Naan Kadavul (2009) User Reviews

A well told 'insensate' film

[royalstuffer · 9/10 · 21 February 2009]

Director Bala is notorious for his unique choice of disturbing subjects and Naan kadavul is no different. This time around he comes up with a story down under the hells of reality.

Aarya plays the lead role of an Aghori devotee named 'Rudra' which probably is the least humane character that any actor would dare to do. Shiva is the lord of elimination in Hindu texts, and an Aghori who is an ardent follower of Shiva believes in 'Dushta nigraha' or elimination of the evil. Aarya has done fair justice to the role and Bala has exploited him in his looks and acting potentials. Bala seems to have spent enough time in studying the life style of the Aghori sects and beggars. That reflects in the eventual realism that results.

Cold blooded action and shocking pragmatism may disturb the audience. So you have to prepared for 'anything' and 'everything'. Cinematography is a chilling package of the movie and every face that comes along in the movie appears real and original to the plot. Music by ilayaraja is definitely fitting to the scheme.

Violent imagery is objectionable to minors and women. So it's not any family 'go-watch'. But the movie is well told, and questions the true nature of Kadavul- the God and repeating statements made by Rudra-'Aham brahmasmi' surely keeps you thinking.

If you can appreciate the alternate thinking that the director has convincingly achieved in the movie then go and give it a try.

Excellent

[BhagavathyPadmanabhan · 8/10 · 5 June 2010]

Have no words to describe this masterpiece. "Naan Kadavul" may offer different kind of feeling to everybody -am sure. But all I want to say is that "This Is A true Indian Movie". This movie must be nominated for Oscars and wish that the world takes note of it. This is good for the world at large and since this was created in India, it will have to follow the same fate of every other immortal classic that was done in India Viz..."No recognition at large" unless the world gives the recognition. It created in me the same sorry feeling when I knew - Vedanta, Mahabharata or any other immortal spiritual classics was produced in India. They will never be acknowledged great unless world looks at it. ...

About this movie - what happens when an enlightened man living all his life with his guru and as a complete recluse and practicing the teachings taught; is suddenly taken by providence to his birth place. There is this sudden clash...A man beyond the world impacted with not just the world but with the harsh and depraved part of the world. Bala explains thereafter with extreme fragility and immense knowledge of spirituality. Thanks to you Bala...you have proved once again.

Truly Inspiring

[ethical_egoist · 9/10 · 20 May 2011]

Naan Kadavul may not have had the box office run of its commercial stereotype counterparts but it has every aspect that exemplifies a great movie. Bala has the tendency to bring out the best of every actor he directs and Naan Kadavul is no exception in this regard. Every member of the acting crew has lived their characters. Arya's impact, while short, is majestic and adds an aura yet unseen in Tamil cinema. Every scene has been brilliantly crafted and Bala's attention to detail is second to none. Illayaraja music adds vibrancy to what is already a magnificent piece of art and takes its beauty to an entirely different level. The directorial standard set by Bala will hold as a benchmark for many a generations to come.

challenge to the world cinema

[kathirvelvijaysenthil · 10/10 · 21 February 2009]

as SUPER STAR 'RAJNIKANTH' said here after never such a movie can be made..it goes down as one of the all time classic movies..like bala's previous movies SETHU, NANDHA , PITHAMAGAN he continues to stunt you with realistic story of NAAN KADAVUL..ARYA's dedication in the movie will make his carrier to look back...he has set a standards which other have to follow..ilayaraja has again gave a evergreen memories with his excellent music..he has done magics with the background score..Bala has tried to debate a few serious issues in the movie. The first is obviously about who is God? He also talks about life and death and how death is actually a boon to one who cannot lead a good life. Summing up, Naan Kadavul is not a movie that everyone can digest. It shows reality in such brutality that you wonder whether such things really do happen. It cannot be called violent; the word 'brutal' has to be repeated often to describe the movie.

Brilliant BALA !!!

