Pithamagan

Plot synopsis:
An anonymous woman dies while giving birth. Her child is found and raised by the caretaker of the graveyard. The child, named Chithan (Vikram), grows up among corpses with minimal human contact is perhaps more feral than autistic. He growls like a wolf, runs like an gorilla has the unkempt appearance of an orangutan but he seems to understand loyalty and is despite his circumstance, a social animal. He ventures into a town in search of food and gets into trouble as he doesn't understand the concept of money. He is rescued by Gomathi (Sangeetha), a petty Ganja seller. She sees his ability to be loyal and enrolls him into the service of her employer, a large scale ganja producer. Chithan is caught during a drug raid and sent to jail.
Shakthi (Suriya) is a conman with a silver tongue.He gets into trouble when he cons Manju (Laila) into losing all her personal effects in a game of dice. Shakthi gets sent to jail thanks to Manju's detective work. Shakthi meets Chithan in jail and starts protecting him out of sympathy and pity. Chithan starts to reciprocate to Shakthi's kindness with the only way he knows, by being as loyal as a dog.
Shakthi serves his term and then butts heads with the Ganja producer to get Chithan out of jail as well. Chithan gets out but commits a crime when he obeys his master's instruction to burn the body of a murder victim. Shakthi, realizing that Chithan is being used as accessory in crimes he cannot comprehend, prevents Chithan from going back to working in the ganja fields. At the same time, a budding romance starts between Shakthi and Manju. Chithan too starts to see a shared spirit in Gomathi.
The Police catch a wind of the murder and arrest Chithan. Shakthi gets Chithan to side with the police and goes against the Ganja producer. The Ganja producer attacks Shakthi when Chithan isn't around. The Ganja producer kills Shakthi and dumps his body in the middle of the road. Chithan doesn't understand that Shakthi is dead and zones out to outer space when everyone surrounds him. Gomathi, Manju and the others are crying and beating their chests in agony. Gomathi sees Chithan's confusion as indifference and she angrily drives Chithan away from Shakthi's body.
Chithan slowly starts to understand that Shakthi is dead as he sees him on the funeral pyre. His realization is complete when he wakes up in the morning next to the burnt remains of Shakthi's corpse. He experiences emotions he has never experienced before: fury, agony, betrayal and emotional pain. His body bears the scars of a million bruises and his violence has always been self-defense and the defense of his masters. The realization of the meaning of death and the pain of losing a loved one breaks the feral chains that had wound up on his psyche.
Chithan sets out like a man intent on destroying the world. He sets fire to the ganja fields, lets the Ganja producer experience the pain of his loss and then sets upon destroying him physically.He drives him through the street, taking his time breaking a few bones at a time till he is done toying with him. Then he kills him and offers his body as a tribute to Manju who now has lost her will to live.
Gomathi realizes what Chithan has been through and tries to get him to stay. However, Chithan turns back to the world of the graveyard among the corpses that cannot hurt him anymore.

