Yesterday saw this “blockbuster family movie” by the name of Saivam which means ‘vegetarian’
I am sure people won’t be angry if I reveal the plot here. So I am just discussing the movie a little bit more than what I have mentioned in my facebook status.
One cute little girl, one irritating little boy, the art of putting thoppukaranam(also recently named as super brain yoga) and a rooster. These are the ingredients of this movie which I am again assuming was the director’s way of consoling his christian wife to become a vegetarian because his mother is a vegetarian.
What exactly is the movie about, you ask? Well it is about a family that loves eating non-vegetarian food like anything (they cook something like a 7 course meal on an ordinary day) turn into a pure vegetarian loving group because the little grand daughter loves and cares for the pet rooster they were supposed to sacrifice.
This is the first time I am seeing a rooster up close on big screen. The patterns and colors of feathers, it is just darn beautiful. The rooster is a playful fellow obeying only the little girl and paying heed to no one else in the family. Oh I would love to have such a pet. I can torment my family to no end!
The film starts with the background noise of the fish/chicken/meat market where the Grandma asks her hubby what he wants for lunch. For once we see a guy who is clear about what exactly he wants for lunch as he gives a detailed menu. A man like that does not exist. period.
So a big joint family reunites for a village festival. A typical concept in any village based movie. Two teens who love each other(or at least that is what they show in this movie) one little girl who asks questions that does not sound too innocent, a little boy who is supposedly the villain and is way too irritating that we all want to slap him and a grandfather who is always so worried about everything and only loves the little girl.
There are a few moments where we see the innocence and ignorance that still prevails in some adults in rural places. It looks and sounds so adorable that you would want to say “awwwww”
I am not sure why but I don’t think you can actually catch a chicken by saying “buck buck buck” For all I know the chicken would run at the first sound of you and you are knowingly giving a siren that you are coming to catch them. Next time to try to catch a chicken be as silent as still water. (water dancing lessons might help)
When you are depending on child artists, please make sure they do it well. Because the audience pay more attention when it is a child on the screen and notice it even better when the said child makes even the smallest of mistakes. While the boy who played as spoilt saravana aka shravan played it so well that I badly wanted to smack him and knock some sense in to him Sarah was not that good. I did not feel like cuddling to the little girl and say that her rooster is going to be just fine. I did not even sympathize her. When she spent all her concentration on the lip sync, her face was more than just bland. Showing very very little expression. When I cried buckets for Deivathirumagal, I would of course expect a little more from her right?
Sometimes it needs a little more than just a cute, innocent face, a majestic rooster, a traditional house, rejected cast from a mega serial and one very very good song to make a movie memorable.
The BGM was too much repetitive that I started getting sick at the sound of it. That one song sung by Unni Krishnan’s daughter was a gem. Haven’t seen my dad close his eyes and devour in music like that in a long time.
They kept introducing character after character and showed that they don’t fit in at all. Why bring them in? Clearly one could see that they didn’t know how to take the story from there. Why make the girl who is no more than 10 years old involve in things that are way too mature for her age. When I was 10, I thought the guy and girl singing around the tree were friends.(I truly did!)
As my dad stated this is a movie that was made using a small budget, mostly mega serial artists whose serials were never heard of, most of the movie made inside a biiiiigg traditional house that could be found in a village alone, a couple songs and one sound track as BGM, a picture perfect joint family that exists only in hypothetical worlds and with a story that is suitable for a short film!
I won’t say I didn’t like the movie. I just won’t recommend you to watch it in a big screen. You can watch it with your family and have a fairly good time.