When we are in a particular environment for a long time and sudden exposure to the world of different possibilities gives a knee jerk reaction. And if the environment we are prone to is devoid of lot of things and singularly focused on more tough, rigid and emotionally numb actions, then it is sweeping the carpets from our feet. Malli (Ayesha Darkar) goes through this when she spends her last four days in an environment which gives her the sense of socialized peacefulness.The movie directed by well acclaimed cinematographer in Tamil Cinema, Santosh Sivan has created a unique picture amongst the run of the mill Tamil movies. It has the finesse quality of art work to appeal to the world wide audiences. There is no question about the technical application in the movie. One of the best photography I have seen in all kinds of cinemas. Placing the camera in the most peculiar places to bring out the natural element with the touch of unusual artificialness marks the stamp of Santosh Sivan’s brand.
The film is the story of a suicide bomb terrorist, Malli. She is nineteen years old and behind the stern and emotionless face lies more depth of feeling any one could imagine. She is been properly implied as a stone cold killer without any kind of guilt or regret. The political standpoint is not discussed. This is the story of a female at a tender age pushed to the limits of violence to do the unthinkable. Due to her remarkable achievement in her Camp, the leader selects her to carry out assassinating an important person who is said to be blocking their paths towards freedom. The movie is inspired by the terrible horrific event of the Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination. Malli gets dropped at the middle of the forest to be assisted by a kid named Lotus alias Surya (Vishwas). The kid develops immediate attachment towards Malli. Malli as usual provides grim face with no response. The kid says that he has safely assisted 26 people to reach the place where she can be boarded of to the destination. He says every one tells him that they will come back but no one ever returns. Every one did not want to disappoint the kid and destroy his hope. Malli says “Yes” when she is asked the same question. The attachment with him is minimal needs to be understood in a more different perspective. All the people in the camp very rarely get a chance to see the face of innocence. Surya even though is assisting the organization is still a kid who cannot see the blood and flesh shattering. While the film shows lot other children handling the gun, Lotus is not. His face of innocence is the instant connection to Malli.
When she arrives at a place to stay in the house of Vasu (Parameshwaran), things seem different. She sees lot of photographs in the room where she stays. She also gets reminded of the sweet encounter in the most dangerous places. She rescues one of the terrorist when his camp is gets attacked. They spend the night together. And that is where she realizes that the woman in her is looking out.
The film definitely is very well made and strikes the emotional chord properly. Some where in that there seems to be a lack of cohesiveness and ease of flow. It promises a lot but the hesitations and complications in Malli could have been brought more. It is true that she rarely speaks or emotionally lets out, but the soliloquy in her could have been brought up for that.
I am not sure whether it is the sound system I had, but the back ground score marred the clarity of dialogues spoken. In fact I was forced to go for the subtitle since I was not able to listen to the dialogues clearly. Assuming that my sound system is bad, the back ground score still brings down the movie a lot. The repetitiveness in the mood and playing the same piece again and again and again steals away the silence needed at lot of brilliant scenes.
The movie marks a special place of Tamil movies in the arena of international recognition. I liked the originality and the visual appeal it had. The performances were slightly off the mark at couple of places though. It is not a great film but a very nice unique film from a brilliant cinematographer.
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