Last 2024 sun has set in every part of the world and a new year is beckoning us with new promises.
To everyone reading this, wish you a very Happy New Year.
While another year has gone, I continue on my path to watch movies as year before that and before that. Not a lot of movies are worth talking about. And not all movies I watch are released in that year itself.
As time devoted to this pursuit has wavered, I have to be more judicious on my consumption.
With that preamble out of way, this is about a beautiful movie in 2024 that I ended up watching during the last days of 2024.
Meiyazhagan
This is Tamil language movie starring two stalwarts of Indian cinema: Arvind Swamy and Karthi.
Story is simple - a person returns to their native town after a long time to attend a wedding and meets a relative about whom he has forgotten. But simplest stories pulls you in, makes you experience every single frame, every single dialogue, background score.
Cinematography
I am a hobbyist photographer. So I like a frame when it is beautifully shot. I love static long shots. They let you in seamlessly in the frame, observe the nuances, colors, lightning, shadow.
For example there is one specific instance in the movie, where Arvind’s character is mad with Karthi’s. So he asked to be dropped to a lodging facility. They ride on scooter, and stop bang in the middle of the road. Karthi is waiting on his scotter in the middle of the scooter with soft yellow street light while Arvind visits lodges on either side of road and comes out gagging. That scene is such a brilliant scene with its symmetrical framing with Karthi being the middle point, there is background night activities and Arvind stumbling from both sides one after another.
There are many such example in the movie where framing is masterfully and thoughtfully done. Another shot is Arvind laying food for all the parrots on his terrace just after the prologue. It is very bright shot but the color contrast provided by green parrots eating food draws your eyes away from the brightness of the morning.
Background Score
I am not a native Tamil speaker so while I did like the music and songs, I couldn’t understand the impact of the lyrics. The english subtitles don’t quite capture the emotion portrayed in the songs. But with background score, there is no such issue.
Highlight of it was the emotional reunion scene between Arvind and his sister. Although, I dislike slow motion in general - I believe it has been overdone to death now - I think it was apprpriate at that stage and didn’t feel too slow either. A simple exchange of anklets but so impactful.
Dialogues
These were the highlights even when I am not a native speaker. After a long time, I have seen a movie that is so much driven by the dialogues between characters. Arvind’s annoyed but polite responses to Karthi’s cheerfulness was an amzing contrast. And conversation flow was smooth. It never felt like characters are forced to say something to move the plot forward.
Screenplay
Story was simple, but screenplay was exquisite. There was underlying drama of relatives cheating the protaganist’s family of the ancestral wealth and but it remained as backdrop. There was no focred romance - just two man who love their families and wives.
There was ample opportunity to delve into the history and karmic balance of the central point of main character’s aloofness to his extended relatives but it never became the focal point. I believe, there was just one shot that showed those relatives.
The conversation was always between Karthi and Arvind, and their shared memories and connections with city.
Performances
Arvind’s performance was masterful. His restricted struggling man who has fond memories of a place but bitter end draws you in. You want to root for that person to reconnect with his town, his better relatives. You understand his motivations of getting out that place ASAP but also understand his quite walks around his old house.
Karthi’s on the other hand was abundandlty cheerful. He played his character with energy, who is happy in his life and has done better than ever hoped for. He makes for the fun quotient of the film. One scene stands out where he salutes the cobra in the backyard where earlier he stated that they are harmless while his wife worries sick.
Final verdict
Watch it without increasing the speed of playback, without skipping the songs and if possible in a single sitting. Watch it for the artists at the peak of their craft and admire on what is possible. You don’t always need heavy CGI, action, romance or plot twists - sometimes simple conversations are enough.
All of us would either know or have felt like Arvind’s character in some moments of our life. Finding a Karthi to ground us and make us remmeber our good nature would be a blessing.
This movie is available on Netflix India.