Priyadarshan is known for making colourful comedies and occasional semi-serious films like Gardish and Viraasat. Most of hindi films like Herapheri, Hungama, etc. are remakes of Malayalam films. So far he has made only very commercial films.
In Kanchivaram which was chosen as the Best Indian film 2008, he veers a lot from his usual commercial fare and tackles a totally different theme. It is the story of the colorless lives of the people who make the most colourful Sarees in India, namely the silk weavers from the town of Kanchivaram, Tamilnadu. Those who weave these beautiful sarees cannot afford to have one. The only time they can use silk is to tie their big toes together at the time of death. The story is simple but Priyadarshan builds a nice politically relevant film around it. Even though the story happens in the immediate pre-post independence days (1942-50) the plights, pain and social inequalities still prevail.
The weavers who are underpaid goes into struggle under the communist party mantle led by Vengadam (Prakash Raj) who later leaves the struggle to make money for a silk saree for his daughter's wedding. The path he follows and the outcome makes rest of the movie. The loss of ideals in the face of hardship is portrayed here and the director wants to show that this may be reason for the failure of communism in today's world. The film has been labelled anti-communist by many and Priyadarshan calls it a communist confession
PrakashRaj, whom you have love in Wanted (Prabhudeva, Salman Khan) gives a great performance as Vengadam, for which he deservedly won the National Award. He is an amazing actor, one of the best in the Tamil industry with great versatility. He is given ample support from Shriya Reddy and Shammu.
Sabu Cyril, arguably the best art director in India successfully recreates the old Kanchivaram and Tiru's camera and Arunkumar's editing adds value.
As he said in a recent interview, Priyadarshan makes his usual movies for the producers and he has made kanchivaram for the love of cinema. It is nice to know that inside this pure commercial director, there is a film maker who loves good cinema. Hopefully he will do more movies like this in the future.
4/5
