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Director: Thangar Bachan
Cast: Cheran,
Rathi, Pyramid Natarajan, Satish, Janakaraj, Manivannan, Kalairani, Yuvarani, Pushpavanam
Kuppusamy, Baby Saraswathi.
 'Azhagy' the Partibhan-Devayani-Nandita Das starrer was one of the best films one had seen in recent times. Sensitively handled and scripted, it revealed cinematographer-turned-director Thangar Bachan as a film-maker with a rare sensitivity and sensibility. A maker who could be counted on to lift Tamil cinema from the mediocrity that it had fallen in. But that is not to be so. Bachan's second release
'Solla Marantha Kathai' disappoints, coming nowhere near his earlier one, neither in scripting, treatment nor
characterisation. It's an oft told tale with nothing fresh or new about it.
 Chockalingam attracted by Sivathanu's honesty and business sense offers the youth his daughter's hand in marriage - on condition that he leave his house and stay at his wife's place.
Sivathanu, an unemployed post-graduate who worked as a field hand and did odd jobs to support his family in penury, declines but parental pressure forces him to concede to their wishes. But a series of unpleasant situations in his in-laws' place, the taunts and jibes by his father-in-law strengthens his resolve to take up a job. And when he gets one in Neyveli he leaves for the place. His next trip to see his new-born baby turns out to be an even more unpleasant one, what with the clash with his in-laws resulting in him being literally thrown out of the bungalow. It's two years later that Sivathanu gets to visit the neighbourhood to attend a marriage. Whether this time round he manages to reconcile with his wife forms the rest of the story.
 For director Cheran who had guided actors from behind the scene, it must be a new experience to be in front of the camera. But it's a role of the harassed common man, and it suits him, without expectation of any great heroics from his side. It's a debut where one cannot fault him much. Where he plays fairly convincingly the hapless husband forced to live on the largesse of his wife's family, bearing it all for her sake, till he can take it no longer. As for Rathi it's only her second film, but she has handled her role like a seasoned veteran. Revealing sensitivity and maturity as the timid Parvathy caught in the crossfire between her father and husband. Pyramid Natarajan as Rathi's father, Saraswathi as their domestic help and Satish as Cheran's brother perform their roles well. Pushpavanam Kuppusamy's antics in the name of comedy is a bit jarring at times. This time not even Illaiyaraja seems particularly inspired.
Malini Mannath
published on 24th Nov 2002
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