Bala's Paradesi

Among all the noise made about the movie in media - this is the most important byte.
Nanjil naadan on Bala's paradesi
I am looking forward as I loved the 'idalakudi raasa' story..
Now i am officially curious about the movie.

Here is that short story for those who haven't read it before - http://nanjilnadan.com/2010/10/27/%E0%AE%87%E0%AE%9F%E0%AE%B2%E0%AE%BE%E0%AE%95%E0%AF%8D%E0%AE%95%E0%AF%81%E0%AE%9F%E0%AE%BF-%E0%AE%B0%E0%AE%BE%E0%AE%9A%E0%AE%BE-%E0%AE%A8%E0%AE%BE%E0%AE%9E%E0%AF%8D%E0%AE%9A%E0%AE%BF%E0%AE%B2/

Deeply affecting. Little hopes on this film though...

* Don't mind the அடி உதை

*But the insanity to release that as a trailer? In his world he probaby thinks this is such an audacious move

*The 'reality in the making' etc., WTF is that? It's actually immature and silly.

Really? Is this the trailer?

INSANE!

going by his past records, Bala seems to be an equal opportunity employer






really wish Vizay gets to 'work' with him :noteeth:

a blog post about the movie

பாலா என்ற ஒரு இயக்குநர் வெளியில் தெரியும் முன்பே அவருக்கு எல்லாமாக இருந்து ஆசி வழங்கியவர் இளையராஜா. தன் இசையால் அவர் படைப்புகளுக்கு அர்த்தம் தந்தவர். ஆனால் இந்தப் படத்தில் முதல் முறையாக ராஜா குடும்பத்துக்கு வெளியில், ஜி.வி.பிரகாஷிடன் இணைந்திருக்கிறார் பாலா. ஆனால் மனசுக்குள் ராஜா மேல் உள்ள மரியாதையைக் காட்ட, படத்தின் இறுதி வடிவத்தை இளையராஜாவுக்குக் காட்டி ஆசி பெற முடிவு செய்துள்ளாராம்

Rediff and Sify have glowing reviews.Tempted to watch it but after Nandha and PM,I have sworn off Bala films.

Not sure if I will have to break the vow.

Pithamagan ungalukku pidikkalaiyaa? enakku romba pidichcha padam. Looking forward to Paradesi.
Thanks Wizzy for the 30 minute video of making of Paradesi. Bala.

Lot of glowing reviews...look at this blog:

http://nadunadapu.com/?p=15156

படத்தில் நிச்சயமாக ஏதோ ஒரு லயிப்பு இருக்கிறது இருக்கிறது. இந்தப் படத்துக்கு பாடல்கள் அவ்வளவு அவசியம் என்று தோன்றவில்லை. பின்னணி இசை பலருக்கு பிடிக்கவில்லை, அல்லது, இளையராஜா இருந்தால் நன்றாக இருக்கும் என்ற கருத்தை ஏற்படுத்தியுள்ளதை தியேட்டரில் பார்க்க முடிந்தது.

ஆனால், நிஜம் அதுவல்ல

இன்றைய ட்ரென்டில், அந்த நாளைய (1930களில் தொடங்கும் படம்) சூழ்நிலையில் கம்போஸ் பண்ணப்பட்ட இசை என்ற ரீதியில் அருமையாக உள்ளது. படம் தாக்கத்தை ஏற்படுத்துவதில், பின்னணி இசைக்கும் பங்குண்டு.

Glad to see so many negative reviews for the music. Up yours, GVP.

I will watch once the DVD is out. I still have little hopes on Bala, but can't fathom why would he not go to Raaja for this subject. And all his non-Raaja movies have been << Raaja-associated ones.

It's been more than a decade since I saw a Bala film-Nandha in 2001 and PM in 2003.

Personally I felt a lack of connect with the characters in both the films.Surya's mom's character in Nandha was irritating and the feeling in the climax was exactly how I felt for Mythili En kaadhali,was willing the lead character to die so that the film ends.

As for PM,Vikram did not deserve a NA,very artificial acting.There have been other howlers like NA for Anil Kapoor for Pukar and Saif for Hum Tum and so this award has lost it's value but still.

