Feb 11 2010
Thamizh Padam
While Tamil cinema has stepped foot into several new and/or rare genres in the last few years, the spoof was still an untouched genre for understandable reasons. We’ve had take-offs on other movies and actors but these were restricted to stand-alone scenes which were usually part of the comedy track. So Thamizh Padam boldly goes where no Tamil film has gone before by giving us a full-length spoof. While its subject matter makes it automatically funny, it is also quite clever and that combination makes it an entertaining endeavor.
Neither Tamil cinema heroes nor their fans are known for their sense of humor and so a full-length spoof seemed like a distant dream as far as Tamil cinema was concerned. It wasn’t too long ago that Vijay TV had to issue a public apology for a half-hour spoof of Vijay’s Pokkiri. There’s no doubt that Thamizh Padam couldn’t have happened without someone from Karunanidhi’s family being involved in the production. And for that we can be thankful to Tamil Nadu’s first family!
Thamizh Padam’s story manages to weave in our most popular and well-worn cliches as hero Shiva, who is born in a village and narrowly escapes being killed(since all males move to the city, become actors and proclaim themselves as future CMs!), moves to the city to fall in love, fight bad guys, do good for the people, become rich and get reunited with his long-lost parents. These are situations that are ripe for skewering and the film does an impressive job of spoofing introduction numbers, plot devices(like the passage of time), rape sequences(where the situation is reversed rather cleverly), rags-to-riches episodes and fight sequences(complete with a slo-mo bullet shot). The silliness inherent in these have been highlighted without personal attacks and so the film manages to be funny without being mean.
Since this is pretty much the first spoof of contemporary Tamil movies, the director has a large number of movies as source material and he’s picked quite cleverly without overboard. So, apart from the familiar situations brought on by the story, the film is populated with some very popular, immediately identifiable scenes from popular movies. Thankfully, Amudhan has understood the concept of a spoof while undertaking doing this. While many of our take-offs in other films proceeded under the assumption that simply recreating a scene from another movie by imitating the hero or playing a song in the background made it funny, Thamizh Padam takes popular sequences and then puts its own spin on them. While the take-offs on Mouna Raagam or Kaadhalan do initially raise laughs because of our familiarity with them, its the unexpected punchlines that truly make them funny. Not all the segments are successful(Shiva’s return to his village is a rather weak segment) but there are definitely more hits than misses.
But spoofs, however well done, do tend to lose their charm after a while since their very nature ensures that they become repetitive. But Thamizh Padam manages to keep the energy level consistently high since it is also quite smart. Even when we are not laughing, the film’s cleverness and attention to detail keep us engaged. The final twist is probably the best example as it manages to be not just over-the-top but also genuinely surprising and even a bit logical. But many of the movie-based episodes show cleverness too in the way they are shaped, whether its the reference to the coke can Suriya throws out of his jeep in Kaakka Kaakka or the way a key scene from Thalapathy and Vijayakanth’s titular character in Ramanaa are linked.
Shiva plays the role just right – neither too serious nor so campy that the movie becomes overly silly. But whether its a serious movie or a spoof, our heroines have little to do and that’s the case with Disha here too. M.S.Bhaskar and ‘Venniraadai’ Moorthy enjoy their roles as college kids but don’t deliver many laughs beyond the obvious one at their introduction. Music director follows the template of the soundtracks of masala films with a hero-glorification number, a duet, an inspirational number and an item number. The duet, Oh Maayaa Zeeyaa…, fully comprised of the meaningless gibberish we’ve heard as lines in our songs in recent times, is a riot.
13 responses so far
BB, I’m looking forward to watch this movie too. Saw the trailer and some TV shows – it did come through as being a well-thought effort. I have to wait for the DVD though because the movie is not being screened here in Adelaide.
-Rajesh
Hey balaji, have u seen “odipollama” a movie staring Sandhya, i was pleasdantly suprised watching the movie, it’s a very neat romantic comedy, worth watching a couple of times, i watched without any expectations and i was entertained!
I am really looking forward to watching this movie. Unfortunately like Rajesh I have to wait for the DVD too
. The movie isn’t releasing anywhere close to my place.
