#Velaikkaran #Movie #MyOpinion
M Raja had already impressed me with his Thani Oruvan (read here: http://www.imdb.com/user/ur62799173/?ref_=tt_urv)..So my opinion on Velaikkaran will be biased..read with this disclaimer.
It's highly difficult to take up a social issue, pack it in a tight plot, describe the issues, make the commercial cinema protagonist to even solve it, that too without making it uninteresting even for a moment. Velaikkaran is almost a success in doing it.
Its always known and seen fact in tamil cinemas, the softcorner towards the working class, and how capitalists are projected as always up to exploit the former. Is it representation of actual tamilIans demography or films have influenced tamils like it, only tamilians know. According to Tamil cinema, there's no socialist mindset present at all. Poor are always exploited by the rich. (REF: UzhaippalI then to Katthi recently). Velaikkaran doesn't deviate from this theme.
Put the hero in a slum. Define his concern to uplift the standard of his people through few instances. Bring the super intelligent villain, in the gentleman disguise in a corporate, where the hero is made to join as Velaikkaran (thankfully he isn't shown to be working as a default factory worker). And the plot is set to take off.
India, being the place of domestic demand, naturally there's supply of million products into the market everyday. Marketers are so confident in producing without even worrying about demand, that MARKETING can ensure whatever is produced gets sold. As a whole, it becomes so much for MARKETING to push, that salesmen are asked to induce the consumer to buy something or of a quantity that's actually not needed by them. In the process, there has emerged a 'taken for granted' attitude among manufacturers that anything can be produced and consumers will buy it or they can be made to buy. (Ref: Maggi Noodles Issue). It is in this context, our hero enters as a salesman, who initially loves the concept of marketing, and with realization of this system, decides to fight against it, in his style.
There are cinematic clichés in the screenplay. There are loopholes. There is a heroine to add colour to the canvas. There's mother sentiment as a tickmark. But, the effort to make the plot tight and engaging can be seen throughout.
I can't say it's the best portrayal of the issue. But, effort to bring the debate on to the front-end must be appreciated. Inline this movie with the likes of Toilet and Katthi.
Watch it as a cinema. Message will get into your head invariably. So much so that I didn't buy my popcorn and coke in the interval, and didn't want to be the marketing induced consumer.
Siva Karthikeyan does a neat job as usual. Nayantara knows her limited role. Robo Shankar, Satish, Balaji, Prakash Rai and many others are evidently used to enhance the face value of the marketing efforts of the movie, like the theme of the movie...consumer doesn't need it, but marketing is pushing us to take it.
-kiran-