Subramaniapuram

I mentioned earlier, the fact that many experiments is being done in tamil movie field these days. They are well placed in the technical as well as the cultural aspect of the movie scenario, when compared with malayalam. In the 80’s, when people like MT, Padmarajan, Bharathan etc were busy with their work, many excellent projects were made here. That time the main base (identity) of a film was its script. But later, when superstars have dominated over the writers, the quality of the films gradually came down and now it is in a ground level.

Even in tamil we can see hero oriented subjects; movies by Rajnikanth & Vijay belong to such category. But the audience there also respect and appreciate films like ‘Pithamahan’, ‘Paruthiveeran’ and ‘Anjathey’. That kind of liberty, we can’t see with the malayalees when they choose a malayalam project. I don’t think there is enough space here for any films in which there is no “stars”. (The biggest wonder is that malayalees are ready to watch such films happening in other languages at any cost!!!)

‘Subramaniapuram’ is one such tamil film in which you dont find any stars. Here the subject and its presentation is the hero. It is directed by new comer Sasikumar who has also done one of the main characters in the film. Jai (‘Bhagavathi’, ‘Chennai 600028’ fame) has done the lead role. New comer Swathi is the heroine. Ganja Karuppu (‘Raam’, ‘Arai En 305il Kadavul’ fame) has also got a lengthy character. Samudrakkani (director of Viajaykanth movie ‘Neranjamanassu’ ) comes in the villain role and many new faces are also there with a stable support.

The main attraction is the background of the story. This is a film which happens in the 1980’s in the rural area Subramaniapuram of Madurai district. So the team behind has done an excellent work to create the old period as such. Art director Rembon and Costumer Nagaraj in their debut project has done a hectic but excellent job here. By using the “Siruponmani...” song by Ilayaraja for expressing the love, the director has recreated the nostalgic effect of the golden 80’s.

The story of unemployed youths and how the local political leaders take advantage over their loyalty is shown here in a realistic way. The film which is slow paced in the beginning goes through the romance and later it enters into the violent phase. Maybe you might have heard the base story of this film before, but what differs is the way in which the whole episode is conceived. Here the values of friendship, loyalty, love, revenge, dishonesty, wickedness etc is portrayed by the director and the cameraman Kathiir through some outstanding shots.

Sasikumar, who was once associate to directors like Bala in ‘Sethu’ and Aamir in ‘Raam’, has done a brilliant job both as an actor and director. It is not easy to handle such a dual role in the movie medium. New music director James Vasanth has given a memorable duet “kankal irundhaal...”, his background score is also good. All the artists in this film have performed exceptionally well.

‘Subramaniapuram’ is a realistic illustration of the life. Some times there is love and peace, but on the other side there is aggressiveness and violence also in its extreme. Those people who can withstand all these should watch it once.

Rating : 4.5 / 5