Apoorva Sagodharargal

A different entertainer from the haasan stable. Everyone thinks that the dwarf character was introduced by kamal in this film, but he truth is he had appeared as a dwarf in a scene in the KB starrer "Punnagai Mannan" released a few months earlier.

The cast was an unusual one with Nagesh playing a villain (Probably for the 1st time in his career). Dialogues by Crazy & lyrics & music were a BIG PLUS for the film.

Uptil the release of this film, kamal had a string of flops & his career was sliding, but he took a huge risk in producing a film of his kind.

Initially, the script of the film was different & even a few scenes were shot but later, it was modified to give more weightage to the dwarf character.

It ran houseful for 100 days (all shows) in Devi Paradise theatre in chennai.

It is from this film onwards that Kamal started experimenting with challenging roles.

I saw this film first when I was a kid, Recently I saw it again, I had thought that it wont live up to the expectations from when i last saw it. i was wrong, the film is still top notch, the music is great, the editing is spot on, the songs hummable, and the action funny yet believable. Everything in this film is done properly, unlike some of the other films of that era, you feel the pain of appu, it was just great, not to mention it reminded me of my childhood! Most such films use little or no intelligence, surprisingly this film is very clever, the theme of revenge is central to the plot, but the comedy elements are present and fun to laugh at without becoming toilet humor. See this movie if you liked it initially, because it is still as good as it was back then!

If you take a rant of the best actors in Indian cinema( all time ) Kamal haasan would be atleast in the top 5! I don't think I'll finish describing about the God-level of acting( Please watch a few scenes from the film to understand what I'm talking about), beautifully coherent screenplay, witty dialogues (I love the wordplay in movies which has crazy mohan as the writer), heart throbbing music by Ilayaraja and to sum it all, Singeetham srinivas rao's direction! I would describe bout these for years on end. But you ain't got time. So go and watch the film please!

Apoorva Sagodharargal (1989) : Brief Review -

A film which confirmed that Kamal Haasan was No Ordinary Legend, but a Special One. A film which proved that Lost & Found formula with Revenge Tale could be Exclusive. Bollywood and Indian Cinema have seen like hundreds of Revenge dramas with Lost & Found formula. While the early films strike hard due to freshness, the later ones, mostly after 80s looked cliched. People were actually bored to see same stuff again but because of proper branding of Stardom, hit songs and other spicy elements those films worked even in 80s. Or should i say got lucky. Then finally by god's grace, Singeetam Srinivasa Rao brought a change in formula filmmaking with Apoorva Sagodharargal. The experient of physical disability turned out to be the best use of twin brothers lost & found formula ever done in Indian Cinema. Appu and Raja are twins who were separated at birth, grow up in different localities. Appu's quest for revenge begins upon learning that his father was killed by four criminals and then expectedly he crosses path with his brother occasionally. It's highly predictable but still very enjoyable because this dwarf character was new for audience and it is used very intelligently. The same intelligence goes missing at the end when he surrenders so one can find dumb as i did but rest assured, the film gives you no other chance to point a finger at it. What Kamal Haasan has done as Appu & Raja is unbelievable and unmatchable. It's been 30 years already and I haven't seen any actor doing something like this except Kamal Haasan himself in some of later films. The theme of of masala entertainer was becoming outdated thing in late 80s but Apoorva Sagodharargal came to rescue them with fresh ideas and brilliantly justified experiment in commercial potboiler genre. In short, A Timeless Classic!

RATING - 8/10*

By - #samthebestest.

The movie was excellent. As usual Kamal Hassan superb acting. Everybody acted very well in the movie. Songs and BGM in the movie were also fantastic. The movie was not at all boring.