Same lack of connect with this film's characters too-Vikram,Surya,Sangitha,Laila(where is she now?).

Between PM and PD,he has made only NK and AI,right? have seen bits of both on TV,whatever I watched did not tempt me to see it in full.

Have written this before too,strictly IMO,Bala's guru Balu Mahendra made films where the audience invested in the happenings on screen,with Bala,there is always an aloofness.

Connect-e illama eppadi rasikka mudiyum?

Now hope Bala admirer Jai Ganesh comes and demolishes my argument

BRangan review, the hindu

For, finally, this is a mainstream movie. There is a love angle (with the lovely duet, ‘Avatha paiya’). And as counterpoint to this duet, there are three dirges that play over scenes of suffering. There is aural melodrama (an overbearing score that strives to amp up the tragedies tenfold). There is visual melodrama, as in the frame where the palm of a dying man rises slowly and dramatically from the bottom of the screen. And there are villains in the form of sneering, unfeeling whites, who laugh about the news that their employees are being felled by the plague. These traditional commercial-film elements are an odd fit in a film that’s attempting to be something wholly different. Paradesi is an important lesson on a forgotten chapter of history, but as cinema, Bala’s truest isn’t up there with Bala’s best.
...
Bottomline: Not up with Bala’s best.

only Bala can handle this kind of a subject with so much finesse..visual story telling with minimal dialogues and melodrama,classic moments are sprinkled all over the film.performance wise vedhika is annoying.otherwise all have done well.only thing thats irking me is why the hell didnt Bala go to Raja sir for this movie..he would have taken it to a different league all together .definitely he is missed.

CF wrote:It's been more than a decade since I saw a Bala film-Nandha in 2001 and PM in 2003.

Personally I felt a lack of connect with the characters in both the films.Surya's mom's character in Nandha was irritating and the feeling in the climax was exactly how I felt for Mythili En kaadhali,was willing the lead character to die so that the film ends.

As for PM,Vikram did not deserve a NA,very artificial acting.There have been other howlers like NA for Anil Kapoor for Pukar and Saif for Hum Tum and so this award has lost it's value but still.

Same lack of connect with this film's characters too-Vikram,Surya,Sangitha,Laila(where is she now?).

Between PM and PD,he has made only NK and AI,right? have seen bits of both on TV,whatever I watched did not tempt me to see it in full.

Have written this before too,strictly IMO,Bala's guru Balu Mahendra made films where the audience invested in the happenings on screen,with Bala,there is always an aloofness.

Connect-e illama eppadi rasikka mudiyum?

Now hope Bala admirer Jai Ganesh comes and demolishes my argument

OK.. we are dancing on thin ice here.. Still I will give you one reason why Pithamagan is right next to Naan KadavuL as baala's best and why it is a great cinema. By definition great cinema is not one that gives everybody great satisfaction - which is why everyone keeps touting movies like sholay, Do aankhein baaraa hath as great cinema. Great cinema should make the viewer restless and disoriented and affect him or her from various angles - the creative vision should not be a simple "This is it" and the viewer goes "Yeah I got that" - It should be sufficiently layered that the viewer needs to go on a travel of his/her own and keep discovering new dimensions from that original thought/feeling that germinated in their mind when they saw it - you can pretty much take this statement and remove the word cinema and substitute with any other creative product , "literature","cuisine", "photograph","painting" etc.,. I hope you get the drift of that.. Now forgive my condescending tone and ponder this. Pithamagan , when I saw in 2003 fall - was a story of 3 travelers in the road of life brought together and pulled apart by fate - with one of them losing the first glimpse of cheerfull human life and it is his tragedy that is the most poignant of all - Offcourse there is a love story and a depiction of Exploitation (a pet theme of Bala). So that is how i saw it and appreciated it back then. Today morning when i read your post on Pithamagan - a different thought came upon me. It was how the three characters have been conceived and put together there by Bala - many say a cheesy coincidence and still many struggle to come to terms with the main character of Siddhan. An animalistic being. The thought that I had/have is this..