[arvindrockz · 10/10 · 20 July 2009]

Naan Kadavul, written and directed by Bala, will go down as one of the boldest films made in the Tamil cine industry. It is based on the novel, 'Ezham Ulagam' (Seventh World), written by Tamil writer Jeyamohan. Naan Kadavul is an honest attempt at showcasing 'ezham ulagam' - the 'Dark World' of beggars and aghori sadhus *as is* - a movie in its true ART form - a movie sans melodrama and fairy tales.

The movie is anything but judgmental. It doesn't preach atheism nor does it say that it is better to die than to lead a miserable life. It leaves the judgmental part to its audience. As a movie in its true ART form, Naan Kadavul chooses to show the lives of two contrasting groups of people * as is*, goes one step higher by establishing a strong connection between the groups symbolically and stops there - true to its intent.

The screenplay is extremely good. Pooja's acting is mind blowing and Arya comes up with his best performance to date. Ilayaraja;s BGM and 'Pitchai Pathiram' song ROCKS. Its a must watch for every movie buff.

A defining moment in spreading vedanta thru the media

[rameshg6 · 10/10 · 12 May 2009]

Philosophically rich and very realistic to those who have seen and dwelt in the social-law defying black hole that is sometimes India. Divine and terrible at once, spiritual and materialistic living hand in hand. Like the beggars around the holy man in the South Indian temple who themselves dress themselves up as great sadhus but are mere men. It takes a trained eye to differentiate the true sadhus from the fake in India.

This is not a brutal movie deifying moral killing. It is a true telling of the beliefs and lives of a sect of people who practice a system of law and order much older than the English language. The court scene punctuates the point further; does a easily corruptible legal system really serve justice better than the judgment of one realised soul? What the movie doesn't perhaps cover too well is that by punishing the unjust/unwilling to live, the Aghori is taking on his/her karma on himself and considers it a task that he is duty bound to do.

The personality of Rudra's mother is a stereotype taken out of vedantic stories of mothers who want the best for their children yet who struggle to release their offspring who wish to dedicate their lives to god. Very similar to a mothers reaction to a child wishing to become a nun or a priest in the western world. The sage Ramana Maharishi's mother struggled similarly to accept his calling.

They say you cannot convert into Hinduism, that you must be born into it. Perhaps more such movies are necessary in this globalised age for the world to breach this misconception and bring the philosophies of the east and west together. There is still so much I can learn from this movie and I intend to watch it often enough to grasp exactly what the writers were trying to say.

This is possibly the most original and astounding Tamil film ever made...

[genius-madhavan · 10/10 · 22 February 2009]

This is possibly the most original and astounding Tamil film ever made...Absolute gem of a film...Bala has taken Tamil cinema and its viewers to the next level with this film.

Arya has Rudra has lived in the character,and so is Puja..Every Time you see Arya there is the kind of extra ordinary emotions running through you right from his intro to the last scene in Kasi..Absolutely Mind blowing... No body in Tamil cinema has the guts and clarity like Bala sir,and his directorial abilities would match the best in the world...Raja sir has given the most lively music even after 35 years and has showed what is re-recording...absolutely mid blowing,path breaking movie.

a stunning and gripping tale which leaves you speechless

[dr_araman · 7/10 · 22 March 2009]

It is indeed a rare movie, full of thought provoking glimpses into the bitter world of shameless and shocking exploitation of innocent kids. Top marks for the director's brilliant story telling and editing. Every scene is gripping and photography takes us completely into it, without irritating zooming shots. Arya has done a commendable job, just merging into the character so well. Bala has cleverly made the children provide subtle humour and down to earth dialogues that fit so well. On the negative side .... the sound track is too jarring in many scenes where the impact of the dialogue is lost in the unnecessary and inappropriate background music. Also the brutal scenes where women and children are being kicked and beaten up could have been avoided, as the story is strong enough even without such gory scenes which make the audience curse the film maker.The only consolation is that the rape scene which is usually a part and parcel of Tamil masala films is totally absent even where we were afraid he was about to introduce one. The end is uncomfortable but not unrealistic. This is not for the man on the street who is looking for racy song sequences and sexy shots, but for mature audiences who can relate to what the director is attempting to explore and expose in an unusual and extraordinary expression that transcends norms. One of the handful that may make it to the best actor and best direction awards and possibly even best editing.

