Angadi Theru

Angaadi Theru
Directed by	Vasanthabalan
Produced by	K. Karunamoorthy C. Arunpandian
Written by	Vasanthabalan
Starring	Mahesh Anjali A. Venkatesh Pandi
Music by	Original Songs: Vijay Antony G. V. Prakash Kumar Background Score: Vijay Antony
Cinematography	Richard M. Nathan
Edited by	A. Sreekar Prasad
Production company	Ayngaran International
Distributed by	Ayngaran International
Release date	26 March 2010 (2010-03-26)
Running time	157 minutes
Country	India
Language	Tamil
Budget	₹100 million (equivalent to ₹160 million or US$2.2 million in 2017)
Box office	₹180 million (equivalent to ₹290 million or US$4.0 million in 2017)

Angaadi Theru (English: Street Market) is a 2010 Indian Tamil romantic drama film written and directed by Vasanthabalan, starring debutant Mahesh and Anjali in the lead roles. The title refers to the Ranganathan Street in Chennai where the story plays. The film features music jointly composed by Vijay Antony and G. V. Prakash Kumar. An Ayngaran International production, the film was launched on 11 February 2008 and released on 26 March 2010 to critical acclaim. The film was shortlisted for the Indian submissions for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film but lost to Peepli Live. It released in Telugu as Shopping Mall.

Plot

The film starts with Jyothi Lingam (Mahesh) and Kani (Anjali) playing and making fun of each other in nighttime asking many people how the match is between them. They get into a bus and a song starts. Not owning a house, the two then find a place to sleep in the street where masonry workers are sleeping. While they are dreaming, a fire engine completely loses its control after colliding with another vehicle, and it hits the people sleeping in the street. The next scene shows the jammed vehicle, blood, crying people, and the hospital where Jothi is lying on a stretcher with blood all over his body. When some policemen ask Jothi for his name and residence, he just murmurs "Kani, Kani, Kani...". The flashback now starts and the scene takes us to a village in Tirunelveli.

Jyothi is a bright student and son of a mason who leads a happy life in his village near Tirunelveli. One day tragedy strikes as his father, the only earning member, dies in an accident while crossing an unmanned railway gate. The young boy now has to look after his mother and two sisters. Due to circumstances, he is forced to abandon his studies, though he comes first in his school in the board exam. Through a canvassing agent, he and his friend Marimuthu (Pandi get jobs as salespeople in a textile showroom in Ranganathan Street in Chennai. Jyothi, along with hundreds of others, is employed at the Senthil Murugan Stores run by a big businessman. On each floor at the textile showroom, there are around 50 to 60 salesboys and salesgirls who work in pitiable conditions from early in the morning to late at night without any rest.

Jyothi meets Kani, a fiery, independent girl. The difficult and harrowing times in the store bring them together as they face up to a cruel and lewd store supervisor Karungali (A. Venkatesh), who beats up boys and molests girls if they are caught playing around during duty hours. Jyothi says there is no escape from the "jail-like" atmosphere in the shop where employees are treated more like slave labor in a concentration camp without any human dignity. After some arguments, slowly Jyothi and Kani slowly fall in love with each other.

In the meantime, actress Sneha visits the showroom for the shooting of an advertisement. Marimuthu is a die-hard fan of Sneha. He has made an album with his collection of her childhood pictures and has also written out her biography in the album. He is very keen on meeting Sneha. Amidst of the security, he catches Sneha's attention and shows her the album he made. Sneha is surprised and likes the album very much. She tells Marimuthu that she will keep the album herself. Meanwhile, Jyothi and Kani sneak out of the crowd to go somewhere private. While they are talking in the showroom, Karungali unexpectedly arrives. On seeing this, they quickly find places to hide between the counters. Unfortunately, a security guard then locks them in the showroom without knowing. Not knowing what to do, Kani shouts at Jyothi for taking her to the showroom in the first place. Jyothi walks away but then starts to sing. Kani joins in the song and after some time, they are putting on the dresses in that room one by one, singing and dancing to their hearts' content.

