First off…a little late to state this but: welcome back! I love *’96* as well as hence I was so excited to see that this film was playing near me. I also took this as an opportunity to introduce my sister to southern Indian regional cinema. It did not disappoint at all. Such a disarming story that builds its complexity in mannerisms and memories brought home by all the actors’ masterful subtle performances…but what I recall are the big soulful eyes of Arvind Swamy (whom I had never seen in a film before), they belie such a sense of loss, regret and longing. Countering his performance was Karthi who was an excellent foil of exuberance and childlike joy. It was so enjoyable to see that all the side characters were so fleshed out that it felt like the camera could follow them and the film would organically unfold a completely different fully realized story. My sister and I both were also left wanting to know more about his wife, daughter and sister…and yet I didn’t feel as if it was necessarily a flaw of the film but rather symptomatic of how respectful the direction is to their integrity of the film. In many ways, I found *Meiyazhagan* very reminiscent of *’96* : the sudden moving away of a family from an idyllic village life, the unsaid words/unrealized acts of the past haunting the present of the “main” character, how nostalgia and a return to one’s childhood town conjure up deep seated feelings and finally a secondary “main” character that acts as a catalyst for accepting the past as the past. However, unlike *’96* this film has the main character attempt to break their current restraints (only through the help of his daughter and wife) to reach out and reconnect. So happy I did see this in the theater…everything felt so vibrant & immediate (including, for me, a momentary nausea in the bathroom scene, lol). As you described, this film is a gem and Prem Kumar is a treasure for Tamil cinema.
One of the best pronunciation of he title I have heard from non Tamil speaking person madam well done .on the fenale characters totally agree with u but karthus wife atleast got a mention of a back story during their interactions
he call her sister because she is a parallel cousin in south india people has a practice of cross cousin marriage. and the consider parallel cousin as siblings. not only direct cousin but also if the parents, grandparents parallel cousin they will consider them as siblings it will be first order sibling, second order sibling.
Good some one brought this up. South Indians follow half-bifurcating, Indian, Dravidian, or Iroquois Kinship system. Relationships work very different when compared to other social structures. This movie is about two male 1st cross cousins and it explores this theme. Cross cousins have a special relationshup with obligations, rights, and previleges from birth to death. 96 is about how this kinship system works with non-relatives, where people are assigned surrogate relationship status, like anna, appa, akka, anna, machan etc. The movie Vaazhl explores the 1st cross cousins where one is male and the other is female, and how the female cousin enforces her rights with her male cross cousins. Incidentally this kinship system was followed all over India in ancient times, it is now followed only in South India, Maharashtra. This leaves credence to the fact that people in the north have predominatly migrated much recently or more recent immigrants have influenced their kinship systems.
Melony you pronounced correctly and thank you for reviewing it. The main crux of the movie is about 2 characters and the rest playing around them. Like you asked for imagine if the back stories woild have been there the run time would have been more than 3 hours. Yes if it would have been a webseries then these back stories would have been good for 7-8 episodes wach having 45 min run time.
I really loved your review. This is the first time watching your but absolutely loved 🤩🤩.. small suggestion make it as 15 mins video that would be good..
Your pronunciation is lot better and appreciate that. Actually most of the north indians who literally butcher and never care how to pronounce words from other Indian languages
I think or my guess is there is a reason for casting Aravind Swami in this movie he stopped acting after 2000 and resumed at 2013 taking offers with very long duration so he is perfect for this role as he is a guy who left cutting all the ties with relatives and coming back to hometown with hesitation is perfect choice as audience also immediately connect
I can definitely relate to meeting someone at a family event and they know you but you can’t remember who they are or their name. And you muddle through too embarrassed to ask their name! Some aspects are unique to Indian culture in the film but a lot is universal
First off…a little late to state this but: welcome back!
I love *’96* as well as hence I was so excited to see that this film was playing near me. I also took this as an opportunity to introduce my sister to southern Indian regional cinema. It did not disappoint at all.
Such a disarming story that builds its complexity in mannerisms and memories brought home by all the actors’ masterful subtle performances…but what I recall are the big soulful eyes of Arvind Swamy (whom I had never seen in a film before), they belie such a sense of loss, regret and longing. Countering his performance was Karthi who was an excellent foil of exuberance and childlike joy. It was so enjoyable to see that all the side characters were so fleshed out that it felt like the camera could follow them and the film would organically unfold a completely different fully realized story. My sister and I both were also left wanting to know more about his wife, daughter and sister…and yet I didn’t feel as if it was necessarily a flaw of the film but rather symptomatic of how respectful the direction is to their integrity of the film.
