Every once in a while, a Tamil movie will come by that will say that "yes, Tamil filmdom is not going doing to the twisted cesspool of idiotism, jingoism and flesh paradism".
Jayam Kondaan was released quite a while back, in Aug 2008 and only last week I got to watch it on Vasantham. Directed by Mani Ratnam's former assistant, R. Kannan, the movie showed that there was still hope left for intelligent, realistic movie-making.
Viney (of "Unnale Unnale" fame) plays a young exec who's been slogging in the UK for the last seven years. He quits his job and comes to India when his father passes away, as his UK bosses refuse to let him go on leave to see his late father. He then decides to start a new business venture using the money he had been remitting to his dad for the last years and settle in India.
But he finds that all the money he'd given his dad is missing. The quest to find the money to realise his dreams takes him on a journey where he comes face to face with a sister he never knew, meets a girl whom he'd long forgotten about, realises the value of friends, and faces the greatest threat to his life and new family.
The beauty of the movie lies in the fact that it actually bothers to tell a story - one event leads to another and the protagonist and audience travel together in the journey. It's not a "first-half comedy track with some teasers and second-half "aapu" romp" kind of movie that Vijay kept doing several times in the past. The story unfolds logically - people react how you would expect people to react and not react in an over-the-top manner. Like some bad guys who gets so pissed off he starts yelling at the hero with "Ey!" countless times.
The other wonderful part of the movie is the solid character development and attention to human relations. The relationships are lovingly and slowly built up by the director, with the hurdles and knots placed here and there. By the time the movie ends, the story untangles all the knots, clears up all loose ends and everything makes sense. Truly, the director "jayam kondaan" ([He] attained victory).
The songs are melodius, but slow the pace of the movie. Acting is first rate by all the major characters, especially the baddie. Viney can hold the movie on his broad shoulders, although he can't dance to save the living daylights. (Luckily he was fired from Dhaam Dhoom which needed a lot of dancing.) I thought Bhavana was quite endearing as his lady love.
Overall, a good picture worth discussing, dissecting and analysing with like minds.
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