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The Metaphors in Virumaandi

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THE METAPHORS IN VIRUMAANDI Virumaandi (2004) written and directed by Kamal Haasan is the story of how 24 people were killed in a small village in the Theni district of rural Tamilnadu told from the perspective of Virumandi Thevar (Kamal Haasan) and Kothala Thevar (Pasupathi) using the Japanese Master Akira Kurosawa’s brilliant “Rashomon” storytelling style where the same incident is shown from multiple perspectives. Virumandi is shown to have been awarded the death penalty for being the Accused No 1 in the murder charge as well as for raping and killing Annalakshmi (Abhirami) and Kothala is shown to be serving a life sentence for being an accomplice to the heinous murders. A lawyer/researcher, Angela Kathamuthu (Rohini) who is trying to remove the sentence of death penalty after her father received it for killing her husband James to save her, is shown to be the person interviewing them and hearing their stories. The plot moves ahead to address various issues like the importanc...
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The Eternal magic of Gunaa (Paartha Vizhi)

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THE ETERNAL MAGIC OF GUNAA (PAARTHA VIZHI) Gunaa is the story of a mentally disturbed man (Kamal Haasan) who imagines a fictitious woman called “Abirami” to be his future wife. When he sees Roshni (Roshni) in a temple he believes that she is the “Abirami” and abducts her, he then keeps her captive in a cave atop a mountain for a period of time while her family and the police are out on a search for her. The story as such ends in a tragedy with the death of both the lovers, thus immortalizing their relationship with the rightly glorified line “Manidhar unarndhu kola idhu manidha kadhal alla, adhayum thaandi punidhmaanadhu”. The plot of the movie primary revolves around this very concept, how the naïve and childlike Gunaa not just loves the woman “Abirami”, whom he sees in Roshni, but goes on to almost worship her as the embodiment of the universe’s feminine energy. The opening shot of the movie shows Gunaa standing in the iconic Nataraja pose of Lord Shiva; when the audience is s...
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Exploring Thevarmagan: The jewel of Tamil Cinema

THOUGHTS ON THEVARMAGAN MAJOR THEMES 1.      The idea of caste supremacy , blindly following the members of that caste and hero-worshipping them, more specifically the members of one specific family. (Here it is the Thevar caste and Periyathevar’s family) 2.      Violence being the only form of recourse for the people in the more backward sections of the society and a sort of ancestral or genetic belief that they were meant to be warriors. 3.      The degree to which people will take family feuds seriously and cause violence based primarily on those feuds. 4.      Traditions: Right from out of caste marriages, superstitions regarding temples, dams, rivers and other such sensitive issues. The respect and importance that is given to a person’s word, and the paternalistic idea that one family is responsible for the whole community. The character transformation of Sakthi (Kamal Haasan) ...
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