Meiyazhagan – My Flash Review!

There are movies that have a few scenes that evoke a bit of nostalgia. What if the entire stretch of a movie is about taking you on a nostalgic trip? You get a film like Meiyazhagan, directed by C. Premkumar whose earlier film 96 was also in a similar template. I couldn’t relate so much to that film 96 and to this film Meiyazhagan as well where the protagonist goes back to his roots for a day and gets awakened in the course of interaction with another man – a village simpleton. Reminds you of Anbe Sivam?

The film opens with a sombre montage song in a village setting near Thanjavur sung by none other than Kamal Haasan reminding you of Ilaiyaraaja’s epic song Then paandi seemaiyile… from the epic film Nayakan. The scene then shifts to the metro city of Chennai where the protagonist lives among a sea of parrots and other pets. He has to go back to the village for a family wedding for which he very reluctantly pushes himself. Having reached his native town where he grew up with many fond memories till his family got evicted, how he discovers himself in the company of the second protagonist in the course of a beer-drinking night is rest of the film.
The film is slow-burn. Is conversational all through. Is mostly about what happens in one night, the sole purpose being to whip up loads of nostalgia among the viewers. A generation that grew up in the 90s in the hinterland of Tamil Nadu has a lot to relate to in the film. The problem is, beyond that the film has nothing much to offer. Much of the film runs on one premise (of not knowing a person) which, beyond a point seems very frivolous. That issue could have been sorted out far more easily than what the film painstakingly labours.
Karthi as one of the male leads playing the role of the village simple guy is fantastic. He is over the top as per design and brings about a freshness to the character. Arvind Swamy is the other protagonist. It is very difficult to accept him as a man who grew up in a village. His language and body language are still more suitable for a cryptologist-type and not for this kind. I also found his characterisation a bit flawed. After all, he is returning to his native village after 15 odd years from Chennai which is just a few kilometres away and in the same state. In an earlier scene, he asks “Valathunna? – left’aa??” … which I thought was a bit too much. Initially, he is shown to behave more like an expat Indian returning to his roots after a few decades! Actor Rajkiran comes in a few scenes but leaves a great impact with his very organic portrayal of a family head.
The camera captures the beauty of the rice bowl/delta region of TN very well. The photography, despite having many scenes limited to just two characters on screen that too in the course of a long night is impressive with some imaginative lighting and framing. I understand that the original length of 2 hours and 57 mins was trimmed to 2 hours and 39 mins! Even then, the film is long and drags. Govind Vasantha’s music and background score resembles that of Ilaiyaraaja and that’s a huge compliment.
As the conversation between the two protagonists goes on and on peeling off layers of their early life, I was waiting for something material to happen. But the screenplay keeps away from any drama and just sticks to the main plot of self-discovery. For Tamil cinema which has been seeing a surfeit of films with guns, bullets, drugs and blood galore, Meiyazhagan is a welcome break. But, by keeping the screenplay devoid of any twists and turns, M…e…i…y…a…z…h…a…g…a…n ends up being a film that is an average watch. It is streaming on Netflix.

P.S: Do they serve “Ada Pradaman” payasam [a Kerala speciality] in Thanjavur weddings???