"If I get anywhere near what Mahendran did in Udhiri Pookkal, I’ll be a happy man"
-Mani Ratnam
Udhiri Pookkal is the one of the most important outcome from the golden age of Tamil Cinema which started with 16 vayathinile(1977) and ended in the beginning of 1980's. The film revolves around a family headed by Sundaram who also manages the village school. Sundaram has a peculiar behaviour of insulting and torchering people mentally for his pleasure. His soft spoken good hearted wife was sick and he develops an attraction over his sister in law. Sundaram falsely accuse his wife Laxmi as she has affair with the new health inspecter of the village (Sarath babu) and due to these false accusation Laxmi who is already seriously ill passes away very soon. Laxmi's sister falls in love with village school teacher who is working in the school managed by Sundaram. Since Laxmi's father denies the proposal of marrying his younger daughter, Sundaram marries a girl who doesn't care about the Laxmi's kids. Then ........... ........................... ......... .............. ...................... Now I do not want to spoil your wonderful experience while watching the movie by narrating everything here. So you fill the space by yourself :))).
As far as i remember only two characters come into my mind when i think about perfectly crafted characters in tamil cinema. The first one is Manju (Sri Priya) in Rudraiah's Aval appadi than and next one is obviously Sundaram in Udhiripookkal. Sundaram character was brilliantly played by Vijayan. Charuhassan has done an excellent job as Laxmi's father and he is my next favourite to Vijayan. Not only the main character even the characters (a barber who always asks for baby's head shave, a person who owns a radio, etc ) who are mostly handled with least care by others are also crafted so well in the movie. The film is surprisingly realistic and don't think about unwashed clothes and sun tanned hair when you read the word "realistic". This is one of the very few films which brings out the flesh and soul of the village culture.
The film was inspired by the Pudhumaipithan's short story 'Sitrannai' but the fact is you can't find it unless you are informed. Despite of this Mahendran gave credit to Pudhumaipithan in the titles with big fonts. Mahendran purposely avoided to show any glimpse of violence in the film but makes the viewer to feel the pain of violence just by hiding it. Mahendran is a real master who made very minimal number of movies as he didn't make compromises for swimming in the commercial tsunami.
Looking for well made world movies without watching this wonderful piece of art is just like searching for a beauty with a telescope without noticing the smile of your newborn baby. The Complete film is available in youtube and also the original dvd is available in moserbear just for 40 bucks (may be hiked by 10 or 20 rupees) . So, Mark the top of your watch list with this masterpiece.
Don't miss it since you are missing the best Tamil Movie Ever Produced.
