Thavamai thavamirunthu

Saw 'Thavamai thavamirunthu' over the weekend. First, hats off to Cheran for daring to take an offbeat movie without the 'commercial' aspects as defined by the producers/distributors of Tamil cinema. I have watched the movies of Cheran with interest over the years, because here is a person, working to bring the real rural life of Tamilnadu into the screen without any makeup. I always hated Bharathirajaa's village because of his trying to glamorize the village. Honestly, can we spot a Sreedevi in kottampatti?. And it never documented the people of the village (as the joke goes, his movies always started with an outsider(teacher/doctor) arriving in the village!). Compared with Cheran, the contrast is clear. Cheran focusses on the people of the village and when he introduces the outsider also, he does not lose this focus. What it gives is an experiance of the village without the frills. It is hard-hitting. Of course, while Autograph set some new standards in the narrative style, I rate it much lower than 'T.T'. 'T.T' is the story of a father aspiring to realize his dreams through his sons. Simple enough but told in a gripping 3.5 hours of emotional story. Having grown in a very similar household (probably true for a lot of guys!) with a father who never found a fault with me or my brother, it strikes a chord very close to heart. I think the success of 'T.T' is in making everyone to think a little about the father. And it did a lot of that for me. My father flunked his PUC and married my mother without any job. He worked hard and earned meagre. And it was tough sustenance as we grew older and borrowing money was part of the life. I still remember the insults he had to take to send me to a college. Money was a concern on a daily basis but still we never felt the misery because of my father always left his worries at the doorstep when he entered home. Its always jolly time and I dont remember a time when my father took his frustrations/anger out on us. Never. As he used to say everytime, he has given us the only asset he was able to give, our education. The fact that I am typing all these says a lot about this movie. Hats-off!!