We feel Paruthiveeran's anger and humiliation, and a split second later realize we've been had: while Paruthiveeran was carrying no weapon, the same cannot be said for his boy companion, who pulls out a long knife and hands it to the older figure. One would be wrong: director/writer Ameer Sultan begins Paruthiveeran with a festival scene that does not focus on a teeming whole, or glimpses thereof, so much as upon solitary fragments: the bustling fair seems paradoxically desolate as cinematographer Ramji's camera restlessly moves past the crowd, apparently uninterested in the revelers as it focuses, sporadically on black-clad Sevvazhai (Saravanan) hovering at the margins and apparently on the lookout for someone repeatedly on a stageshow in progress, the singer's mournful voice suffusing the screen with a curious melange of high spirits and lament and finally on white-clad Paruthiveeran (Karthi), who appears to be an innocent man harrassed by the cops and all but strip-searched for weapons. Even when done well (such as in Saravana, the only redeeming feature of that wretched film), the audience's enjoyment is in part a function of the fact that one knows almost exactly what is going to happen, a cinematic old shoe that - to a masala fan at least - gets more and more comfortable with use. You know the drill: teeming masses of people, heavy percussion, and a brawl just waiting to erupt. One would think there could be no new way to capture the Tamil village festival/fair on celluloid. Screened at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival. Best Indian Film, 2007 Cinefan Film Festival, New Delhi.
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