Instead of seeing Sithan Sakthi Gomathi as three separate entities, we have to see them as

Gomathi

Sakthi A triumverate of entities conjoined to be one being - Human

Siththan

Gomathi is the feminine self that every person has - strong and resolute but caring - she notices siththan who was being chased away from a local tiffin hotel and takes him into her fold. Sakthi - is the masculine presence - the man of the household - he is rational and tries to logically think through situations and is loaded with wit and humour. Siththan is the animal/beast in us . Not to be alarmed - I am not using the term beast in a biblical sense. More of the basic animal - the unevolved presence which we were millions of years ago - purely going by survival instincts - thereby totally below the plane of all human social constructs. When the three come together - there is humanity even in the fringes and the evil personified by the owner of the ganja plantation cannot tolerate the birth of humanity in his alley where humans are appreciated only for their "animal" value (which is why he takes siththan into his fold) and therein is setup the eternal conflict of Human Vs.Evil - See how cleverly Bala removes "Godliness" from the equation - which he brings in Naan Kadavul to only refute the effectiveness/plausibility of God in the climax there.

So a great cinema which pithamagan is , is still creating ripples of thought within me - what enabled me was the open minded acceptance of the mileu and the fact that I have already signed in to his earlier ventures (sethu and nandhaa). For others it just takes a little patience I guess.

arumai [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Jai,


Now you know why I dragged you into this

Have very bad memories of Nandha,do not have the courage to revisit that one but PM,yes,will watch it and see if 10 years have made any difference to the way I respond.

Paradesi - still in two minds,might end up watching it this week.You still to watch???

CF wrote:Jai,


Now you know why I dragged you into this

Have very bad memories of Nandha,do not have the courage to revisit that one but PM,yes,will watch it and see if 10 years have made any difference to the way I respond.

Paradesi - still in two minds,might end up watching it this week.You still to watch???

Nanda is an uneven watch. But it has its moments of Freudian brilliance.
I will watch paradesi in a day or two. The chance of seeing a balance movie cannot be simply missed.
Read some kamal comparisons in other forum. I like bala's atheism in movies more than Jamal's vazhaporathu vaza kozha kozha.

nandha is nothing without the rajkiran character...

2040 wrote:nandha is nothing without the rajkiran character...

plus 0.9

(That remaining 10% is for mun paniyA )

app_engine wrote:

2040 wrote:nandha is nothing without the rajkiran character...

plus 0.9

(That remaining 10% is for mun paniyA )

++
best of yuvan for me... SPB deserved a big award for his modulations here...
i liked the barani song too... the instruments, the interludes, the haunting feel it gives... a unique experience...

Jai, wonderful post. I have to watch again then.

Jai [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

sethu is still my favourite Bala film.after reading your post,i want to revisit pithamagan now.

jaiganesh wrote:

CF wrote:It's been more than a decade since I saw a Bala film-Nandha in 2001 and PM in 2003.

Personally I felt a lack of connect with the characters in both the films.Surya's mom's character in Nandha was irritating and the feeling in the climax was exactly how I felt for Mythili En kaadhali,was willing the lead character to die so that the film ends.

As for PM,Vikram did not deserve a NA,very artificial acting.There have been other howlers like NA for Anil Kapoor for Pukar and Saif for Hum Tum and so this award has lost it's value but still.

Same lack of connect with this film's characters too-Vikram,Surya,Sangitha,Laila(where is she now?).

Between PM and PD,he has made only NK and AI,right? have seen bits of both on TV,whatever I watched did not tempt me to see it in full.

Have written this before too,strictly IMO,Bala's guru Balu Mahendra made films where the audience invested in the happenings on screen,with Bala,there is always an aloofness.

Connect-e illama eppadi rasikka mudiyum?

