Naan Kadavul - Review

I got very curious.. I just wanted to see the film. May be it was b'coz of my trip to Varnasi .. may be it was b'coz of my interests to know about Aghories. I got spellbound by the trailer. So I went to the theater and saw the film.
The story is about an Aghori and a beggar. Both their lives are narrated parallely and a couple of times their lives intersects. Illayaraja's music was scintillating! I just cannot imagine how this movie will be without "Om Sivoham". But I got disappointed when I realized Bala dint picturise 'Kannil Parvai' and 'Amma Un Pillai'. They were both very good songs.. my worry is not about the utilization of these songs in the film..its about reachability of these songs. How many ppl knew about this song now? How many ppl would've heard these songs if they were pictured!
Arya is an Aghori who was taken back to his home town(Malaikottai) by his father. But Arya shows no bondage to his family. He leads his Aghori life in the village. Actually in a couple of days he leaves home and lives with some monks in a rundown temple. Thandavan has a pool of beggars. Thandavan assigns some ppl to take care of the beggars. Taking care means managing the beggars and bringing back their money to Thandavan. Murugan is one of those 'managers', one day Murugan notices Puja, who is a blind beggar and takes her with him.
One of the best things about this film is showcasing of the plight of beggars. Beggars have no home and they live in inhospitable condition, but even then they have this home concept. Whenever they are displaced from one group to another they cry they feel home sick. Bala has done a good job in showcasing the various facets of these ppl life. He would've taken a lot of pain in selecting different physically and mentally challenged ppl for this film. There was this scene were a guy comes to Thandavan with a lot of physically and mentally challenged ppl. Thandavan looks at each person and finally says, "So I've no job now. Since these ppl are already handicapped I need not 'make' them handicapped"
Murugan knows that whatever he is doing is wrong and feels terribly guilt. He goes to the temple everyday and prays to 'Mangadu Samy'.
"Mangadu Samy' is a seer who has no limbs but this Samy never opens his eyes never also speaks. Also in one scene Murugan comes back to his den in a drunk state and apologizes to Puja for separating her from her group and then explain to every beggars about how he loves them and how he hates his job.
How is it that Arya just wakes up and beats bad men. The only explanation could be that Aghories intuitively knows who is bad and who is good by just seeing at ppl! Police remanding Arya for 1 week time is just a waste of time. Nothing significantly happens. Also towards the end the flow of the film was very abrupt. We see Puja in a Christian missionary and then in the next scene we see her back in Thandavan's place. How she went to the Christian missionary, how she came back.. also what happened to Murugan were never explained.
For any character to have a lasting impression we should empathize with that character. Unfortunately Arya's character has nothing to be emphatic about. Initial couple of scenes we may be shell-shocked seeing Arya but then it becomes a routine and we loose interest in that character. But Puja's character has some depth and we can empathize. Actually all the beggars characters were well etched. Example: the girl who has a soft corner to Murugan and her eventual fate!
In the final scene Pooja comes to Arya (her makeup looks very good) and says that she had given up on all the religions and all the Gods. She had finally come to him hoping that he could solve her problem, he could end her miseries and give her salvation. Arya helps her using Bala's own unique way!
Acting from both Arya and Pooja are just average. But credit must be given to Puja who had the courage to pledge 2 years of her acting career to a film, considering a female actor has a very short acting career.
The greatest issue with this film is all the scenes look good but they just don't make a complete film. Its like a collage whose bits doesn't show a coherent picture. Anyways its a different film which is worth watching.