After a bunch of eardrums bursting high decibel movies Meiyazhagan and Lubber Pandhu come as a cool gentle breeze after a cyclone. Both movies have few things in common. Strong writing, well developed character arcs, focus on relationships, nuanced moments. Both are driven by director’s vision. Feel so refreshed after watching these movies. There are few nitpicks, but they don’t come in the way of wholesome treat.

Meiyazhagan:

From the same director who gave us 96, C.Prem Kumar. Meiyazhagan follows the similar narrative structure as 96 – initial loss, two people meet after a long gap and spend a night together catching up. Ram and Jaanu in 96. Here it is Arulmozhi (Aravind Swamy) and Meiyazhagan (Karthi). We also get a twist, Arulmozhi can’t recollect the name of Meiyazhagan, not able to place him from his young days. Whereas Meiyazhagan adores Arulmozhi, talks highly of his family, talks about his childhood memories where he spent his vacation days in Arulmozhi’s home. The guilt of not knowing the name eats his mind. How he comes to terms with his loss and resolves his guilt forms the final segment. Similar to 96 other characters vanish from screen in second half. It is pretty much Meiyazhagan and Arulmozhi talking and catching up with each other. Like watching Before Sunrise movie series by Richard Linklater. Thanks to strong writing, we can connect with these two characters. Their conversations resonate in us. Side characters also make an impression even though they appear only for a short duration. The movie whispers to our heart and leaves us with a sense of peace.

Lubber Pandhu:

A big applause to the director for staging a movie on relationships with cricket as the background. Husband and wife, mother and daughter-in-law, mother and daughter, father and daughter, lovers, and between friends. They are unique – each one with its own flavor. There is a caste discrimination and oppression, but they are not thrust on our face. But when a point has to be made it is made powerfully, you feel you are hit with an iron bar. Thambi and Thambi mathiri dialogue just blew me away with its simplicity and wattage power – it holds a mirror to us. When Getthu’s mother walks in to Yasodhai’s village home, from the shot you can guess that may be the first time she is visiting her home. Separation and saree touch comes out charmingly – so nuanced and goes to prove it is human emotions that fuel the movie. This is one of those movies that will be hard to remake. There will be so many things that will be in lost in translation – local village flavor, their connection with movies and movie stars, captain fans, caste angle, village cricketers and what they do for their daily bread (painter, tailor, xerox shop, …), local lingos – unless they rewrite keeping the core plot intact. More than what happens on the pitch, it was so lively to listen to the conversation between Kaathadi (Bala Saravanan) and Manoj in the spectator area 😀 It is not Dinesh or Harish Kalyan but Yasodhai (Swastika Vijay) who gets the mass introduction – so cool what she does!! Only one thing to say, well played Tamizharasan Pachamuthu 👏👍🏽