Now hope Bala admirer Jai Ganesh comes and demolishes my argument

OK.. we are dancing on thin ice here.. Still I will give you one reason why Pithamagan is right next to Naan KadavuL as baala's best and why it is a great cinema. By definition great cinema is not one that gives everybody great satisfaction - which is why everyone keeps touting movies like sholay, Do aankhein baaraa hath as great cinema. Great cinema should make the viewer restless and disoriented and affect him or her from various angles - the creative vision should not be a simple "This is it" and the viewer goes "Yeah I got that" - It should be sufficiently layered that the viewer needs to go on a travel of his/her own and keep discovering new dimensions from that original thought/feeling that germinated in their mind when they saw it - you can pretty much take this statement and remove the word cinema and substitute with any other creative product , "literature","cuisine", "photograph","painting" etc.,. I hope you get the drift of that.. Now forgive my condescending tone and ponder this. Pithamagan , when I saw in 2003 fall - was a story of 3 travelers in the road of life brought together and pulled apart by fate - with one of them losing the first glimpse of cheerfull human life and it is his tragedy that is the most poignant of all - Offcourse there is a love story and a depiction of Exploitation (a pet theme of Bala). So that is how i saw it and appreciated it back then. Today morning when i read your post on Pithamagan - a different thought came upon me. It was how the three characters have been conceived and put together there by Bala - many say a cheesy coincidence and still many struggle to come to terms with the main character of Siddhan. An animalistic being. The thought that I had/have is this..

Instead of seeing Sithan Sakthi Gomathi as three separate entities, we have to see them as

Gomathi

Sakthi A triumverate of entities conjoined to be one being - Human

Siththan

Gomathi is the feminine self that every person has - strong and resolute but caring - she notices siththan who was being chased away from a local tiffin hotel and takes him into her fold. Sakthi - is the masculine presence - the man of the household - he is rational and tries to logically think through situations and is loaded with wit and humour. Siththan is the animal/beast in us . Not to be alarmed - I am not using the term beast in a biblical sense. More of the basic animal - the unevolved presence which we were millions of years ago - purely going by survival instincts - thereby totally below the plane of all human social constructs. When the three come together - there is humanity even in the fringes and the evil personified by the owner of the ganja plantation cannot tolerate the birth of humanity in his alley where humans are appreciated only for their "animal" value (which is why he takes siththan into his fold) and therein is setup the eternal conflict of Human Vs.Evil - See how cleverly Bala removes "Godliness" from the equation - which he brings in Naan Kadavul to only refute the effectiveness/plausibility of God in the climax there.

So a great cinema which pithamagan is , is still creating ripples of thought within me - what enabled me was the open minded acceptance of the mileu and the fact that I have already signed in to his earlier ventures (sethu and nandhaa). For others it just takes a little patience I guess.

Superb writing !! [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]
Paradesi paakkalaama vendamaa-nu confusion-la irundhEn, ippO adhu kooda pithaa magan-aiyum paakka vachutteenga!

Nice writing jaiganesh on pithAmagan!

I've seen it once (on DVD) and liked it. Of course, watched the 'iLangAththu veesuthE' many times on youtube, for the nice picturization.

That movie, to me, was mildly inspired from the 'nandhavanaththil Or ANdi' short story that we had in +2 (one of the best works of Jeyakanthan IMHO).

Bala seems to read such writers quite a bit (me too read 'uttalakkudi rAjA' by nAnjil nAdan after Bala mentioning it in some interview and was touched by it).

Despite all the appreciation I have for Bala, paradEsi will be watched only if I'm forced-to (by circumstances).

All said and done, another IR-traitor, like BR & MR

app_engine wrote:Nice writing jaiganesh on pithAmagan!

I've seen it once (on DVD) and liked it. Of course, watched the 'iLangAththu veesuthE' many times on youtube, for the nice picturization.

That movie, to me, was mildly inspired from the 'nandhavanaththil Or ANdi' short story that we had in +2 (one of the best works of Jeyakanthan IMHO).

Bala seems to read such writers quite a bit (me too read 'uttalakkudi rAjA' by nAnjil nAdan after Bala mentioning it in some interview and was touched by it).

Despite all the appreciation I have for Bala, paradEsi will be watched only if I'm forced-to (by circumstances).

All said and done, another IR-traitor, like BR & MR

I heard some BGM by GVP and one song - there is a tremendous "aping Raja" - donno if it was due to pressure by Bala - one hamsanandhi number and BGM that tried to be so pithamagan like... It is almost like Bala taking pains/risk to prove why his films need Raaja to annotate the visuals - some times accentuate and some times mitigate but most importantly .. narrate. I would say next time bala should do a GM and make a movie without any BGM if his intention is to show that he alone is the king in his project (Offcourse that is a fool hardy thing that not even Coen bros or Spielberg have tried to do just to prove a point). I cannot fault GVP here - he is dealt with a material far beyond his calibre.