Paradesi

PARADESI movie review by me.

Paradesi movie is about lost paradise.(Just juggle the words paradise,paradesi will come,actually the story is about people who leave their place on lookout for better future (paradesi looking out for paradise) but here as how the words can be juggled their life was juggled to Hell.

Just now seen "Paradesi" movie,I got involved in the movie so much,the tears came when exactly the climax came even though I don't know it is Climax,that is Direction at its best,kudos Bala.

Cons:The movie reminded me of Apocalypto at some scenes but it is the story about "paradesi's" who were same and who were cheated and tortured like this.

Pros:Whenever we go to tourist places in TamilNadu and Kerala border we just take picture of Tea estate and Tea plantation but this movie rather pictures their History,sufferings,life in ancient India.

I never seen a Indian movie hero living in a Hut in a movie or be it shots shot inside a Hut or treated like beggar in the Indian movies of this past decade.

Verdict:If you love drinking a cup of tea,please see the movie and feel the aroma of this movie,which extracts not tea from tea leaves but Blood from this leaves.

This movie is adapted from the novel named "Red Tea" by Paul Harris Daniel ,which I believed and the people who watched this movie or those who have read the novel will believe as aptly named.

Director:Bala

The movie which is inspired from the original events from the period of British India is not a conventional movie which is being produced in large amounts in India. The screenplay does not drag a bit.

The movie has some brilliant performances from a relatively new cast. With humor as the vehicle, the characterization was given a good ride in the first half of the movie.

The movie touches the themes of slavery and labor exploitation . The movie reminded me of subtle comparison of corporate world controlling people's lives even in today's world.

The movie will make you speechless. P.S : This is not a movie for mainstream audience.

Paradesi is by far Bala's best film. With no compromise on commercial aspects the movie literally relives the lives of the famine stricken people of southern India under the rule of the British.

One can watch this movie simply to enjoy the language and the Tamil slang the people of that age used.

At the end of the movie one would have gone through all emotions; happiness, sadness, laughter, pain, fear, pity. Though the story is adapted from 'Eriyum Panikadu' a Tamil translation of the 1969 novel Red Tea by Paul Harris Daniel this film has got a flavor of its own. The narrative style of the Director makes you feel as though you are one of the characters in the movie. The movie actually sucks the audience into it for its entire length leaving the audience much to think about in the end.

Any person who enjoyed the movie would want to read the novel, any person who has already read the novel will enjoy the movie even more.

Coming to the technical aspects, the film has already won the National award for Best costume designs. The Camera work is noteworthy,specially in the initial scenes. The background score is descent and the songs go well with the flow of the movie. The lead characters have excelled individually however the rest of casting could have been a little better.

All in all Paradesi is a movie to watch, a movie to live,a movie to learn from..

A milestone in Tamil cinema! Bala has done complete justice to the story and plot he has chosen to showcase.A movie that will make you travel with every character for almost 2 hours and for sure at some point you will feel you are in the same world they are in, which itself is enough to say why Bala is a master of story teller. Bala has told this story about the Indian slaves in tea estate in his usual style - raw and rustic, not compromising his views for any commercial reasons, very daring particularly when portraying the intentions of Christian missionaries. Whatever he wanted his viewers to feel, he achieved with his perfection Every artist in this movie, we must say, has lived their character.Lead character in this movie is just one among the slaves, a innocent who cant even stand for himself, leads a lowerly life of waiting for food and his own independence most of his time. Bala just thrashes the formula we held ourselves for movies and heroes once again. Music, cinematography adds strength to the movie I personally feel Bala's best is yet to come. Eagerly awaiting his next one

Paradesi (2013) Review: Joining the genre of adapted screen play "Paradesi" opens up as an authentic period play. This is a true story adapted from a Tamil novel named "Eriyum Panikadu" which is the Tamil version of the novel named "Red Tea". Bala has given us yet another close to nature realistic story of the natives of Saalur village. The story line time travels back to the year 1930 when the British government basically involved in the business of tea plantation. The entire movie shows how Indians have been brutalized by the British lords. Director Bala has depicted clearly about the slavery treatment and the harassment in all forms may it be to the sexual abuse or the merciless punishments and thrashing the Indian slave employees. Interestingly we also observe how in those days poverty was taken advantage for religious conversion. Director Bala for sure has done tremendous research to showcase this film.

After the king maker the director let us see how casting has helped out in this movie. Coming to the lead role by Adharva Murali has shown such matured acting in the role of Raasa allies Otti Poriki. He has lived the role and it shows how he has been moulded by the director. He can now proudly join the "Bala stars Band wagon" along with Vikram, Surya,Aarya and Vishal. The lead ladies done by Dhanshika and Vedhika C Kumar, both of them have done picture perfect.Dhanshika reminds us of Muthalagu with her commanding base voice tone and Vedhika did perfect on her role but could have maintained her tanned look evenly throughout the movie. Other small 200 characters has lived really and added strong basement to the story. Special mention would be the newly married couple. Dialogues by the Ace Tamil writer Naanjil Naadan were too raw in certain places. BGM has been a definite plus to add the grieving silence in the movie and songs as well by GV. Very nice cinematography to show the period colour on celluloid. The editing was little dragging towards the end. Verdict: On the whole get in for a 2hour 5 mins film stripping and showcasing the black pages of Indian history.

Reviewed by Sivakumar Balachandran

(bsiva84@gmail.com)