It is a beautiful love story told in a very subtle way without any melodrama.
For me, a good movie should remain in our thoughts and should travel with us in the background of our minds, at least for few hours. This movie does that magic. I regret missing watching this movie in theater. Sigh!
Being a 35+ years old, I always look for nostalgia wherever possible. The school portions were totally relate'able and absolute nostalgic ride for me.
The school bell, how he wipes chalk dusts with his index finger, the cloth duster, how he drinks water from school tap, how the friends sit in corridors to eat lunch, the 'military' school bag, the wire lunch bag, the flames game, the stone bench on the school ground, Inking on the final working day of the academic year etc etc. I have seen and experienced all this.
The list is not yet over. 😇.
Wearing flowers like kadhambam, kanakambaram, december, roja & saamandhi joining two plaits. I don’t see these flowers these days, so forget about someone wearing it.
The dialog like “en kai enna poo parichittu irukkuma”. I am sure no one says this anymore. 😀
The school uniform with duppattah. I think after 2k, the dupattahs were reformed as over coats.
The “Thadangalukku varundhugirom” message and “oliyum oliyum” in doordarshan.
I have fresh memories of all this.
The floppy drive and the simple college girls, both these are extinct now. I think we were the proud last batch for both this. 😉
And the most important of all,
The Illaiyaraja.
How can early 90s move without IR songs. We were grown up with IR songs around. 80s & 90s period were not like todays and we won’t sing bad lyrical songs in public. Look at the selection of songs that Janu sings. The overall music and background score of the movie, is just wow. The theme music of the movie is painfully amazing.
We are so used to heroins introduction songs with poetic & graceful scenes in many movies, but this movie starts bang on with such a beautiful song & adorable scenes for the "hero". Ram’s character is showed like he likes to live the present to the fullest and equally he preserves & lives his past. That is validated throughout the movie.
I purposely avoided reading any reviews before I watch the movie, because I really wanted to see the movie with fresh mindset. But may be because of the majority of positive talks about the movie, somehow I knew the climax. But I am sure, if I would have watched the movie in theater at the time of its release, I would have become nervous about how the two protagonists are going to end up. To put it precisely, I would have exactly reflected Devadarshini’s emotions. But I was sure that the climax is not about infidelity and so I was not tensed in those scenes. But I wish to have experienced those nervousnesses.
Some scenes like Janu will insist Ram to eat with the spoon she just ate, she wearing his dress, using his soap, asking about his virginity, his hand over hers on the car gear etc gave a slight jerk to me, but she was a straightforward and bold girl since her school days and so we may assume, after all this years she has “grown up”. So these things doesn't degrade her from my point of view.
How beautifully Trisha portrayed Janu! Very simple attire, yet very beautiful. Vijay Sethupathi as usual brings his own flavor into Ram. Every actor in the flash back scenes has worked hard and they casually reflect the body language of their respective elder-selves.
Some say the movie is very slow. But I feel the director did not want to compromise on anything and he has left us to feel the journey.
Some say whatever happened on that night is not right. They both realize and are responsible for both their lives, so we can accept it. Also, they have not crossed any limits, right?
Some say the movie is impractical. But I did not feel that way. The movie drags us to witness a beautiful journey between two lovers and the director amazes us in the process.
From 3 am of the day in the movie, we can totally relate to Janu's emotions, I completely understood her feelings. She is worried about his loneliness. She feels guilty. She struggles like to get him married on the same day. Her anxiety and emotions are perfectly shown.
Ram’s life is going to be the same hereafter (that’s how the movie ends) and lets hope the same is true for Janu.
