Evano Oruvan - a review and some thoughts

R.Madhavan deserves kudos, bouquets, and a great big hug - for making a classy film like Evano Oruvan ('A man in the crowd'). He has written the dialogues, and also produced the film. The film, at a crisp 2 hours, is a remake of the Marathi film Dombivli Fast. It doesn't feel like a remake, though. Within the film, Madhavan has lived the character of Sridhar Vasudevan - and the film rides on his shoulders.

Vasudevan is an ordinary man, who works as an officer in a bank. He boards the train everyday at Nanganallur to work, and lives a routine middle-class life. You can feel his everyday struggles, the way he swallows his frustrations as he goes about raising a family and being a provider, while trying hard to live by his principles. He is a simple, intelligent human being who stifles his creative, poetic side to be a provider; an idealist who is looked upon as a freak for being honest and expecting honest dealings. He eventually pays the price for daring to be honest in an essentially dishonest society.

Madhavan's performance and the the story's realism were absolutely RIVETING. The viewer identifies with him, feels his pain, and, as happened in the theater where I watched the film - is too moved to get up from the seat when the film ends.

Some things in life don't come easily, and resorting to short-cuts, bribing, wanting and more wanting without an end, ends up hurting our children and us as a society. The rot we ignore will soon be upon us.

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Read this article about the recent school shooting in Gurgaon:

http://www.sify.com/news/fullstory.php?id=14577059

It talks about greed as a society, and impatience to get what we want now, as some of the factors that push children towards crime. Buying whatever a child wants is easier for two exhausted working parents - rather than saying 'no' to the child and facing the tantrum (and one's own guilt). Considering the fast-paced lifestyle and the dwindling of support systems, giving in is far easier than fighting. So we end up buying peace in the short-term.

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Got a ticket from a policeman recently for speeding in school-zone hours. My fellow passenger commented "If this was India, you can bribe the cop and get away". And I'm thinking, that's where the rot begins.

You make a mistake, you face the music - the buck stops there. Otherwise, the buck not only hops around but multiplies like a virus, perpetrating clones. Soon there'll be hordes trying to weasel their way out of consequences, and one day your child will do the same because 'everybody is doing it'. The ones who are honest enough not to join the crowd will be labeled pizhaikka theriyaadhavar (those who don't know how to survive).

This is not to say that one country is more or less corrupt than the other. We all try to get away with what we can - and the temptation is always there. But if enough of us resist, and take responsibility for our own mistakes, there is hope for our children.