This was a lifetime role for Atharvaa Murali, and boy, did he grab it with such adroitness ! To have a lead role in Bala's film at such a young stage of his career, Atharvaa was simply outstanding as Raasa ! As the innocent and somewhat gullible chap, he delivered a stellar performance, right from the beginning and till the final crescendo. His climax performance was simply too good, as he brought out the intense pain and frustrations of the torturous hell he is trapped into. Take a bow, Atharvaa !! Vedhika, who resembles the yesteryear Srividhya in some sequences, was not far behind, either. Its amazing to see her grasp the inputs of Bala and to perform with aplomb, in a character and setting which is totally alien to her. She delivered perfect and beautiful expressions, and also kudos for her climax performance ! Dhanshikaa delivered a very matured performance, and its highly commendable because the grittiness and seriousness in her character, was very well brought out by her. Besides that, her voice modulation was fantastic, and she got her pronunciation perfectly. A real talent, to look out for ! Popular advertisement filmmaker, Jerry was natural as the vicious and cold-blooded 'Kangaani'. He has different shades to his role, and came out with flying colors, in his first acting assignment. Debutantes, Udhay Karthik and Riythvika, were brilliant and so too the other odd characters and not to forget, the hundreds of hard-toiled junior artistes. Bravo to the whole casting crew !!
The technical crew, worked in sync with the needs of the script. Poornima Ramasamy's costume designing was splendid, and her hard-work, put in research payed off, very well. All the characters were accurately costumed, and the clothes became part of the nature of the characters. Dheepak Bhojraj's opening titles and credits sequences, with those sketches, had a touch of poignancy. M.J Raju and Raj Krishna's sound work was perfectly in sync with the story, as some minute sounds, makes big mark in the film. Debutant art director, C.S Balachander created the perfect environment and setting of the pre-independence Salur village and the pathetic tea plantation squatters. The huts, the 'Panchayat' temple and the rugged terrains were in tandem with the script and he certainly brought out the village alive, for us ! And cinematographer Chezhiyan, captured those important structures, beautifully with his camera. The cinematography, narrated the script in a visualistic manner, thanks to the camera movements. The very dark color tone, further brought out the gloomy environment needed for the script. Fantastic work by both Balanchander and Chezhiyan ! Kishore T.E should be applauded for his concise and crisp editing, by shortening the length of the film to be just above 2 hours.
G.V Prakash Kumar, collaborates with Bala for the first time and he comes out with in-sync tunes. "Kannaalamam Kannaalam" is one of G.V Prakash Kumar's best and different score. The song was written by director Thiagarajan Kumararaja of 'Aaranya Kaandam' fame and it was picturized on a wedding sequences of the people of Salur. Avatha Paiya" is a beautiful melody picturized on the love trysts of the lead pair, Atharvaa and Vedhika, in and around the Salur village. The emotions and expressions of the lead pair, were captured beautifully by Chezhiyan. "Sengaade" has wonderful lighting, and chronicles the treacherous and long journey of the 'Paradesis' to the tea estate. The camera angles brought out the pain and trouble of the junior artistes, who performed in this song. "Senneerthaana" is a pathos song, highlighting the early hardships and troubles faced by the folks, who has started working in the tea estate. Chezhiyan's framing and color scheme for this song, is commendable. "Or Mirugam" further highlights the continuing pain and agony of the characters, which have now realized that, they are trapped in a hell, waiting for their death. The final song, "Thannai Thaane" is the only dance number, which had Master Sivashankar, along with a foreign artiste, dancing and singing in praise of Jesus Christ. G.V Prakash Kumar, scores well in the background music as well, but he should have toned down some overtly melodramatic score, such as the shehnai sound, just before the climax. An experienced composer would have done wonders, but still kudos to G.V Prakash Kumar, for trying his best, in achieving something different.
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To those who are accustomed with Bala's style of film-making, they would know that he shows no remorse in dealing with extremely dark and undocumented topics and settings. Bala's expertise, is his remarkable and extremely bizarre characterizations. In 'Paradesi' too, we get to see intense, raw, gritty and powerful characters. The vision of Bala in sculpting and giving life to his characters, is just unsurpassable by anyone and he continues his terrific form in 'Paradesi' as well. This film, is definitely Bala's most straight-forward and honest film, so far as there is no sugar-coating or deviation in the storyline. Its just a simple, "start-take off-bang-the end" type of narration. Bala's previous films had shocking, brutal, violent and unfathomable climax sequences, but here, its just kept simple. There's only extreme pain, agony, torture and a heart-wrenching ending. There is just pain, after pain, after pain, with no place for whatsoever other emotions, in this latest Bala's offering. Bala's usual "dark comedy" or macabre in nature, is present as well but the humor, is very limited but Nanjil Nadan's dialogues, were in tune with Bala's taste. Especially the in-your-face, crude jokes ! And also the mockery and pot-shot taken at the Church missionaries, who comes for proselytizing purposes, in the pretext of curing people, was hilarious ! Having Rajkiran narrate the starting monologue, was a touch of poignancy from Bala. 'Paradesi' is a laborious and grueling effort from the cast and crew of the film, deserves great appreciation from all
'Paradesi' - Not the "cup of tea" of many, but so much for just a cup of tea in the 1930's ?
Ratings: 4/5 STARS
BY:TAMIL
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