Andha Naal

This movie (as mentioned, is the first without songs) is one of the old b&w that I watched when I was a kid. Later, when I watched movies like Citizen Kane, Rashomon etc., this was the movie which came to my mind, more for the style of narration of the story. I guess this is one inspired by Rashomon, and preserves the style of narration. This is not too much of a thriller suspense, but this is a movie that you can watch any day and enjoy (if you care for movies that are classics). Being a 50s movie, certainly one of the landmarks in tamil movie industry, in spite of not being an original concept. The performances are certainly bit theatrical, but that was how acting was in those days. And that flavor of acting makes the movie all the more evergreen and a good classic to watch.

This movie defines the greatness of Tamil cinema and is a must for any and all mature movie watchers. The movie has a novel narrative style that is said to be borrowed from the Japanese classic Rashomon. However the style is where it begins and ends. Every character effortlessly blends in the movie. This makes the acting near non-dramatic and appears real. Sivaji in a negative role is the person himself. Pandari Bai as his wife is amazingly apt for the women of that time. It is noteworthy that Sivaji Ganesan raises his voice but never shouts or laughs crazily. Pandari Bai panics but is never shrill. These elements have effectively blended to contribute to the noir theme. "Javert" Seetharaman as detective also amazes us with his unobtrusive role. His role reminds us of the wise sages "searching for the truth". One of the striking elements of the movie is how easily and simply it accepts promiscuity as part of social life. The movie is also a worthy work of direction. Songs are absent but not missed. The narration is taut and perfect. No loose ends here. The narration is so fascinating that the absence of special shots and camera angles do not matter. The B&W contributes to the effectiveness of the forlorn state of the house for most of the movie.

Being a movie without any songs, Sundharam Balachandar made a daring attempt in bringing out the movie with the help of AVM. It is simply amazing on how each and every character is unique.

I can't think of any negatives as the movie was much ahead of its time. Even My parents weren't born yet at that time!

Positives: To start with Sivaji sir! He gave the much needed grip in the movie where he performs almost perfect with the negatively shaded Radi Engineer - Rajan.

Javar Seetharaman - in his tailor made role, he performed very well in being a smart CID cop.

The neighbor character gives the much needed laugh in this 120 odd minute play whereas the cunning character of sister-in-law of Rajan was done without any mistake at all!

The inspector, wife of Rajan, Classical dancer, Rajan's Brother did their part very well.

I am amused by the details which were given to each and every scene and to every characters! Although the concept was inspired from Rashoman - Kurosawa movie, the story line and screenplay was different from it.

This movie is sure a milestone in Thamizh & Indian cinema !

Considering that this is a murder mystery, the biggest drawback is the suspense. The murderer is pretty much revealed aby the halfway mark, but the investigators take quite a bit more time to identify the killer.

It was fascinating to watch a movie made in 1954, that too one that is set in 1943. I had no idea that Japan had dropped bombs on Chennai during World War II. The acting was very good. The contrasting speeches given at the college were very well done in my opinion.

Overall, a very impressive film with an underwhelming suspense component.

The only negative is that there are many murder mysteries in this period! But at that Time there were only a few. And most of them were from Hollywood. This movie is a crime mystery film and since we have seen a lot of them, we can predict the climax. Yet, the movie is very much interesting, taken in Rashamon effect without any songs at that time was a very big experiment. And then we must say about the performance, It was top notch. This movie though has a predictable climax, we cannot guess it easily. And not only that, the murderer is definitely a twist but the reason is a bigger twist which can never be predicted(but it is not considered as a twist). At 1950's if you had seen this film, then you might have disliked it if you were a commercial cinema lover. But if you had seen it as an art film lover, you would have found this film as a gem. Yet this is a gem. The film is must watch for all. Never miss this film. Available on YouTube for free.