Iraivi

My review: Iraivi

Karthik Subburaj after his two previously immensely impressive works falters with his self-confessed ode to K.Balachander, Balu Mahendra and Sujatha, "Iraivi". In my opinion Karthik Subburaj's noble intention in doing a movie that deals with the travails and tribulations of women gets diluted and the message gets lost due to the focusless screenplay and unintended glorification of the errant men.

 I don't know where he went wrong exactly but the wrong message seems to have gone into the viewers which is elucidated from the fact that when S.J.Suryah tells "AAn" the crowd goes into raptures while when it is followed by "kevalamana piravigal illa naama" with dead silence. Also the glorification of the male lead leads to even when he shuns the worried father of his wife, people clap and whistle, which is shocking. I think movies such as these are more dangerous than the routine masala crap which objectifies women as no one takes them seriously. 

You know something is wrong when you don't feel for any of the characters in the movie. Be it the hardships undergone by both Ponni and Yazhini, or the final tragedies that befall Arul and Michael, the movie didn't move me emotionally. Some may say it is subtle film making at its best but i doesn't mean that you fail to connect emotionally with the audience. 

When you look at it as a cinema, the making and execution of the shots are all great. Acting is terrific, led by S.J.Suryah in a once in a lifetime performance that might surely get him an award or two, ever reliable Vijay Sethupathi, and brilliant understated work by both the lead ladies, Kamalini Mukherjee and Anjali. The making is first class, technically movie is awesome backed up by brilliant musical score by Santosh Narayanan. 

On the whole, "Iraivi" in my humble opinion didn't made me angry or sad or happy when it ought to, a well made movie which fails to communicate what it wanted to. 

Bottomline: Less about Iravi, more about Sathaan.

2.5/5