Nandhalala Movie Review

Story: Longing for the love of his absentee mother, Akhilesh (Ashwath Ram) bunks a school educational tour and sets out for a distant town to meet her.

Review: On the way, he meets Bhaskar Mani (Mysskin), who has broken out of the mental asylum he was confined to, also in search of his mother as he is angry with her for leaving him there. Fate forces them to travel together, and they learn some important lessons about life and love.

Yes, "Nandhalala" is influenced by Japanese director Takeshi Kitano's "Kikujiro" (which incidentally was also the name of his father) in that it also focusses on the journey of a child and a much older man, and this has been acknowledged by Mysskin who considers Kitano, also known as 'Beat' Takeshi, one of his gurus. But Mysskin has used that basic premise to tell his own story, one which is his most personal yet as opposed to his first film "Chittiram Pesudhadi" and his second one "Anjaathey".

Mysskin uses the innocence of Akhilesh and Bhaskar, who though being much older has the intelligence of only a child, to make a road movie about life, with all its highs and lows, good and bad.

The film opens with a shot of water flowing in a stream, almost as if inviting the audience to partake of the journey the main protagonists are about to embark on. And further on, there are other pointers -- a millipede moving on the roadside and a python slithering through the night (and a pregnant one at that, an unintended pointer, maybe, to the fact that all the characters in the movie are on their way to a new life or rebirth or a second chance in life).

Each character and scene of the movie has been written beautifully and after much thought, be it the schoolgirl Akhilesh and Bhaskar meet or the lorry driver who is first angry with them, but later becomes a friend. This actually even extends to the names of the towns they are travelling to in search of their mothers, Annaivayal and Thaivaasal. Nasser appears only in a single scene, but his effortless performance as a lorry driver provides an important twist in the story.

But the best scene is when Anjalai (Snigdha) talks about how she became a prostitute, about losing count of how many men she has been with and the man who is behind her because a mole on her chest reminds him of his mother. The other one that deserves a mention is the encounter of Akhilesh and Bhaskar with a polio-afflicted man.

There is humour aplenty because of the funny situations the two find themselves in, but it is thought-provoking nevertheless. After Bhaskar rescues a woman from being raped by men from a rival caste, she asks him what community he belongs to. His irritated answer is "mental". Also hilarious is the answer Bhaskar gives whenever asked what he does for a living.

The cinematographer, Mahesh Muthuswami, who also shot the director's earlier movies, has used a lot of wide and top angle shots to optimum effect. In fact, thanks to him even the landscape sometimes becomes a character in the journey of the two protagonists.

Music by Illayaraaja is another plus for the movie. "Mella oorndhu oorndhu" and "Thaalaatu ketka naanum" impress with the maestro at his melancholic best, as does "Unakku onnu" by Yesudas.

Ashwath Ram impresses as the boy yearning for his mother as is Snigdha as the down-on-luck prostitute with a heart of gold, but it is Mysskin who is the surprise package of the movie. He rides two horses with ease, never losing a grip on the plot as director even while acting out the part of a mentally-challenged person.

"Nandhalala" is easily the best Tamil movie of the year. Actually it ranks up right there with the best of Tamil cinema. Go and watch it if you want to experience a truly world-class film.