A sibling story of substance

    

                                       {Thanks to Prime Videos}

  From the days of Pasamalar Tamil cinema has not been wanting in mind blowing sibling stories of brother sister relationship, with their deep notes of joys and sorrows. Besides the monumental Paasamalar,there are many in the list like Thangaikor Geetham,Kizhakku Cheemaiyile, Thiruppachi,Karuppan,Namma Veetu Pillai etc.But in this list,excepting Pasamalar, others did not create a heavy impact on the emotional side,because in all the other films one of the siblings scored more than the other. If Radhaika excelled Vijayakumar in Kizhakku Cheemaiyile  in the other films T.Rajendar,Vijay,Pasupathi and Siva Karthikeyan were found more on the giving side,thereby making the brothers more noticeable than the sisters.Now comes another film with the title Udanpirappe,co produced by Suriya and Jyothika and directed by Era.Saravanan.

  Udanpirappe is a  musical celebration of sibling bonding in the form of lyrics and tunes creating a fusion of agony and ecstay running through the veins of a brother sister attachment.D.Imman is a heart warming musical composer letting his tunes travel with the thought provoking lyrics of Yugabharathi,with music taking each word closer to our ears without even a little bit of jarring note.Starting from the title song 'Anne Yaaranne' in Shreya Goshal's scintillating voice, each song including debutante Pavithra Chari 's soothing song 'Dheivam Needhaane' moves us to the grandeur of thought and emotion of the unique sibling bond.'Otha Pana Kaatteri' in Sid Sriram's voice is a piercing musical stuff,though the song's scenic presentation appeared to be sudden and hence off the track.On the whole, D.Imman's music has certainly become an inseparable segment of the brother sister story line of Udanpirappe.

  The beauty of Udanpirappe is the element of goodness that permeates in the characterization of Jyothika,the younger sister,Sasikumar,the elder brother, Samuthrakani the younger sister's husband and Sila Rose the elder brother's wife. Though the two women characters reflect an exmplary spirit of mutually giving in for the sake of each other,it is Jyothika who outbeats her brother's wife by postponing her motherhood in order to see her brother being blessed with a child.She does not stop with this,but goes to the extent of losing her own son in the process of saving her brother's son.These are the two instances that make the Udanpirappe sister overtake the sister character of all other films.

  It is always a pleasure to watch Sasikumar and Samuthrakani together in a movie.Though Subramanyapuram and Nadodikal put them in their limelight, Sasikumar's Sundarapandiyan &Vetrivel and Samuthrakani's Saattai& Aan Dhevadhai are their specially memorable films. In Udanpirappe,as brothers-in-law with their ideologically diagonal viewpoints of justice and punishment they do their roles with poise and dignity.They imprint their images comfortably,with their spontaneous ease and ripeness in performance .

  Ultimately Udanpirappe is a Jyothika film,with her reputed grasp of the character assigned to her and her efficacy in portraying that character. However, it appears as though her character has been evolved with an inherent element of  pathos and grief, because throughout the film she delivers her role with subdued sobriety excepting in a couple of scenes.Perhaps there is an inner layer of a perpetually anguished mother,behind the adoring and adorable sister.Nevertheless,the twist in the climax shows her as'the Naachiyaar',ready to rise up to the occasion and render justice in her own way,against the arrogance of evil.

  Soory's comedy flair has almost been buried in his serious characterization.Only the scene showing him under police custody gives him a chance for his usual cheeky banter.I think it is  time for the audience to keep an eye on the acting style of Kalayarasan,taking new wings.The beauty of Udanpirappe is that,it does not fall into a melodramatic type of narration that a sibling story of this kind is normally prone to.The whole narration flows like a calm stream with sporadic ripples here and there.Moreover,excepting one element of evil it is the presence of goodness and nobility that occupies the central theme and the entire course of events. Udanpirappe is on the whole a soothing presentation of a painful storyline.

PS:- As an out of review remark,it looks odd to see Aadukalam Narein and Samuthrakani,without their masterly moustache.