Best inde-tamil movie ever. Review on Aval Appadithan Movie

There are a few Tamil movies that have moved me so much to change my life course; one of the movies is Raagamanjiri’s 'Aval Appadithan'. Directed by Rudariah a student of the Madras Film Institute. This movie was released in the year 1978.

The movie has an excellent set of characters, not just the leads (Manju played by Sripirya, Arun Played by Kamal Hasan, Thyagu Played by RajniKanth), but all of them display exceptional duplication of people in real life.

Manju is a woman who happens to have a very bad childhood; she comes through a path of tainted experiences caused by treacherous people. All her bad experiences shape her to become coarser with people. She is cold and numb to emotions (or she pretends to be) - a typical woman who's bold and eccentric. Thyagu is the manager of the firm in which Manju works. Thyagu is a typical sexist 'Tamil bachelor' who doesn’t really respect women. "A prejudiced male ass" as he calls himself. He drinks, parties, doesn’t waste any chance of ‘exploiting’ a woman’s ‘weaknesses’.

Arun is a friend of Thyagu’s, who comes to Madras to shoot a documentary on women and their position in the society, in various angles. Arun, unlike a typical bachelor, has an entirely different mindset about women, he’s calm and analytical. He deals everything patiently and does a lot of thinking before he forms an opinion about anyone or anything.

All these three entirely different characters share, or expose rather, a small part of their lives in the same time period with each other. Manju who works in an advertising firm comes forward to help Arun with his project. During this period, Arun develops a kind of love for Manju in spite of her relentlessly rude behaviour and neglect. When all his efforts fail to clasp Manju’s trust, he decides to save the last bit of self respect he’s got and get back home(Coimbatore). Meanwhile, Manju decides to open up only to realize that he’s already gone. When she hears that Arun is coming back to Madras, she rushes to see him. But, a bad surprise awaits her - Arun is now married and he’s with his new wife (played by Saritha). At this point when they (Arun, his new wife, Manju, Thyagu) happen to travel in the same car, unequalled exchange of words takes place.

Manju to Arun’s wife: What do you think about women’s liberation?

(she shows no sign of reception)

Arun Translates it for her: Pengal sudhandhiram pathi enna nenaikureenga’nu kekaraanga?

Arun’s wife says: Adha pathi enakku onnum theriyadhu

Manju responds with a grin: adha naaladhan neenga sandhoshama irukkeenga

As the movie ends, a background voice says “Manju meendum irandhu ponaal, aval irappal, pirappal, pirappal, irappal. . . . . Aval Appadithan” (Manju died again; she dies, takes birth, takes birth, dies again. . . that’s what she is).

The movie, although it might seem otherwise, does not have characters that are hard to imagine in real life. May be that’s why it affects you the way it does. But the movie doesn’t carry any propaganda. It does not preach “women’s liberation”. It shows a few vile women and a slightly increased proportion of vile men, which is probably the correct ratio in reality. Everything it deals with – friendship, love, failures and disappointments – has a tone of irony.

The dialogues are very simple and natural, yet very strong. Some of them just pound your head because of the unspoken truths they carry. The picturization is pretty simple and neat, no dramatic angles and garbled lighting. Music is by Ilayaraja, three songs and all of them are too good. One sung my Kamal himself.

All the lead roles play their characters fairly well. Especially Sri Priya. She manages to keep out of the “pudhumai pen wannabe” characters in Balachander movies. Sri Priya is completely unassuming. She does just what her character asks of her. No melodrama, no exaggerated expressions. Rajini and Kamal blend well with their roles too. It’s almost impossible to get that chemistry or maturity on screen with actors today.

I would say this one is arguably the best independent movie ever made in Tamil Cinema. The subject the movie deals with is very sensitive. It’s such a shame that things have only gotten worse after 25 years. It only ratifies my cynicism; the subjugation of women by men, worse, by women themselves (not quite realizing what they are doing), is never going to end.

Watch it here: https://dailymotion.com/englishtamil/video/xqm9s_aval-appadithan

Podcast: https://podbazaar.com/object/program-episode/read/144115188075856529?k=E2C7DD897
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