Jan 07, 2008 08:24 AM
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We have seen many colleges in Indian Cinema, where smoking boys will sit on bikes and eve tease the girls, with stupid teachers and rowdy students loitering here and there. But as a change Balaji Sakthivel's 'Kalluri' (College) is very refreshing with its realistic approach of characterizations and situations. His early film 'Kaadhal' was a trendsetter and now this film also produced by director Shankar, seems to be one.
A group of nine students from a village with poor and average backgrounds join the B.A.History course in the Govt. Arts College. They are childhood friends and here too settle as a gang. A city girl who is waiting for her admission in the Birla Institute, temporarily joins the same course, as her grandparents live in this town. She is so involved with this gang, she refuses to go to New Delhi to join the course. The rural students are very happy with this new friendship. Her complexion, style and slang are very different from theirs. One of the gang, Kayalvizhi is very strict that there should be no romance between any of the members and only friendship should prevail.
But there seems to be an undercurrent of infatuation between the city girl and Muthu, the athlete boy. More than friendship, they feel a different thing going between them. Their self respect, family situation and the responsibility of not mixing friendship and romance prevent them from crossing their limits. In the film's climax, during their educational tour, the ugly hands of politics sets fire to their college bus and the three girls are charred to death.
The climax scene is based on a real incident that happened a few years back. When Ms.Jayalalitha was jail sentenced for corruption, her cadre went on a violent spree, and a bus of Agri University, Coimbatore was set fire at Dharmapuri along with the girls in the bus, by some partymen. Why this incident has been added to this movie is a great question. His previous experiences had made the Director more wiser now, it seems. For his 'Kaadhal' he was sued by the particular school, which he mentioned in his film. Here he is so timid, he doesn't even mention where the story takes place.
In sign boards, or banner of the tour bus, or in cultural events, nowhere the location of the College is mentioned; Just Govt. Arts College. Though the bus torching happened in Tamil Nadu he has carefully marked it as Andhra Pradesh.
The actors have given tremendous performances. All are new faces with rustic features and are really suited for their roles. Even the characters and faces of their parents are very realistic. As a former student of Govt. Colleges, I can easily vouch for the authencity of the College and the inter collegiate meet portrayed here. And you can find B.A.History only here. The director has also easily avoided the caste variations that we find in the village students in real life. Cinematographer Chezhian, has never crossed his limits in portraying the dusty areas and dark complexions. I wished the director should have made a more strong statement against the mindless violence on innocent students by partymen.
Though slagging in parts, 'Kalluri' is a must see for Cinema lovers.
