Rameswaram

The varying background and lifestyle of different segment of viewers and hence, their very different perspectives about stories make movies always a big milling ground for opinions and 'Rameswaram' , he recently released tamil movie should be no exception either.
I had an opportunity to watch this movie yesterday and wanted to air my views and understanding of what I believe the team has attempted to communicate.
The synopsis of the movie goes like this. Jeevan ( Jeeva) as the refugee from Jaffna along with others are staying at the refugee camp in Rameshwaram, Tamil nadu. He runs into Vasanthi(Bhavna), the only daughter of the local bigwig and rich landlord, who plays a vivacious and beauteous young girl. Jeevan's attitude, affinity to Jaffna and his efforts to ensure that people at the camp don't feel indignified as refugees impresses Vasanthi and she eventually falls into love with Jeevan. The story goes on further and entangles with Jeevan's dilemma between his affinity for home town and his love for Vasanthi, thinking about how she would be able to manage herself from a peaceful, rich lifestyle into one thats full of uncertainties and the nightmare of bloodshed and lifeloss. More twists into the story with the introduction of Bose Venkatesh, a local police officer and Vasanthi's uncle, who has her family support to marry Vasanthi. He tries to foist false cases against Jeevan to get him out of the way between him and Vasanthi.
The story unfolds into the climax leaving the viewers wondering if Jeevan would be able to manage his way out of all these and enter into wedlock with Vasanthi(Bhavna).
Jeeva, as the refugee, with his tanned looks and dress style fits into the role very well. He has played the part of a conscious refugee, who wants to change it all and has carried himself with poise and thus, the message of the movie.
Bhavna, has played good support as the lead female, bubbly and effervescent in the role and also expressive in her emotions perfectly as the script demands.
Some parts of the movie appears and gives the feel of drag, which could have been avoided. However, the movie has been picturised with sophistication and hence, in spite of being a village subject, fits the class to attract overseas and urban viewers as well.
Full credits to the cinematographer for an impressive capture of the locales of Rameswaram. The locations were truly a treat to watch and leaves a positive impact on the viewers all through the film, making it much lighter in view of the seriousness of the subject.
And Niru's music is a big plus for the movie and tracks like 'Naan Tharai Nila' and 'Elloraiyum yethi poga' are sure to be a hit among listeners. His background score was impressive and accentuates the scenes and emotions in a powerful way.
Overall, the movie has lot of positives. However, with a slightly tighter script, Director Selvam and team could have delivered a much different movie in class.
In Summary, contrary to the expectations that the movie focuses the camera on the life of srilankan refugees in general, bloodshed, bombings and their sufferings, the movie actually sheds light in a different angle on the life of a refugee. It takes the example of a refugee in Jeevan and focusses on how the sufferings and the feeling of a refugee impact his thinking and decisions in life. The movie extends this thought in the viewer to look at the larger context to communicate the longer term impact violence has in the society and how being a refugee affects their dignity and self confidence, how it causes dilemma in their decisions and occasionally pushes to even make huge compromises in their lives.
While most movies depict and portray the short term impact on such issues for maximal attention, Rameswaram is quite a refreshing attempt among contemporary movies in approach & narration and this factor would play a big part to stimulate the intellectualy thirst overseas audience as well.