alcohol because his movie is shelved by a sadistic producer. His wife (Kamalinee Mukherjee) keeps giving him more chances than he deserves, hoping he will get over his alcohol addiction once things settle down.
Michael (Vijay Sethupathi) is a typical loyal-to-the-boss sort of person who does just about anything to help Arul and his younger brother (Bobby Simha). But this sense of loyalty and love does not extend to the wife he married recently and he tries to go back to his ex-lover even as his wife waits for him at home.
The storyline is basically how Arul tries to get back his film from the producer and how the others help him with that. Pooja Devariya plays a bold, albeit small role as the unabashed woman who has no qualms in seeking pleasure as and when it suits her. Though she isn't exactly your typical woman, her innate womanly quality is seen when she convinces Michael to go back home to his wife (Anjali) and be a good husband.
While Anjali is a typical woman from the rural background who cannot imagine leaving her husband even if he wrongs her, Kamalinee, as Yazhini, shows the struggle that a lot of modern women go through while dealing with a man who keeps disappointing them again and again. As women, we feel wronged and are yet bound by the immense love we feel for the men in our lives and so, keep giving them second chances. Again and again. Foolishly.
I don't remember the last time I watched a scene where a man was chastising his brother and friend for treating women badly. Having grown up watching his father ill-treat his mother which then gets repeated in the case of his brother, Bobby Simha cannot tolerate all the turmoil that men put women through, and he soon reaches a breaking point.
S J Surya is convincing as an alcoholic who tries, though unsuccessfully, to save his marriage. Vijay Sethupathi manages to astound audiences once again with his realistic, brilliant portrayal of Michael. If I thought Bobby Simha was great in Jigarthanda, it was nothing compared to his performance in Iraivi. The women give equally amazing performances.
After a long time, this was a movie in which songs weren't thrown randomly into the plot. Even as I am typing this, the visuals of the "Dushta" song are running through my head. Watching that song gave me the chills. Santhosh Narayanan has done a brilliant job, I am sure this was no easy album to score music for.
The dialogues deserve special mention and it's brilliant how Karthik manages to keep the whole feministic angle subtle throughout his movie except in the climax. That dialogue by S J Surya is going to haunt me for a long time to come. I was reading Baradwaj Rangan's review yesterday and it looks like he didn't like that particular dialogue because it made things obvious. But as a layman, I would say that that dialogue was crucial for Karthik to drive home the point he was trying to make.
As a tear or two kept running down my cheeks, I couldn't help but wonder why women give others so many chances and are sometimes, unjustifiably patient with their relationships. Why couldn't Anjali leave behind a man who cheated on her and walk away? Why is it still such a taboo to have a failed marriage? How is staying behind in such a relationship a successful marriage anyway? Why couldn't Michael have taken a moment or two to think of his wife before murdering someone to save his boss and ending up in prison for seven years while his wife is pregnant?
I was zoned out for a long time even after the movie was done. Dazed, and in a stupor. I wondered how, as a man, Karthik managed to pull off such a brilliant movie. It's not often that we see such a hard-hitting movie which almost makes you despise it because it's way too real and as humans, we like living in denial sometimes. Though I don't think men are a "manam ketta janmam" as Surya puts it in the end, I would be lying if I said I never had such thoughts while reading about reports of rape or abuse.
This is a movie which is very difficult, if not impossible, to watch again but you almost want to, because you are sure there will be a lot of finer details Karthik gave us that you might have missed. His attention to detail and the way he fleshes out his characters intricately gives this film all the more credibility. More than anything, if you're a person who likes movies which make you think, this is a sure winner.
Karthik, take a bow. You've outdone yourself. And as a woman, I thank you for directing this movie. If it makes at least a few men retrospect and think about how they treat the women in their lives, you would have done your job. Brilliantly.
The guy who gave us "Pizza" and "Jigarthanda" is back, this time with a tale of three men and how their decisions (mostly bad ones) affect the women in their lives.
