Probably one of the greatest films ever made in Tamil and definitely the best directorial debut in Tamil, Kattradhu Tamizh is about a Tamil teacher earning hardly 2000 INR a month, finding difficult to cope with loneliness living in a city like Chennai, trying to get back in touch with his long lost childhood love, unable to withstand the societal imbalance created largely by IT industry and therefore becoming a psychopath.
The screenplay's narrative structure takes you back and forth in time and changes from the protagonist talking to the audience then to himself and them to a camera yet doesn't create an ounce of confusion.
The cast is perfect. Jiiva excels in a role and a performance of a life time. He excels in every scene and manages to pull it off whether he is going over the top (like the scene where he confronts an IT guy on the street in the middle of the night) and while he expresses his emotions subtly (like his reactions in the Paravaiye Engu Irukiraai number), newcomer Anjali emotes exceptionally and is probably the only lady who can actually 'act' in Tamil Cinema for the time being, Karunas is better off playing such roles that are more memorable than his other silly characters, Azhagamperumal is another revelation and even the other small roles such as the heroine's uncle, the hero's friend, his lodge mates etc etc are so perfectly cast.
Yuvan Shankar Raja's songs are too good, the get right to the point literally, all the songs have the lyrics starting off immediately without a long beginning music and his background score enhances the mood of the film well.
Cinematographer Kathir's frames are a work of art. The shots of the little hero & heroine sitting on the top of a mountain with all the greenery around and then a very similar shot of the hero & heroine sitting on top of a mountain years later with all the dried up land around is example enough of his visual extravagance. Editor Sreekar Prasad's work is slick and enhances the narration perfectly.
Director Ram with his debut has already made an inedible mark on Tamil Cinema. Though most in the audience do not agree to his views on society a few like me willingly support them. Well accept his views or not you just cannot dismiss his efforts in creating a screenplay that puts 99% of all other Tamil films to shame, breathtaking visuals, a kaleidoscope of emotions and a realistic storyline and biting dialogues. You can't ask for more from a film.
An artistic triumph for everyone involved(including the audience who appreciate such work).
