An honest effort. Review on Autograph Movie

This being my very first review in this site, I should introduce what kind of a critic I am. I am not a very severe or intelligent movie critic, and I like movies which tries something new rather than show us things we have seen many times before. I'm a fan of all kinds of Tamil and Malayalam movies, may it be action-masala, romance movie or a serious movie. A typical example of the kinds of movies I despise is K3G.

Enough of the introduction and I should get into this poetic movie called Autograph. It is really an apt title because the movie is life story of the main character, played by the director Cheran himself. The movie can be divided into 4 stages. While I do not want to bore you with the details of them, I should briefly mention each of them.

The plot (can be skipped)

Stage 1: High School Days.

In this part of the movie, Senthil, is in high school and he has an affection for his classmate Kamala (played by Mallika). The boy who played Senthil gave a good performance. Although many appreciated the girl who played Kamala, I didnt find her too great, I thought she was adequate. She was better when she played her grown up version. Soon the ''lovers'' had to part their ways and Senthil naturally is upset about the seperation.

Stage 2: College Days in Kerala.

This was my favorite and the most beautiful part of the movie. Senthil finds himself isolated in Kerala since he could not speak the local language malayalam. Although many feel that the ''tamil prestige'' fight was unnecessary, I didnt find any problem with it. From experience I could relate to his feelings of isolation in a place away from home. There he meets his second sweet heart Lathika (played by the naturally beautiful Gopika). The romance between them was directed nicely as many of the scenes were very realistic. The stealing glances, the unsaid love was all there to take us into the world of nostologia. Unfortunately for the lovers, this love also did not materialize.

Stage 3: Freindship with Sneha in Chennai Senthil gradually recovered from his love failure and with the help of Sneha, he became a successful person in life. He met Sneha in Chennai when he was desperate for a job and she helped him in time of need. However, their relationship was nothing more than just friendship.

Stage 4: The marriage As shown in the initial reels of the movie, Senthil invites his old friends and classmates to his wedding with a fourth girl. All the other 3 women and his buddies attend the wedding, and finally the movie closes with a brief message from Senthil.

End of Plot

While the first part was novel and the second part was grasping, the director lost his focus a little in the third part. The episode with Sneha dragged on for too long in my opinion. And since it was just friendship, there was no need to elaborate it for too long. Thankfully, the director regains his focus in the last part, and makes us curious about the happenings. The ending was well done and there is a sense of wholeness we feel at the end of the movie. To be honest, the movie did not evoke any emotions for me during the flashback scenes, but by the end, my heart was defenitely slightly heavy. I think it was mainly due to Gopika. I felt that her and Senthil's love should have fullfilled. But if that was the case, this would've been yet another unrealistic movie and would not have been complete.

All the performances were good, especially Gopika's. She was not the typical, ultra light skinned actress of indian cinema. She was natually beautiful and she had a nice expressive face. Her smile also captivated me. The director Cheran who played Senthil gave in a restrained and quiet performance. Overall the cast selection in the movie, is a slap in the face for people who believe only light skinned actors/actresses can make movies enjoyable. While highly superficial people may not enjoy watching Cheran, I think he was an normal, everyday looking guy,not too bad looking. As for Sneha, although she looks nice, fails to impress me with her acting skills yet again. I somehow find her acting very artificial.

The music in the movie is also commendable, my favorite song being Manasukkule Dhagam with its Tamil and Malayalam mixed https://lyrics. Other songs Njabagam varuthey and Ovoru pookalume was also pretty melodious.

Camera work and other such details was adequate or good. Direction was also very good. I felt that if the screenplay had been a little faster, by cutting some of the Sneha scenes, the movie would've been even better.

Overall, this movie is not for you if you're looking for a fast entertainer. Also its not for superficial people, looking for refined looking actors/actresses and cute melodrama stuff. Its a very realistic and practical movie. Its not a great movie, but it is certainly worth watching especially if you've been in love before.

Watch alone for best emotional results although there is nothing objectionable in this movie.