Merku Thodarchi Malai

Merku Thodarchi Malai (Western Ghats)
Poster
Directed by	Lenin Bharathi
Produced by	Vijay Sethupathi
Written by	Lenin Bharathi, Raasi Thangadurai
Starring	Antony Gayathri Krishna Abu Valayankulam
Music by	Ilaiyaraaja
Cinematography	Theni Eswar
Edited by	Mu. Kasi Viswanathan
Production company	Vijay Sethupathi Productions dream tree productions
Distributed by	vt cinemas
Release date	2018 (US) 24 August 2018 (India)
Running time	118 minutes
Country	India
Language	Tamil

Merku Thodarchi Malai (English: Western Ghats) is a 2018 Indian Tamil language drama Film directed by Lenin Bharathi and produced by Vijay Sethupathi. The film featured newcomers in the lead, has cinematography by Theni Eswar, and music by Isaignani Ilaiyaraaja.^[1][2] The film was screened during the 21st International Film Festival of Kerala.^[3] The film won Best Cinematography at the Bioscope Global Film Festival, Punjab.^[4]

The film has been nominated for 'Best Screenplay' Category in 17th New York Indian Film Festival (NYIFF2017).

The film has also been selected at the Singapore South Asian International Film Festival and Chicago South Asian Film Festival.^[5]

This film has been invited to the 6th edition of Toulouse Indian Film Festival in France and also will be competing at the festival for both the Jury and Audience Prizes.

Cast

• Antony as Rengasamy
• Gayathri Krishna
• Abu Valayankulam
• Anthony Vathiyar
• 'Late' M.S. Lai (a) Sudalai
• Uoothu Rasa
• Thevaram Sornam
• Kodangipatti Mokkathayi
• Pallavarayan Patti Pandi
• Vanaraj
• Master Smith
• Theni Eswar

Production

Lenin Bharathi is the credited story-writer of Aadhalal Kadhal Seiveer (In the 8th vijay awards Lenin bharathi was nominated as the Best story writer for Aadhalal kadhal seiveer) and has also, majorly contributed for Azhagarsamiyin Kudhirai. Lenin's father and Ilayaraaja are longtime friends and this story is believed to be a landscape based film, high on emotions. The film's story was narrated to Vijay Sethupathi almost a year back and he badly wanted to be associated with such a quality product and the time has finally come.^[6] The film began shooting from 5 January/February 2016^[7] and finished shooting by 25-3-2016. The movie was censored on 31-12- 2015 The movie got the 'U' certificate. MTM was also nominated for national award 2017 and selected in IFFK 2016. Lenin bharathi's Merku Thodarchi Malai received its World premiere in the Indian cinema now category at the International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK 2016) on 11-12-2016.

Story

The movie talks about the life of landless workers living in Western Ghats and its surrounding area, particularly between Theni and Munnar. It also talks about the good heart of the village people and how the advent of commercialization spoils the village.

Rengasamy (Antony) is a daily wage laborer who makes a living by carrying cardamom sacks, from the mountains to the foothills in the interior of Tamil Nadu. His goal is to buy land for farming. Chacko, a communist from Kerala, unionizes these workers and prevents the estate owner from exploiting them. As a result, there are frequent clashes between the landlord and union members.

Rengasamy's ambition is to buy a piece of land from a local. However, due to objections from the seller's family, he and his mother do not get the land. Rengasamy gets married to his relative's daughter Eshwari (Gayathri Krishna), who is also one of the workers in the estate. Rengasamy also joins the same union as Eshwari. Rengasamy's second attempt to buy a land ends in tragedy due to an unexpected event and this time, he even loses most of the money he had saved to buy the land. He then acquires a land as loan and starts farming, promising to pay back over the period.

In the meanwhile, Chacko in his party office is shown to be having a heated debated with a senior comrade about industrialization and the worker's conditions. The next day, Chacko is instructed by another comrade of his party to visit another place to deliver an envelope. It is at this time the estate owner, wanting to take revenge on the workers and union members, decides to close the estate. On his return to the village, Chacko learns about the shutdown from the estate owner himself who mocks him saying that it was his plan along with the senior comrade to send him out of the town when this happens.

Angered Chacko visits the workers who are almost ready to leave. He takes a few more workers with weapons along with them and goes in search of the estate owner. Rengasamy is among them. The senior comrade and the estate owner were together when the Chacko and workers arrive at the spot and kill both of them. They all end up in jail for a few years. When Rengasamy returns home, things go from bad to worse as the fertilizer vendor takes over his land for the pending dues. Finally Rengasamy ends up as a security guard for wind mill that is placed in the same land that he previously owned.

There are scenes that pass just like that that establishes the helping nature of the people of the Ghats. Everyone talks to others in a loud tone but they provide help louder than the tone. The Muslim man providing the land to hero without asking for money, and the heroine's willingness to take on debt for the marriage of a girl to whom they are not related are two scenes that establishes the nature of the people living in the Ghats. It also shows the trust every person had on other person. For example, the hero gives money to the land seller one day before registration, the seller giving back money to hero immediately after the deal is cancelled are a few stand out scenes that shows the trust people had in each other.

Release

The production budget of the film was valued at ₹1.5 crore.^[8]

References

External links