A master piece made by the legend in the making

[sanloyn · 8/10 · 23 March 2009]

Well I should say that I am just not a movie goer, but a movie analyzer. And it takes a lot of things for me to be impressed by an movie. This master piece made by the legend in the making (BALA)is far away from words. This is pure brilliance and will surely get a place in the world cinema. I don't care if the movie did well or not in the box office

Two extremists (one of the Agori and the other is of the beggar's life)of our social world, made to meet each other at a point in the movie which mesmerizes the movie watcher. This is not a formula movie flick and will not satisfy every audience, but whoever want to see a movie that is beyond a normal one, here it is

The way in which Arya's charactered is been told him to do

The life in the back ground music given by our Illayaraja

And each and every character told in the movie itself is an art

The hero is clearly none other than the director of the movie. My rating is 8/10

Bold movie

[bala-73613 · 24 November 2017]

One of the bold and unique movie ever made! This movie for sure is not for the faint-hearted. Wish the director could tone down the gore and violence in his movies, even this movie has quite a lot of disturbing visuals. Apart from that, the movie is brilliantly made with pitch- perfect detailing, the exquisite photography and the brilliant re- recording. The lead performers as well as some newbies were top class. Rajendran, the antagonist, was absolutely terrifying. The Kasi episodes with the priest are intensely shot, i haven't seen any similar scenes in any other movie. So are the humorous dance episode inside a police station, you have to watch the expressions of the actors mimicking old actors, terrific indeed!!

many spoilers ahead ..

[digdog-785-717538 · 7/10 · 27 March 2014]

I agree with the rating on IDMB - a solid 7.7 is exactly where this film sits at; with the climax of the film being the lead character murdering a young blind woman to grant her freedom from her suffering.

And the rest of the film isn't nicer either.

There's pimps crippling their beggars to make them even more pitiful, a son whose heart doesn't warm to seeing his long lost family, inhuman inpiety, rage and superstition. And best of all, it's all true.

If you are keen to watch a slice of reality very, very far from your own (but with a touch of heroic vengeance thrown in, which doesn't hurt), then Naan Kadavul (I Am God) is for you. You might be puzzled at the unusual attitude towards life, death and morality that these characters have, but remember, different people think differently.

All in all, i'll say i was very impressed by the story and the rather decent acting, and i should also point out that this is not a bollywood film.

My final vote : 7.5/10, only recommended for people with an open mind.

Dangerous... Alternative reality shaking hands with you...

[philip-melvin-1 · 10/10 · 15 June 2010]

One Line Summary: A mind jolting experience.

As introduced by other reviewers, notorious, and depressing for most.

Bala's representation has left me speechless.

I knew not of the title translated means to... while I picked up post watching Pitahmagan by Bala. With such extreme intensified characterization, no space for an error, or could not even notice.

A piece of art perfected in every sense to sustain the true spirits of the message, without any sensitivity attached - but brutal view exposed.

Symbolic - a few to make quote of : 1. crippled one's who beg, work for, blindly, without hope of redemption, merry in the trivial joys and humor of, calling it life for themselves. Of an ugly rich man who wants the blind girl to marry him. 2. hit of guilt, deepest scars which bring in sorrow and misery 3.Geographies trading people in different names, to exploit on the mercy of...

to current influences in lives today, religions, geography classification, humans in pains of self created misery, knowing not if manipulative or manipulated - strongly philosophical to extent that '1' would be only in case '0' is and with such understanding comes another phase of understanding and view towards the world - successful binary system inclusion in concept - something which humans still classify in understanding of receptive senses - and a few missed out could be we know not of - of origination of values we know no reasons of.

NOT RECOMMENDED watch for people with likings and dreams - men for they may understand the fallacy / abuse of drive... for women, world may just turn bland on few statements. Mix religious scenario and practices represented subtly.

Only VERY MATURE watch recommended.

Rarely experienced in a movie, 'Naan Kaduval' each sentence / scene is a complete philosophy in itself. Writer's brilliance and uninhibited depth of view with such captured executions is commendable.

