Paradesi: Stand Up & Applaud

Director bala’s Paradesi is brilliant; Based on an English novel Red Tea (Eriyum Panikadu in Tamil) by Paul Harris Daniel, the story is about the life and struggles of the exploited tea-plantation workers. Set in 1939 the film begins in salur a village in Madras presidency where we are introduced to Raasa (Athrava) who doesn’t have a job just roams around telling information regarding the happenings, incidents of the village. Angamma (Vedhika) is attracted to Raasa they fall in love and as usual her mother doesn’t like their romance and she calls for a panchayat.

Raasa now searches for a job so that he can marry Angamma, at this juncture he meets Kankani (Jerry) a supervisor from tea estate who promises the villagers job, shelter, money and convinces them to sign bonds. The entire village goes along with him in search of greener pastures with lots of dreams & hopes about their prosperous lives. Little do these innocent people realize that they are going to be treated as bonded labourers in the tea plantation estate for the rest of their life. Those who try to escape from the tea estate end up with their calf muscles being smashed off and there is no way out from this hell. Many of them also fall sick and die of viral infections and diseases.

Paradesi works big time because of its excellent casting and wonderful characterization, all the characters are lively, believable and very natural out of which Raasa’s grandmother stands out. All the actors have given a knock out performance by getting into the skin of their characters. Athrava as Raasa stays with you even after you leave the theatre, in just his third film he has lived the character of an innocent village youth and he excels in the climax scene and in the romantic scenes with Angamma. Vedhika is honest in her role of Angamma, but it’s Dhansika that impresses with a subdued and dignified performance as Maradhagam struggling to bring up her small daughter in the tea estate.

Bala also shows the influence of Christianity on the workers and how doctors by providing health facilities and food influence them. The songs Sengaade and Senneer Thaana are excellent with Vairamuthu capturing the pain and sufferings of the workers with magnificent lyrics. GV Prakash’s scores high with great songs but lets you down with a mediocre background score. Chezhian’s cinematography is terrific: be it the lush green tea estates or the workers living conditions, the dry salur village he has captured all of them brilliantly setting the apt tone for the period film.

The film is not without flaws, the bala cliches like an innocent hero, loosu ponnu heroine character and inhuman cinematic villains continue to be there in Paradesi also. Beyond a point of time you get exhausted seeing the sufferings and pains of the workers one after another, but he has to be appreciated for not including any commercial elements in the movie, the honesty in each and every frame capitulates you.

Paradesi stays with you for a longer time even after you have left the theatre. It takes sheer guts & passion to make a film about forgotten bonded labourers who have lost their lives working in the tea estates in inhuman working conditions, their painful history leave a lump in your throat. The next time you drink tea definitely you will think about paradesi.

 

Paradesi is one of the best Indian films made so far and it has increased the standards& benchmark of Tamil films. A must watch for people who love pure cinema.

 

 

Running Time: 123 Minutes