Andha Naal

Considering that this is a murder mystery, the biggest drawback is the suspense. The murderer is pretty much revealed aby the halfway mark, but the investigators take quite a bit more time to identify the killer.

It was fascinating to watch a movie made in 1954, that too one that is set in 1943. I had no idea that Japan had dropped bombs on Chennai during World War II. The acting was very good. The contrasting speeches given at the college were very well done in my opinion.

Overall, a very impressive film with an underwhelming suspense component.

Excellent Movie. Everybody acted very well in the movie. Every scenes in the movie were interesting and thrilling. There is no boring part in the movie. This Movie is one of the Best Tamil Thriller Movie. Excellent Movie.

Being a movie without any songs, Sundharam Balachandar made a daring attempt in bringing out the movie with the help of AVM. It is simply amazing on how each and every character is unique.

I can't think of any negatives as the movie was much ahead of its time. Even My parents weren't born yet at that time!

Positives: To start with Sivaji sir! He gave the much needed grip in the movie where he performs almost perfect with the negatively shaded Radi Engineer - Rajan.

Javar Seetharaman - in his tailor made role, he performed very well in being a smart CID cop.

The neighbor character gives the much needed laugh in this 120 odd minute play whereas the cunning character of sister-in-law of Rajan was done without any mistake at all!

The inspector, wife of Rajan, Classical dancer, Rajan's Brother did their part very well.

I am amused by the details which were given to each and every scene and to every characters! Although the concept was inspired from Rashoman - Kurosawa movie, the story line and screenplay was different from it.

This movie is sure a milestone in Thamizh & Indian cinema !

"Andha Naal" is a Tamil film noir directed by Veenai S. Balachander starring Sivaji Ganesan, Pandari Bai and 'Javert' Seetharaman. It is inspired from the famous Japanese film "Rashomon" which is a film about an incident told from multiple contradicting perspectives but unlike Rashomon, the true incident is shown to us in the climax.

"Andha Naal" is about the investigation of the murder of Rajan (Sivaji Ganesan) where each suspect provides contradicting clues that points someone else as the suspect. 'Javert' Seetharaman plays the intelligent CID officer Sivanandam who does the investigation with this friend police officer. He is also the narrator and screenplay-writer for the film. His screenplay is so intelligent and believable that there is absolutely no plot hole. Sivanandam compares the suspects and the incident to the "Blind Men and the Elephant" story. He finally finds out the culprit using various clues (which you yourself might've noticed towards the end) but mostly thanks to a famous Tamil proverb that instigated an idea in his mind. (I won't spoil that!)

This film as any film noir uses shadows extensively to convey mood and personality of characters. There is also many innovative uses of cinematography like one scene showing Sivaji through a key tray and another scene showing Pandari Bai through a spinning chair's armrest. Sivaji, Pandari Bai and Seetharaman's acting were amazing and believable whereas the brother and brother's wife character did disappointingly overacting but it's forgivable for an old film.

Overall I gave it a 10/10. This film sustains interest even today and makes you realize that if a film has a good script, then you don't need any dance, fight or songs to enjoy it. It's a shame Tamil Cinema turned into a crappy crowd-pleasing 'Mass' movies producing industry. (At the time of writing this review, Alex Pandian is in theaters (facepalm)!)

Nice movie to watch. 1st half is too good with excellent investigation scenes. 2nd half is slightly predictable but overall it's a good movie to watch for the crime thriller fans.