Review: MEENDUM ORU MARIYATHAI

By Rinku Gupta

Menndum Oru Mariyathai or Old Man ( OM ) directed by Bharathi Rajaa,  is set in the UK. A grandfather Palpandi ( Bharathi Raja) is put into an old age home by his son but he disappears from there. He lands up on the streets of London, determined not to go back to his greedy son who had brought him back from India, after selling his farmlands without informing him.  Unused to the local culture, his wife ( Mounica) had died due to trauma after being jailed over an issue related to her grand-son and the child rights officers. In such a scenario, Old Man ( as the heroine calls him) decides to stand on his own feet.


One day he comes across a young girl , Venba ( Raasi Natchatra , pretty and talented) whom he saves from committing suicide. She is disillusioned about life due to a lecherous brother-in- law ( Fenon Rodriguez) who forces her to dance in clubs. Old Man decides to convince her about the beauty of life so as to make her want to live and thus issues a 10 day challenge.  If he cant convince her, then after 10 days he himself will kill her.
What happens as a result of the challenge?

The scenic locales of England and Scotland form a beautiful backdrop of the story.
The aim is to showcase the vibrancy of life and to hold on to hope and not dejection in the face of tragedy and this the director successfully conveys. The scenic locations help to believe in this magical transformation.
The actors have done well to add credibility to their roles.
Changing Relationships and cultural differences are well brought out.
The music amply supports the story.

On the downside, the format of including still photos every few minutes, as scenes are frozen as stills, is very tiresome to watch.

Too many close ups don't make for pleasant visuals.

The dubbing of the English speakers is astonishingly bad, clearly done in a local dubbing studio on home ground. But, in India with so many Enhlish speakers everywhere,   how difficult could it have been to get this part right?

The story seems to ramble on a tad aimlessly, too long , ĺwith songs and situations repeatedly driving home the same message.
Impractical situations aplenty  of the duo running away from reality.
Looks like some parts of Turkey are passed off as Scotland in few scenes?
Many loopholes in the story seem to stand out.


Overall a movie with a good message, pleasant visuals and good music, but which could do with a bit of trimming to make a crisper watch,  especially since the story is wafer thin.
Rating : 2.5/ 5

Cast :
1 Bharathi Raja
2. Raasi Natchatra
3. Mounika Balu Mahendra
4. Kavitha Bharathi
5. Joe Mullury
6. Jey.Jey
7. Bhanu KandhaGnani
8. Fenon J.Rodriguez
9. R.R.Tamilselvan
lO.Shanmuga Sundaram
ll.Ragu Prtya
12.Baby Roshini
13. Master Amokodivan

Crew:

I.Story,Screenplay&Direction - Bharathirajaa

2,Dialogue Writer

- Madhan Karky

3.Cinematography

- SalaiSagadevan

4. Music

- N.R.Ragunandan

5.Art

- Mohana Mahendran

6. Editor

- KMK. Palanivel

7.Lyrica

Kaviperarasu Vairamuthu

Madhan Karky

Kabilan Vairam uthu

B. Background Score

Sabesh-Mural

9.Choreographers

- CooIJeyanth

Prasanna

Shanmuga Sundar

IO.Designer

- Kambam Sankar

ll.PRO '

- Nikil Murugan

12.Production Executive

- S.Benjamin

13.Executive Producer

- PJeyaraj

14.Producer

- Chandraleela Bharathirajaa

Manoj K.Bharathi

Janani Rajkumar





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