AZHAGARSAAMI

A movie review by Balaji Balasubramaniam

Sundar C, one the more prolific directors in tamil cinema, seems to alternate between full-length comedies and sentimental movies. His Unnai Thedi laid more emphasis on romance and sentiments while Unakkaaga Ellaam Unakkaaga had its sights set on making the audience laugh. Azhagarsaami has sentiments as its main focus and once again proves that he is more adept at this kind of movies than comedies.

The movie definitely begins on a different note. A very pregnant Thaayammaa(Sujatha) wants to borrow money from Radharavi, who has the strict policy of never lending money without the borrower pledging something. Without anything else, Thaayammaa pledges her unborn child to him. Though he refuses and gives her the money anyway, Thaayammaa leaves the child at his doorstep once it is born. Seeing that the child brings him luck, Radharavi opts to keep him, naming him Azhagarsaami(because of its beautiful smile). Azhagarsaami(Satyaraj) grows up as a loyal servant to Radharavi, hurt since his mother never came to take him back. Radharavi has his own sad story. His wife lives in the city with their citybred, arrogant daughter Sujatha(Roja). When his wife dies, he brings Sujatha home with him. His efforts to get her married off in vain, Radharavi forces her to wed Azhagarsaami and she agrees since she would lose her riches otherwise. Their union is extended beyond her original plan when a drunk Azhagarsaami forces himself upon her during the first night and makes her pregnant.

This is a conventional sentimental movie with all the signs of its genre. For instance, Roja does exactly what every city girl does in a village - take a swim and then walk around in skimpy clothing - and the ever-famous 'mother sentiment' oozes in the scene where Satyaraj and Sujatha meet without knowing their relationship. But the movie also plays with our expectations by allowing certain events that don't happen in movies of this sort. For example, Satyaraj knows right from the beginning that he is an orphan and the director does not resort to the overused plot device(which he himself used in Arunachalam) where the son learns late in life that he is an orphan. This leads to a certain unpredictability to the proceedings.

The way the director moves the story along is also commendable. The pacing is excellent and the movie never feels like it is lagging. This is especially true in the first half. The director has some clever moves later too. The condition Satyaraj lays down if he was to leave Roja alone (he director earns points here by not using the 'thaali' sentiment though the situation was ripe for it) shows good thinking on the the part of the director. Roja's change of heart is gradual and natural and the movie does not descend into routine 'taming of the shrew' scenes. There are not many loose ends and the biggest question of why Sujatha never turned up to get her son back is also answered satisfactorily.

The final reels almost spoil the good name the director earned till then though. Roja's actions get increasingly idiotic and Sujatha's action to save her seems unnecessary and over the top. The director resorts to devices like a man getting bitten by a snake to move the story and the technique he uses to prolong the suspense doesn't really work since the subsequent outcome is clear by then.

Satyaraj doesn't have a lot to do but has toned down his shouting. Roja plays the haughty girl role very well. Though starting off poorly (she doesn't care even when her mother is seriously ill and though her hatred towards her father is understandable, her disinterest towards her mother is unfathomable), her character adds gloss by not giving in till the end. Her conversations with her uncle(Vinu Chakravarthy) bring out her hate very well indeed. Satyaraj teams up with Koundamani again after Malabar Police but laughs are few. Koundamani has Senthil too by his side and the scene where they go to fix up Koundamani's wedding evokes laughs even though its an old joke. Deva has another unimpressive soundtrack.