Virumandi, it turns out, *IS* trapped in a well. Quite literally, it is the well in the land owned by his appatha. He bemoans to Annalakshmi en appatha kenathula vesatha kalakka vittutten. Why else would a well have to be a bone of contention? Of course, water, a resource, is a valid superficial plot point. But again, *these layers legitimately are what* Kamal is all about.
Odhava karankodutha sAmiyE onnathAn adakki oduchadhu pAvam (justifying lore and foreshadowing Virumandi (Kamal) who would try mediating between Kondarasu and Kothaalan and would end up convicted for no fault of his).
Angela requests him to cooperate with her. He initially refuses. From the standpoint of stranger meeting stranger perspective, what Kamal pulled off is mind boggling (read this right away). Factor in the folklore, you are lost for words. Multiple layers, each with its own phenomenal depth exist side-by-side without affecting each other in the same sequence!
Again, how effective is the theme music itself? The darkness and tragedy around Virumandi (both the deity and the mortal) is reflected in the theme. Themes as abstract as they come find a phenomenally precise vent in the theme music. Even in the epilogue, the tragedy of the character holds. Like the deity, the mortal, even if he is physically freed, is likely to be jailed in a pointlessly unhappy future. The theme plays.
It just keeps coming. Even the 2 lines of Karumathur Kaattukkulle that come on screen come as he enters the forest to pee and the hacking begins. It translates so poetically on screen. And the deliberate silence from Raaja before the climax song starts lends an uneasy vacuum before the storm of the song begins. All kinds of FTW.
odukki adachathu pavam sanda prasandankaran marupadi eluntha thanjama nanga enga povom.en virumandi sami kothalana onaku baliya tharen.kamal once said pechiama is called as azhagiya parpanathi pechiyammal in folklore. he referred to it as sanskritization of tribal gods happened at that part of time was clearly elucidated in this words.
just read the whole thing.. very good analysis boss.. and since you have analyzed every nook and corner of the movie here.. I wanted to share one thing which was pointed out by my friend when we watched the movie sometime back.. Quoting your line here:
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Should Death Sentence be awarded to criminals. Who has the right to take the life of a person. So starts the movie.
Angela Kathamuthu as a reporter and who is doing a research on the subject goes to central jail to interview few convicts to know their views. The scheduled person dies accidentally and sub-jailer Peikamman brings her two different person, one who is undergoing life sentence (Kothala Devar) and another sentenced to death (Virumandi).
I need not write the whole story again as it is there in many sites.
Kothala Devar gives the whole picture of what happened and how Virumandi had raped and killed his niece (Annalakshmi). Virumandi is also co-accused in killing of 24 people. This forms the first half of the movie. The script is slightly loose here that audience gets confused. More to do with lot of songs also. There are few loopholes which could have been plugged but its good in a way since it keeps the audience guessing.
By the end of first half it is quite convincing that Virumandi is actually a rapist and murderer.
Peikamman was Police Inspector in the village where Virumandi and Kothala Devar were from. How much corrupt he is is also nicely portrayed. The scene where he takes money from Kothala Devar to write that Virumandi is innocent of killings he is accused of is shown cleanly.
The style of delivering is totally different. Its more of two people, the villian and the innocent telling stories from their view point. I believe a way of story telling not tried till now.
The movie also shows how easy it is for getting drugs and weapons and mobiles in and out from jails with help of jail staff.
Ilayaraja has always excelled with his music in this movie. The background score and song composition are brilliant. In certain areas how he gives a pause for the scene to settle in the audience is sheer brilliance.
Pasupathi as Kothala Devar, Kamal as Virumandi and Abirami as Annalakshmi have all given powerful performances.
The language is another plus point, its a typical village dialect. In some places, the usage of Telugu gives local flavor to the movie.
Kamal has tried to mix violence with romance beautifully in the movie.
The movie suffers from too much depiction of violence. Perfect that killings do happen this way, but this kind never goes well with the audience who are more soft hearted. Even the tough guys would like to see so much blood in the movie.
The movie is too long. Kamal should have tried somehow to reduce the length by making the script more tight and removing certain unnecessary events in the movie.
That there were some gaps in the first half looks to be intentional after watching the second half, but the audience expectation is different. Probably at a different audience this movie would have done well commercially.
Right..desirability of having death sentence..it is an ultimate question..for such type of action you can view shyamtv.com, online tamil tv which is very popular now..effort by some tamil journos who launched shyamradio.com, online free tamil fm during last year and it is a huge hit.
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