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Though last year was rather barren in Tamil cinema, KS Ravikumar was part of one of the year’s few big releases, Naan Sirithal, which featured him as the antagonist. Fondly known for his blockbuster masala cinema, the filmmaker has slowly, yet steadily grown into the shoes of an actor over the years. With the recent Zee5 release, Mathil, it is safe to say that Ravikumar has now been promoted from the ‘hero’s father’ (Thanga Magan, Rekka) to ‘hero’. “I would rather call my part the protagonist. He is not your usual hero who fights and dances. Mathil is a simple tale of a man trying to reclaim a wall he owns from a politician,” he says.
Representation of the disabled in Tamil cinema is not all it’s cracked up to be
Tamil lyricist with cerebral palsy, who worked on Sivakarthikeyan’s Nenjamundu Nermayundu Odu Raja, believes that the differently abled are mostly used by writers to create ‘sympathy’.
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Though hundreds of films get released every year, barely a few feature such characters, and an even lesser number gets the portrayal right.
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Back in 1964, Satyen Bose made a path-breaking film Dosti. Focussing on the friendship between two disabled boys one blind and the other physically handicapped the film became a box office sensation and went on to win hearts at the 4th Moscow International Film Festival. Since then, Hindi cinema has seen quite a few strong roles written for characters with disability. From Salim Langde Pe Mat Ro in 1989 to Margarita with a Straw in 2014.
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A famous verse about love from the Bible goes, “Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” This is perhaps the most apt summary of the Keerthi Pandian-starring survival thriller, Anbirkiniyal. Just like love, Anbu (Keerthi) too checks all these boxes. This ‘ love’ connect of the Gokul-directorial, which is more evident when we think of the Tamil version, “Anbu sagalathaiyum thaangum.,” doesn’t end with the name of the lead.
The girl herself is an epitome of love, and Anbirkiniyal is filled with characters willing to go to any extent for love. This Tamil version of Helen is more of a ‘kudumba padam’ (family film) than the original because it stars the real-life father-daughter duo of Arun Pandian and Keerthi. Interestingly, the younger version of Keerthi in the intro sequences is played by her niece Driya. Despite the brilliant casting, which acts as the film’s USP, the duo’s performance becomes a sor
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News about Arya’s Teddy forgoing a theatre release and landing di re c t ly on Disney+Hotstar was doing rounds long before it was made official.
The actor may not be particularly excited about the film reaching televisions and mobile phones first, but it does not curtail his enthusiasm when the conversation veers to his childhood days and his favourite stuffed toys.
“Like many other kids, I grew up with teddy bears and I loved singing those cute teddy rhymes,” he says.
“These toys were automatically associated with a certain cuteness and were a big rage. I am confident that every person who sees Teddy will want a breathing, talking teddy bear like the one I have as a companion in this film.” Arya, in real life, is known to be quite the social person, and so, I ask him about playing a loner in this film. He corrects me: “The story is about a guy with obsessive-compulsive disorder; he is not really an introvert. He is a person who chooses to be a re