Sarpatta Parambarai

What makes Sarpatta Parambarai stand out from rest of the sports movies?

Though it is made like a usual sport movie where the lead character (the word protagonist doesn’t apply here) initially plays underdog and finally makes its way to victory, there is much more to the making of this film.

Top 3 things that I liked in this movie are:

#3

The time taken and efforts put in by the production crew to do the field study. Picking a peculiar sport that did exist half a century ago, talking to living evidences who were involved in the sport and making a realistic plot out of it. The way the story was subtly blended with the state/union political conditions that existed during the period was remarkable.

#2

The way every character was given space to perform regardless of their screen time. Crafting characters like:

1. Mariamma who dances in front of her husband during their nuptial night against the clichéd patriarchal way of portraying an innocent girl
2. Dancing Rose, despite supporting the opponent, acting with integrity towards the game
3. Rangan Vathiyar who stays stable both during victory and loss
4. Bakkiyam (Kabilan’s mother) who claims herself to be a servant and not a slave at her workplace
5. Daddy, the visual specimen of how Anglo-Indians were pretty much Kith and Kin to the residents of Madras

Name any character, it was absolute marvel

#1

The authenticity of Chennai Tamil dialect that each of the characters spoke. It was a selfless coordination between both Tamizh Prabha, the screenwriter of the movie and Pa. Ranjith, the director. I know the charm of it because, I grew up in Chennai listening to that dialect most of my life. I used to admire Kamal Haasan for his ability to speak the dialect until I watched this movie, where it was even more authentic.

‘Vada Chennai’, directed by Vetrimaaran was also attempted with the dialect but how forcibly the characters had to speak the dialect?! One might state, the origin of most of the cast in Vada Chennai was from southern TN, to be the reason for such forced extraction of dial(ect)ogue delivery. But most of the cast in Sarpatta also weren’t native Chnnaiites either.

More about Tamizh Prabha, the screenwriter.. He is the guy wearing green shirt in the opening of ‘Vambula Thumbula’ song and continues appearing in the screen, dancing in the later part of the song also. He is originally a writer/journalist who wrote a wonderful first novel called ‘Pettai’.

All I wished when I watched Sarpatta Parambarai and read Pettai is: