Angadi Theru | 2010
Genre: Drama
Author : Srivathsa
Director: Vasantha Balan
Synopsis: A gritty portrayal of labour with new age Tamil Cinema.
I would say it was “Kadhal” that made an impact on the viewers, necessitating and
propelling Tamil cinema to a fresh and diverse frontier; of course accompanied by
the rural camaraderie of films like “Paruthiveeran” and “Subramaniyapuram”. It means
to be realistic, gritty, not wholly breaking the shackles of Tamil filmdom, but
making a way for films in the future to follow the healthy trajectory. “Angadi Theru”
is one such movie that sticks to the urban portrayal of realistic truth and modern
slavery and does it cleverly.
Starring newbies, Magesh and Anjali ,who give a scintillating natural performance,
the movie is all about the romance that is entwined within the cruel hands of merciless
labor and slavery in modern day Indian metros, in this case, Chennai. This is something
on par with concentration camps for the salesperson, who struggle to withstand from
their cruel life drenched in poverty.
The film is full of poignant humanity, a tad too much at times too. Even when it
tends to be a tear jerker, it never over does it. The commercial portion of it takes
its head up, briefly, which is perfectly acceptable, for how long can audience see
the reality and grittiness of the movie?
Cinematography is absorbingly outstanding, although a few shots tend seemingly similar.
G V Prakash’s music is ordinary and the synthetic usage of instruments is jarring.
Also, interesting inspired by the Brazilian gritty music style. The performances
are devastatingly real, credits to them and the dialogues form the backbone and
the most integral part of “Angadi Theru”.
Vasantha Balan joins the elite list of directors, with his second venture, after
the rural solitary brother story “Veyil”. We can keep an eye on him; for he has
got a very good eye.