The plot starts off with Arul (SJ Surya) drowning his sorrows in alcohol because his movie is shelved by a sadistic producer. His wife (Kamalinee Mukherjee) keeps giving him more chances than he deserves, hoping he will get over his alcohol addiction once things settle down.
Michael (Vijay Sethupathi) is a typical loyal-to-the-boss sort of person who does just about anything to help Arul and his younger brother (Bobby Simha). But this sense of loyalty and love does not extend to the wife he married recently and he tries to go back to his ex-lover even as his wife waits for him at home.
The storyline is basically how Arul tries to get back his film from the producer and how the others help him with that. Pooja Devariya plays a bold, albeit small role as the unabashed woman who has no qualms in seeking pleasure as and when it suits her. Though she isn't exactly your typical woman, her innate womanly quality is seen when she convinces Michael to go back home to his wife (Anjali) and be a good husband.
While Anjali is a typical woman from the rural background who cannot imagine leaving her husband even if he wrongs her, Kamalinee, as Yazhini, shows the struggle that a lot of modern women go through while dealing with a man who keeps disappointing them again and again. As women, we feel wronged and are yet bound by the immense love we feel for the men in our lives and so, keep giving them second chances. Again and again. Foolishly.
I don't remember the last time I watched a scene where a man was chastising his brother and friend for treating women badly. Having grown up watching his father ill-treat his mother which then gets repeated in the case of his brother, Bobby Simha cannot tolerate all the turmoil that men put women through, and he soon reaches a breaking point.
S J Surya is convincing as an alcoholic who tries, though unsuccessfully, to save his marriage. Vijay Sethupathi manages to astound audiences once again with his realistic, brilliant portrayal of Michael. If I thought Bobby Simha was great in Jigarthanda, it was nothing compared to his performance in Iraivi. The women give equally amazing performances.
After a long time, this was a movie in which songs weren't thrown randomly into the plot. Even as I am typing this, the visuals of the "Dushta" song are running through my head. Watching that song gave me the chills. Santhosh Narayanan has done a brilliant job, I am sure this was no easy album to score music for.
The dialogues deserve special mention and it's brilliant how Karthik manages to keep the whole feministic angle subtle throughout his movie except in the climax. That dialogue by S J Surya is going to haunt me for a long time to come. I was reading Baradwaj Rangan's review yesterday and it looks like he didn't like that particular dialogue because it made things obvious. But as a layman, I would say that that dialogue was crucial for Karthik to drive home the point he was trying to make.
As a tear or two kept running down my cheeks, I couldn't help but wonder why women give others so many chances and are sometimes, unjustifiably patient with their relationships. Why couldn't Anjali leave behind a man who cheated on her and walk away? Why is it still such a taboo to have a failed marriage? How is staying behind in such a relationship a successful marriage anyway? Why couldn't Michael have taken a moment or two to think of his wife before murdering someone to save his boss and ending up in prison for seven years while his wife is pregnant?
I was zoned out for a long time even after the movie was done. Dazed, and in a stupor. I wondered how, as a man, Karthik managed to pull off such a brilliant movie. It's not often that we see such a hard-hitting movie which almost makes you despise it because it's way too real and as humans, we like living in denial sometimes. Though I don't think men are a "manam ketta janmam" as Surya puts it in the end, I would be lying if I said I never had such thoughts while reading about reports of rape or abuse.
This is a movie which is very difficult, if not impossible, to watch again but you almost want to, because you are sure there will be a lot of finer details Karthik gave us that you might have missed. His attention to detail and the way he fleshes out his characters intricately gives this film all the more credibility. More than anything, if you're a person who likes movies which make you think, this is a sure winner.
Karthik, take a bow. You've outdone yourself. And as a woman, I thank you for directing this movie. If it makes at least a few men retrospect and think about how they treat the women in their lives, you would have done your job. Brilliantly.
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