Haridas - a movie review

I watched Haridas during the weekend. After a very long time, i had an experience of watching a good tamil movie. I watched the movie on Saturday night and when I got up in the morning, i felt the memories of the movie and that feeling, by my standard of movie watching, is a good taste.

The director had attempted to make a different story line, not the recent so called "standard masala movie" stories. However, he is probably not confident on himself or about the audience that he had to use the typical tamil movie formula of item dance and a climax fight in which the hero single handedly knocks down a band of ruffians, after he was hit by a lorry, dipped completely in crude oil and beaten to death ... shame!

Despite the short comings, the attempt to take a movie about autism is a good one. This is not new - Aamir Khan had already set a high benchmark with his Taare zamin par. However, it is new for a tamil viewer. I also liked the movie as it tried to narrate the father - son relationship. A father is his son's first hero. OK, how many tamil movies tried to demonstrate it? Some may quote vaaranam aayiram as an example for a good father - son relationship, but given my conservative background, I cannot dream in such a relationship and that it did not leave any impact emotionally.

+++
1. A new theme.
2. A very decent story line.
3. No "upper class / upper middle class" styles - an encounter specialist lives in a police quarters and is seen wearing lungi and sleeping on the floor [unlike the kaaka kaaka hero who stays in a posh apartment with designer interiors!].

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1. Usual tamil movie formula [item number, climax fight].
2. Comedy [does not even come closer to the movie theme].
3. The villain [again the standard tamil movie formula as in # 1].

Bottom line:
Even if there is one tamil movie watching school teacher who realizes that every child is special and his / her responsibility is to provide a better future for each and every one of his / her class children, the movie is a success. Unfortunately, it is not something that can be measured by the box office collection. We can only wait to watch the beginning of a change ... positive, that is!

Cheers,
bright