Tharai Thapattai

Director:Bala 

Cast: Sasikumar, Varalakshmi

Music : Ilayaraja

Genre: Drama

A musical drama (probably most suited for the festive mood). Director Bala is credited with revolutionising Tamil cinema with his dark and forbidding take on the state’s downtrodden working class. Works like Sethu and Naan Kadavul are classic examples.

The storyline woven around the miserable plight of folk artists, the near-mythical end, the magnificent Ilayaraja score (more on that later) — it’s all here. Others may view the film as Bala’s take on... Bala’s older films. Especially in the latter portions, is undeniable. But the power of his films is equally undeniable. At one point, a man likens an impromptu Caesarean operation to splitting open a jackfruit and scooping out the flesh.

Highly stylised performances, which don’t seem to come from the actor so much as the director. Watch Sooravali, played by Varalaxmi Sarathkumar. She’s marvellous

we celebrate a 1000th film, and the maestro rises to the occasion with a rousingly red-blooded score. Even if Sannasi’s climactic transformation makes little sense from a narrative point of view, Ilayaraja’s score — violins, conch shells, beats that slam the brain — almost makes you buy it. The background bits are brilliant — the thavil with konnakol syllables in Saamipulavan introduction, which segues superbly into the less-classical-sounding piece as Sannasi makes his introduction,  the rhythms and the thrilling pauses in the instrumental piece that plays over Soorvali dance in the Andaman.