Thavamai Thavamirundhu

In the current era of commercial “masala” films reining the Kollywood Empire, it’s really a god’s gift to get to view movies like TT. Hats off to Cheran for presenting an excellent masterpiece that would keep you engrossed for full 3and a half hours. He is always known for making offbeat films and has won awards for almost all his movies. TT comes after his “Autograph”, last year’s biggest blockbuster and so it is bound to create much hype and hoopla. Ultimately it has not only lived up to the expectations but can be classified as one of the classics of Tamil cinema.

Muttiah(Raj kiran) is a kind and affectionate father who would do anything for his two sons (cheran and senthil).He rides them to school on his bicycle ,goes to work in the same city and doesn’t worry about the pains involved in the task. Both the sons are equally loved by their mother(Charanya). As time flies the sons grow big and Muttiah runs from pillar to post for their educational expenses. But the two of them have no respect for their father’s hardships and are inclined towards enjoying the fun of youth. Later the elder one (senthil) gets a job in a leather company and starts earning. Instead of ending his father’s debt he spends them on unwanted things. Finally he gets married and there is a constant feud between the bride and mother. So they decide to shift to another place leaving the parents. Meanwhile cheran too joins an engg college and naturally falls in love with Padmapriya. Circumstances lead them to get physical and the girl gets pregnant. Cheran decides to move to the city with Padma and search for a job .Both his parents have no acquaintance of these happenings. At one point muttiah learns of his son’s wretched life in the city and gives him a surprise visit . Cheran begs for forgiveness and muttiah feels sorry for his sufferings. They (Cheran and padma) later go to his home and win over the mother also through their new born child. Step by Step they get a job and earn a comfortable position in life. They bring the parents to the city and gratify them to the fullest. How life goes on and the parents ultimately find their respective places in heaven forms the remaining.

One of the biggest highlight of the movie is Rajkiran. As a small kid I have always viewed this man as some psychotic person with protruding eyes, arrogant look and always beating up the baddies. But this performance proves how wrong I’m. He surely portrayed his acting strength in “nanda” and “pandavar bhoomi” but here he has lived the character of Muttiah. The sadness in his eyes and the tension in his nerves in various scenes are so realistic. Especially the last few words he utters before his death are sure to stay alive in our minds for a long time. All the credit goes to cheran for squeezing the real stuff out of Rajkiran. It is really a tough task to grade his performance and in the process you may go out of words. So I would like to be as concise as possible. Charanya too handles the mother role with ease. Cheran matures as an actor here. Padmapriya and the remaining cast are apt in their respective roles.


Another point worth noting is the excellent cinematography. The camera focus and movements are so brilliant. Cheran must also be appreciated for the indigenous handling of the music. He has given a musical touch to every element in the movie. In a nutshell we must be really lucky to have master creators like Cheran just like Hollywood which still holds its head high with prodigies like Spielberg and Peter Jackson