Saw it in the new look IMC last weekend as part of a guys’ night out endeavor. Like you said, a proper spoof movie. I was surprised to see actress Kasturi in the item number. At least I think it was her. Don’t want to highlight any of the gags and spoil it for the others but this is a great time pass movie – don’t miss it.
Good review Balaji, I must watch this one…TP seems to be the prescription from a lot of folks now.
On an aside, I watched Paa yesterday. Its a beatifully crafted film with great direction by Balki and amazing cinematography from PC Sriram. I loved the fact that the director never tries to wring sympathy for the lead character from the audiecce, kinda reminiscent of the way Perazhagan was handled. Had tonnes of matter of fact humor and good music from IR.. Do catch it sometime!
Balaji,
Slightly offtopic,but since its related to this movie,posting it here.
Who said piracy in Tamil filmdom cant be controlled?
So many days after its release,cd’s for Tamizh Padam are yet to hit the local cd shops in Chennai.Thats very very very surprising since cd’s of Goa \ Asal are available aplenty already,not to mention Jagghubhai having a cd release prior to a theatre release.
What it says is that if you have a POWERFUL surname then you can STOP piracy
Not sure what the above poster is talking about, pirated CDs of Tamizh Padam have been out for weeks in Chennai.
Just went for Tamizh Padam a few hours ago and I must say your review was spot-on as usual Balaji. I thought the movie would’ve been better had it been a little less in-your-face with some of the comedy. After all, the best jokes in the movie are the subtle ones (like the bulletproof vest or the evidence in court) and the movie could have been so much more intelligent had we seen more of it. Still, its the first of its kind and superb fun.
Lets hope we see more of this kind, atleast then this masla formula we’ve been subjected to for so many years can finally change.
Rajesh/Giri, the film released 1 week late here, which is rather rare. guess it had great word-of-mouth and hit talk in the 1st few days for that to happen. lucky for me
skanda, that’s actually one of the movies I have with me but haven’t seen yet. will surely watch it now.
Vijay Kumar, same here. was almost a full-house when I saw it. and yes, that was Kasturi. She had her comeback in ‘Malai Malai’ but the item number was still a surprise.
Shwetha, yes a definite thumbs up from me. On ‘Paa’, that thing u mention about wringing sympathy for the lead character, that was exactly what I was afraid of and so wasn’t even thinking of seeing it. Guess I should give it a try now!
Jey, if thats true its not very surprising. I’m sure the cops will be extra-watchful for pirated CDs of this one.
Nilan, a few of the in-you-face comedy did work for me, like the dance Shiva did to impress Disha. and spoofs do usually go in for broad and slapstick comedy. so the subtle comedy was actually a pleasant surprise. but u r right. the subtle comedy bits(my favorite was the ‘mole disguise’) were very effective.
i immensely enjoyed “thamizh padam.” i agree with most points in your review…the village segment actually worked for me, esp. the “chinna thambi” bro-sis affn spoof…shiva looking at ramarajan’s statue and commenting, “pant potrundhurukalaam…its okay!” was hilarious! along the lines of what u and nilan said, my fav subtle joke was the heroine holding a dvd of TR’s veerasami and saying, “idhu oru kaaviyam!” semma kindal! on the whole, ***/**** from me!
I think Mahanadigan was a good spoof(But on films+Politics together.).
While this one is solely based on Tamil film industry.
I just saw this, I loved it! it takes a lot of intelligence to craft such a comedy, not just a serious movie. I really loved the Vijay spoofs (atleast I thought they were)
About Paa, Balaji, you can watch it for Vidya Balan, she’s amazing. But, I have to disagree about the movie itself. The movie employed subtle manipulation of emotions (unlike Perazhagan, a truly heart-touching movie). It really ran on the Amitabh gimmick.
The director outright said it “I didn’t want to make a movie about Progeria. I wanted Amitabh to play Abhishek’s son”.
The bharatha natyam scene was the most hillarious scene ive seen for a long time. very funny movie, looking forward for more from amudhan.
Just saw it and absolutely loved it. The whole movie was a riot. I loved the intro song for the hero and the romantic song. Just tickled my funny bone and I really enjoyed the movie..
The best bit was about the hero becoming a rich guy in the space of a song with everything being named after him including the airport and electricity board. I laughed my head off and finally ended up buying the movie.
Must have movie..