A must watch for iron cast philosophers to initiate discussions and changes in observation to. Also observe the variations in the review by others - a completely different perspective.

my first review

[swe-myst-love · 10/10 · 9 December 2010]

"NAAN KADAVUL"

The tag line of the movie is 'Aham Brahmasmi'.The film is based on the Tamil novel 'Yelavathu Ulagam'(meaning Seventh World) by writer Jayamohan. He also penned the dialogs for the film.The movie received rave reviews and critical acclaim, winning two National Film Awards, including the Best Director Award for Bala, and three Tamil Nadu State Film Awards.

The film opens with a father in search of his son who he had abandoned 15 years back in Kasi, as per the advice of all astrologers, who predicted that "he was a bad omen". Now the father in remorse finds his son who has become an Aghori ascetic sanyasi Rudran with no human emotions and calls himself as God next to Kalabhirav and always mutters- Bham, Bham Mahadev.People believe that aghori's can give salvation from this birth and Iiberation from rebirth!Rudra leaves his house and takes up residence among sadhus on a hilltop shrine, where physically challenged people are forced to beg by a syndicate run by the devilish Thandavan (Rajendran). The boss of beggars is concerned only about the money collected by his group of supplicants, who he controls, violates and disfigures as he chooses. Because none is able to give any reply to the violence he unleashes on those under his authority.But when Thandavan tries to sell off a blind beggar girl to a disfigured leper, who wants someone to bed him without knowing how ugly he is, their worlds collide. The blind girl comes begging to the aghori for help.Hamsavalli was heavily beaten and disfigured by Thandavan.Rudra saves them by killing Thandavan.Hamsavalli pleads him to relieve from her misery. Rudran who sees only his job as giving 'nirvana' or salvation to those who don't want any more rebirths executes her cutting her throat and provides her salvation. The movie portrays the dark side of the needy physically challenged people.

Bala,the director of the movie showed us the dark realities happening around us, which we had never bothered.

Naan Kadavul is a tale of two extreme groups belonging to the same dark world,where the beggars are depicted as slave workers, Aghoris consider themselves to be super natural - next only to 'Kal Bhairav'.

Naan Kadavul believes that there is No God in the Seventh World. Bala has emphasized this belief throughout the tour in the form of various scenes and dialogs with a tinge of dark humor. A lot of the explicit content has been censored. Jesus and Buddha were supposed to be present as spectators in the scenes where the beggars get beaten up by Rudran & Co. The Gods of the world were supposed to be present when Hamsavalli begs Rudran for death. The objective was to take a dig at ALL religions. To stress the point further, the physically disabled beggars were in the costumes of Lord Sivan, Parvathi and Murugan. This is a subtle way of saying that the gods of the world that we are in, are nothing more than handicapped helpless people in the seventh world. This is brilliant character sketching and symbolism from Bala. The beggars who never go inside the temple, however, consider the 'Mangandi Saami', who is a beggar himself, as their God. Another way of saying that if there is any God in the seventh world, he has to be a beggar too. The character of Hamasavali is sketched in a way to convey that in the dark world, even the people who initially believe in god would eventually be forced by their situation to give up their belief. She surrenders to a nun and gets converted to Christianity but eventually Thandavan manages to buy her. This puts her in a miserable situation and she loses her faith in god and believes that only Rudran can relieve her from this world of misery. She conveys this to Rudran when she gets to meet him and her belief (or the lack of it) is conveyed to us by the dialog where she accuses that no god cared for her miseries.

The movie was much better than the novel. He has shown the lives of helpless beggars and Aghoris very close to reality. He cast the film with 40-50 real life physically handicapped beggars. Arya who portrayed Rudran and Pooja who performed as Hamsavalli gave mind blowing performances. Bala picturised both the parallel tracks that of rudran and beggar mafia beautifully but struggled between the inter linking of the two and lost balance between the tracks.

Jayamohan,the writer of the novel himself admitted,'My novel is simple, but the director has brought in a lovely grandeur in the film,'.

Bala wanted to clear the general misconception that the beggars have a soft corner for people who give alms to them. Beyond a point, they are not concerned much about the money as it doesn't make their sufferings any less and as shown in various sequences, they derive their humor by mocking at the people who visit the temple. The characters dressed like gods, mocking and laughing loud at the people visiting the temple is symbolic to Gods mocking at their superstitious beliefs.

