Whenever we talk about a relation between a parent and a child, its always the mothers who hog the limelight.The fathers are always pushed in to the backyard.It might be due to the fact that they dont get enough time to spend with their children or they dont express their love as profusely as the moms do.Tamil Cinema has seen a lot of movies like Mannan,Thalapathy,M.Kumaran,Anjali,En bommukutty ammaavuku, to name a few where the relationship between a mom and her child are realistically potrayed.Thavamaai Thavamirunthu is perhaps the first tamil movie which tells us what it means to be a DAD.
The movie opens with Cheran travelling in a car to visit his ailing father(Rajkiran),admitted in a hospital.On his way Cheran's past is conveyed to the viewers in flashback mode. Rajkiran and Saranya are the proud parents of two sons Cheran and "Mirchi" Senthil.Rajkiran owns a printing press,where Ilavarasu is his assistant.His sole aim,as like that of any other dad is to see his sons grow up big in life.Whether the two sons fulfill his wish or not forms the rest of the story.Does it sound similar?Yup..it'll be, for every father has the same wish and that is to see his son better him.This is the strength of the story,with every father being able to connect with the character potrayed by Rajkiran
It was a role of a life-time for Rajkiran as Muthiah and he was simply superb,to say the least.Right from the first scene,when he sings for his children on their way to school in his cycle to the climax when he asks Cheran whether he has taken good care of him,it is vintage Rajkiran.Rarely has Tamil Cinema seen such a natural potrayal of a typical village father and it is pretty sad that he didn't recieve the National award for this movie.Saranya, as Rajkiran's wife was the perfect foil for him.Hers again was a natural potrayal,and if she was not noticed as much as Rajkiran,then credit must go to him as he simply overshadows everybody in the movie.
Though Cheran just about passes as an actor he just stands head and shoulders above all others as a director.One wonders how he could choose such a subject to make a movie when commercial cinema was ruling the roost.It must be noted that it was his his movie AUTOGRAPH which came as a whiff of fresh air amidst several craps, giving Tamil Cinema a new lease of life.It was Cheran who gave confidence to several young directors that after all realistic movies could still work wonders at the box-office.Tamil Cinema needs more movies of this kind from Cheran.
Music by Sabesh-Murali fits the bill and it helps in taking the emotions of the characters to the viewers.Cinematgraphy by M.S.Prabhu and Lenin's editing have only helped in making the movie look better.The movie could stand tall even without these elements for it had an realistic story coupled with a neatly woven screenplay and some fantastic acting by Rajkiran
I would recommend this movie very strongly for all those movie buffs out there.Please watch it if you haven't watched it yet,and even if you have watched it there is no harm in watching it again.It has a powerful message and it is a victory for the director even if one or two decides to take good care of their parents.