In many ways, I found *Meiyazhagan* very reminiscent of *’96* : the sudden moving away of a family from an idyllic village life, the unsaid words/unrealized acts of the past haunting the present of the “main” character, how nostalgia and a return to one’s childhood town conjure up deep seated feelings and finally a secondary “main” character that acts as a catalyst for accepting the past as the past. However, unlike *’96* this film has the main character attempt to break their current restraints (only through the help of his daughter and wife) to reach out and reconnect.
So happy I did see this in the theater…everything felt so vibrant & immediate (including, for me, a momentary nausea in the bathroom scene, lol). As you described, this film is a gem and Prem Kumar is a treasure for Tamil cinema.
Thanks for such a lovely long reaction comment! So glad you were able to see this film in the theater too
You pronounced it " Meiyazhagan " beautifully.... Thanks mam
I can't wait to see this --- Karthi looks great in this!
Cathy you should watch Bougainvillea plsss
You pronounce the title so beautifully.. ❤️❤️❤️
Never saw aravindh swamy so believeble as an actor even from his first film 'Thalapathy(1991)'...It was just beautiful ❤️
One of the best pronunciation of he title I have heard from non Tamil speaking person madam well done .on the fenale characters totally agree with u but karthus wife atleast got a mention of a back story during their interactions
he call her sister because she is a parallel cousin in south india people has a practice of cross cousin marriage. and the consider parallel cousin as siblings. not only direct cousin but also if the parents, grandparents parallel cousin they will consider them as siblings it will be first order sibling, second order sibling.
Good some one brought this up. South Indians follow half-bifurcating, Indian, Dravidian, or Iroquois Kinship system. Relationships work very different when compared to other social structures. This movie is about two male 1st cross cousins and it explores this theme. Cross cousins have a special relationshup with obligations, rights, and previleges from birth to death.
96 is about how this kinship system works with non-relatives, where people are assigned surrogate relationship status, like anna, appa, akka, anna, machan etc.
The movie Vaazhl explores the 1st cross cousins where one is male and the other is female, and how the female cousin enforces her rights with her male cross cousins.
Incidentally this kinship system was followed all over India in ancient times, it is now followed only in South India, Maharashtra. This leaves credence to the fact that people in the north have predominatly migrated much recently or more recent immigrants have influenced their kinship systems.
Melony you pronounced correctly and thank you for reviewing it. The main crux of the movie is about 2 characters and the rest playing around them. Like you asked for imagine if the back stories woild have been there the run time would have been more than 3 hours. Yes if it would have been a webseries then these back stories would have been good for 7-8 episodes wach having 45 min run time.
I really loved your review. This is the first time watching your but absolutely loved 🤩🤩.. small suggestion make it as 15 mins video that would be good..
U r one of the few to pronounce the name correctly though being from a western country...
I was thinking the same thing
You didnt butcher it..🩵🩵🩵
Now that is a true compliment! Zh does not come naturally to me
@@PardesiReviews it's okay. You tried and that's what matters.🩵🩵🩵
Your pronunciation is lot better and appreciate that. Actually most of the north indians who literally butcher and never care how to pronounce words from other Indian languages
You nailed it
வாழ்த்துக்கள்
Doesn’t that mean congratulations
The translate says greetings
Thank you for the review. Glad u enjoyed this film
Good to know you watched this one n connected with it somehow 😊
I think or my guess is there is a reason for casting Aravind Swami in this movie he stopped acting after 2000 and resumed at 2013 taking offers with very long duration so he is perfect for this role as he is a guy who left cutting all the ties with relatives and coming back to hometown with hesitation is perfect choice as audience also immediately connect
Nice review ❤
In all of his movies, Karthi is such a fun fun watch and he is effortlessly genuine and handsome :D
you are amzazing. i loved it. i strongly recommend.
pronounced the title correctly!
Vaazhai review pls
Nice Review!
I am curious to know from the western culture perspective, could you relate to this movies story line? Or did it feel over the top?
I can definitely relate to meeting someone at a family event and they know you but you can’t remember who they are or their name. And you muddle through too embarrassed to ask their name! Some aspects are unique to Indian culture in the film but a lot is universal
uncle's daughter is sister. cousins are like siblings. lol
Prabhas BDay is coming up on Oct 23rd , can you and kathy review darling for his birthday ?
Y’all should watch Bougainvillea with Kunchacko Boban and Fafa. It’s directed by Amal Neerad. I personally loved it, technically superlative m.
Pls do watch Kamal hassan movies, which is directed by him✨💥