It doesn't preach atheism nor does it say that it is better to die than to lead a miserable life. It leaves the judgmental part to its audience.

Masterpiece Again From Bala, 21 Feb 2009

[imranmkm · 10/10 · 20 February 2009]

This movie takes 3 years for the production and the reason for the duration will be justified after watching this movie only. The story is about an Aghori lives in Kasi comes to his native on the request of his guru where he finds the sad and brutal life of beggars with inabilities. He kills the Villains who controls these beggars , giving them justice for their sins and also kills a blind woman beggar who suffers with her life(stunning climax).the director has linked the two extreme life of beggars and Aghori, which is brilliant. the feelings of mother of an aghori has touched the heart. The scenes in the police station and court are really humorous. the kasi has been captured beautifully. Worth Watching for the efforts of Arya, Pooja and Director Bala.

It kept me shocked for days!

[rxarty · 9/10 · 29 August 2020]

1 extra star for Arya's acting! Throughout the movie i was convinced i was watching an Aghori baba and not Arya. I think he deserved a National Award for this movie. Anyways, coming to the movie it's disturbing, shocking and at the same time it's a naked truth. A truth that we all choose to not look at because it disturbs our lives.

The climax is not something i had expected and it kept me horrified for days. This movie is the reason why i explored Hindu spirituality in more detail and the concepts of Aghoris...it's transformed my way of looking at life.

An awesome movie....

[manojplaystore · 10/10 · 22 January 2013]

No words to describe it...

BALA has done it again and doesn't fail to meet the audience's expectation. From my view he is the only director who explains the problems faced in life by the people of limited means.

The story clearly portraits the sufferings of people who don't have a fair chance to live in the society.

This film got National Award, which is no surprise.

The cast has been awesome in their deliverables... especially, Arya, Pooja have put some mind blowing effort which is so intense.

Especially,the moral of the story "IF ONE CANNOT LIVE PEACEFULLY IN THIS WORLD, DEATH IS THE ONLY WAY TO PEACE" is BEYOND WORDS....

SO TRUE...

Must watch movie

[deepakrshenoy · 10/10 · 2 June 2019]

Arya your acting in this movie is simply superb. These kind of movies should win Oscar and the actors should learn from you. You are living the life of akhori in this movie and well deserved appreciation to you and the crew. Awesome job!

A comment - not a review

[anandsiga · 23 February 2009]

There are no comments so far. Why no one has posted anything so far? I love Jayamohan's writings and I consider 'Ezham Ulagam' as one of his major works.I wish some one like Ken Loach to film this master work. But I heard that Jeyamohan has distorted his own work to accommodate the story to suit to Tamil audience /film standards - repeating the same age old eternal Kollywood formula of good vs evil –protagonist's rampage against the evil doers. The story credit is given to bala while we all know the truth. As far as I hear most of it is cut and paste from Ezham Ulagam. If filmed in it's original narrative by a good film maker , this would have been one of the all time masterpieces of Tamil cinema. We would have got a classic like Thagazhi's Chemmeen or Ananthamurthy's Samaskara.We lack good honest film makers and critics anyway.

I have not seen the movie. So I can not give any ratings. Perhaps we will know the truth when the the hype dies down . A good movie happens to be living eternally and does not just die after the box office coffers are emptied like in the case of Dasavatharam and Sivaji. I do not consider any director who wastes film unnecessarily and also time and money as a good film maker. There is a standard set for using film / time in the art of film making. I do not want to elaborate more.

The point is, if this is a real good film it will be recognised as one around the world - that's the order of the day - world has shrunk in this digital age. If it is only the fans' noise of jubilation, it will die down to zero when the film leaves the theaters. Let's wait and see.

Do you have guts to watch this ?

[narentalk · 10/10 · 23 July 2021]

Story of an agora who goes back to normal family.he crosses path with begger mafia.

Cinematography is top notch, great soundtrack. This is so crude I had to gather all my courage to finish this. This is most gut wrenching story ive ever see.