Special mention: A movie i saw this weekend

When gopi, a collegue made a passionate plea asking me not to miss this movie, I was pleasently intrigued by the impression this movie could've made on him. The movie was cheran's thavamai thavamirunthu. Having seen Autograph and the effect it had on almost everybody i met, i had no choice but to expect a lot.
I was impressed. The very opening shot in black and white and ensuing conversation with the driver set the tone for what was to follow. As the events unfolded the premise gets well established and we know what to expect. In fact thats what set me thinking.
Among communication devices, my favourite is the highest common denominator. The most exclusive but commonly shared concepts that people don't even talk about but strikes a chord universally. For example if death is lowest common denominator (targeting the lowest expectations and broadest interests of an audience with a varying range of tastes) and yngwie mamsteen is highest common factor(most exclusive in terms of familiarity) then a child sleeping with grandparents as an expression of happy family unit is what i call highest common denominator. It is liberally used by all good communication experts without dissecting it thus.
Cheran comes across as an expert in handling this and the whole movie is a string of such instances giving the feeling for almost everyone (at least in this part of the country) that one is watching one's own story on screen.
Of course, staying in the same area of expertise (nostalgia/flashback) is a bit boring but its still a treat. Like i said earlier, the movie is so predictable and when the charecters stay true to what is expected the audience actually love it. The man is clearly adept at using the medium and techniques esp low angle shots for childhood. The background score unfortunately is a letdown as compared to the earlier movie. Rak kiran has etched his character in the most natural potrayal doing justice to cheran's attention to details. The charecterisation must've certainly inspired him. What i didn't see and not usually seen in most tamil movies is the director's objective reference, a comment on the proceedings, a flash into his thought process. I don't know if this is charecteristic desi humility or inability to articulate view point but if you've seen cinema paradiso or Tim burton's big fish you'll know what i'm saying.
Great step forward for tamil cinema but cheran shouldn't lose his head when the masses start calling it a "novel in celluloid"...saw a poster for his birthday on the way and the glorification was sickening.