After sharing this special night dancing and singing, the two change back into their working clothes and go to their usual places the next day morning as if they arrived only in the morning. Unfortunately, their dance was recorded in the CCTV of the store. Annachi, their boss, sees this and calls Karungali. Karungali catches both Jyothi and Kani and beats them up. He also lodges a police report about Jyothi stealing a costly sari from the shop, and the police takes Jyothi away. At the police station, an inspector beats Jyothi up to make him admit he has committed this made-up crime. Jyothi refuses to do so but tells the inspector that he knows all the fraud activities done by Annachi. The inspector calls Annachi and advises him to take back the complaint, otherwise it will make things difficult if Jyothi tells all these things to media. The next morning, Jyothi is released from custody.

Having Kani in mind, Jyothi goes back to the showroom and threatens Karungali that if they do not release Kani, he will tell the ugly truth about the store to the people shopping there. On hearing this, Annachi orders Karungali to send Kani with Jyothi. They both leave the place and search for jobs in every shop on that street. Finally, a blind old man who is selling clothes on the platform tells Jyothi that he will give commission to them if they help him sell clothes. So they start selling clothes and earn some money for the day. The old man tells them a place where they can safely sleep. They go to the place to sleep and the flashback ends.

The following scene shows the hospital where Jyothi and Kani are admitted. Jyothi regains his consciousness and sees Marimuthu, who has joined Sneha's team as a makeup man. Jyothi, who has slight injuries on his head, legs, and hands, asks Marimuthu desperately about Kani, but Marimuthu refuses to answer. Despite Marimuthu's attempts at stopping him, Jyothi gets out of bed, irrespective of his leg injuries, and looks for Kani. He was shocked to see her in another room with both her legs amputated. Marimuthu advises Jyothi to forget about Kani as she will not be able do things on her own and needs someone's care. He says if Jyothi takes care of her, then nobody will earn for his family.

Jyothi thinks for a while and finally decides to marry Kani. Kani, who has just woken up, cries hysterically as she has lost her legs. She thinks she will be abandoned and sent to a house for the disabled. So when Jyothi asks to marry her, she cries happily and agrees. The film ends with the scene showing Kani sitting on the platform selling things and Jyothi selling things by walking in the street.

This film is considered to be a milestone in Tamil cinema due its raw content. This movie reflects few happening at the two popular stores in Ranganathan Street in Chennai.

Cast

• Mahesh as Jyothi Lingam
• Anjali as Kani
• A. Venkatesh as Karungali
• Pandi as Marimuthu
• John Vijay as Director
• Pala. Karuppiah
• Sneha as herself (Cameo appearance)

Reception

The film met with widespread critical acclaim. Behindwoods mentioned, "Angadi Theru is an eye opener to all those who are on the rosier side of life,it’s an overdose of emotions, but you don’t mind it: simply because the characters have handled the scenes so skilfully". Parvathi Srinivasan from Rediff described the film as a, "kind of cinema you keep hoping for and only rarely get," labeling it, "A must watch."^[1] Many reviewers appreciated Anjali's performance with Behindwoods commenting that, "The girl looks every bit her role with an impressive gamut of emotions running through her face."^[2] Chennaionline.com gave credit to the theme of the film by stating that, "Vasanthabalan must be applauded for courageously presenting us a film that looks into the darker side of the glittery world of massive show rooms.^[3]

Awards

Angaadi Theru won the 2010 Best Film Award at the Chennai International Film Festival on 24 December 2010.^[4] It also won accolades in the following award ceremonies.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack album was composed by G. V. Prakash Kumar, while Vijay Antony composed two songs and also scored the background music . Lyrics were penned by Na. Muthukumar. Shreya Ghoshal won Filmfare Award for Best Female Playback Singer – Tamil for the song 'Un Perai Sollum Podhe'.^[5]

References

Further reading

• Christopher, Michael & Helen Staufer (2011). “Urban. Village. Urban-Village. Angaditheru and its mofussil department store society in Chennai”, in: manycinemas 1, 24-37

External links

• Angadi Theru on IMDb