Tags: romantic, murder

Review:
A Fabulous Masterpiece.
An absolutely fantastic movie, to say the least!!
This movie is the stand-out proof, if any were required, that Tamil cinema has been there on top with the best in the world when it comes to meaningful n powerful contributions to cinema.It's a simple story about an extraordinary man and his relationships with a perfectly ordinary world.
Sitthan is a child of the graves, born in a cemetery and lived there all his life until one day, as a grown man he is forced to step out into the world.
He is caught in times he does not understand.
He is totally and believably unaware of such concepts as money, the police and dining etiquette.
What he does possess is an animal instinct to survive.A street-side drug seller takes him into her fold and gets him employed in a cannabis farm.
The rest of the story revolves around how he meets Shakthi, a conman who becomes his friend for life and how the two proceed through their collective lives.The movie is commendable in in many ways.
Vikram gives a stellar National Award-winning performance as Sitthan.
Almost dialog-less throughout the movie, he excels in every scene, emoting complex sentiments easily through gestures and grunts.
His body language is compelling, almost prehistoric and carries a hint of an unspoken raw terror.
The scenes where he mauls the policemen are brutal but bloodless.
In one scene where he is hung on a rod like a captured tiger, he sends a growl into the face of a policemen, with such intensity it evokes unpleasant memories of Hannibal Lecter.
Simply superb.The rest of the cast delivers the goods too.
Shakti, played by Surya as the one soul who understands Sitthan is touching and convincing.
The ladies are largely soulful.
The direction by Bala is splendid, taking the story along with effortless ease.
The fight sequences with Vikram butchering everyone are chillingly choreographed to incessant wild grunting.
Though the editing could have been a lot slicker, the camera work is pretty good.The only scenes where the movie goes off track are the scenes with Simran and her hip-shakes.
A totally unnecessary song-dance sequence.
Also, Laila, playing Shakti's love interest, overdoes it at several occasions.
But Vikram drowns it all.On the whole, a fantastic movie that delivers the slow-paced caffeine of a classic..
South Indian movie at its best.
I heard a lot about this movie but watched it probably because sometimes when i heard a lot about any movie i get a little biased towards watching it, as all the talk about it irritates me.
I made a mistake in watching this movie earlier.
'Awesome' is an understatement.
What attracted me towards this movie was the first time combination of two South Indian stars Vikram and Surya(both my favorite) of the three superstars(Vijay, Vikram and Surya).
Vikram as usual gives an outstanding performance as mentally challenged undertaker, on the other hand Surya and Laila leaves no stone unturned to show their own skills and make movie better.
The story in some good movie takes a second place to the characters, Pithamagan is one such movie.Watch it for Surya-Vikram duo, rest is just extra gift to you..
Outstanding, brilliant movie.
Practically everyone of the main characters were brilliant.
I liked the innocent and happy play of Suryan and Laila very much which contrasted nicely with the darker nature of the movie.
Even Simran's dance was very good - no elaborate glamor, just plain and simple dance elements - I found it breathtaking.
The characters were powerful yet realistic and believable.
The police, the jailors, the rich, corrupt guys, the helplessness of poor people caught in these dynamics.
Its such a relief to have a director who is original, strong, secure, no need not to copy from Hollywood.
Bollywood is so bereft of ideas that no movie can survive without some item number, trying to cover up empty movies with technical whizbang - see the movie Race for example.
Absolutely marvelous movie..
agonizing.....
bala delivered movie of lifetime in sethu....but now one would say he hasn't....pithamagan may well take the cake...casting cant be more perfect...music and the bg is out of the world in the true sense....and vikrams performance is outrageous...human relations is conceived in a manner that only bala can....
i would say the story,the plot,the characters and every atom involved in making this film travels along with chittan and they reach their destination or destiny rather abruptly....the scene when chittan breaks down for the first time in his life is so dramatic and real....bala is a genius in conceiving very bizarre stories with conviction and trueness....pithamagan a must watch....
Indias Best.Bala's Masterpiece.
If u guys never seen a Indian movie..better start with this one..Indian movies are generally very superficial with lot of dance and fights...but this movie is very deep....with vikram's national award acting ,,actually surya did equally good..
and the only Indian movie which can be compared to international standards.Though there are lot of bollywood movies which are doing pretty good but the difference between them and Pithamagam is Unique....the B'wood are heavily influenced by other foreign movies but Pithamagan is a genuine material.
somee other movies like nayagan which is a pure rip-off of "godfather" & once upon a time in America has got more credits than this movie..thats very SAD...
the film is said to be based on a short story by jayakanthan.
the story revolves aaround a vetian(who burns dead bodies accord to Indian tradition) who is detached from the society and how he gets close to some superb characters played by Surya.
Laila, SangeetaWhats soo great about director Bala, he creates a world with characters so different and extreme at the same time very realistic.
words really can't describe....its a must see..if u guys could get this movie with subtitles ...grab it..u will cry