Deiva Thirumagal

Indian cinema is well known for remixes and remakes. So many Hindi films copy Hollywood movies that are in turn reproduced in other Indian languages. Sean Penn-Michelle Pfeiffer starrer I Am Sam became Main Aisa Hi Hoon in Hindi with Ajay Devgn playing the mentally handicapped father of the original version.
We now have the Tamil adaptation, Deiva Thirumagal (Godly Daughter), with Vikram essaying a man with the IQ of a five or six-year-old child.

Deiva Thirumagal' is an example of how an entire project could go wrong because of just one faulty factor, and in the case of 'Devai Thirumagal' that factor just happened to be the core factor - that of directorship.

The story is about Krishna (Vikram), a mentally challenged person with the mind of a six year old boy, and the attachment he has with his daughter Nila. Her mother Bhanumati, dies giving birth to her. Till Nila turns five, the father and daughter lead a content life of love and joy. Once 'Nila' starts going to school, her angelic innocence wins the heart of school correspondent Shwetha (Amala Paul). It so happens that Nila is Shwetha’s niece, the child of her elder sister who had eloped with a mentally challenged person, much to the disapproval of her family.

Vikram has delivered a decent performance as the mentally challenged Krishna, but for an actor who was hailed as the next Kamala Hassan, this is certainly not his best effort. We do get occasional glimpses of the actor's genius now and then, especially towards the latter part in the movie, but at the same time there are occasions where you are annoyed by him 'trying' to be the mentally challenged character, instead of 'being' that character.

Anushka has turned in an excellent performance as the young, goodhearted advocate proving once again that she is not just another pretty face. The same goes for Amala Paul as the loving but prejudiced 'Shwetha'. Baby Sara, as five year old Nila, is exceptionally good.

The background score by G V Prakash Kumar is ahuge plus point for the film. There is nothing spectacular about the cinematography and the editing  is subpar. 'Deiva Thirumagal' should have struck a chord in the viewers’ heart, which it does too, through some really touching scenes, but those scenes are few and far between. Still, the film succeeds in selling the theme towards the end, so that by the time the movie ends, it manages to vaguely create an impression of being a well-made movie with the viewer. But the series of uncoordinated scenes you had to bear with during the initial stages of both halves of the movie somehow diminishes that impression.

On the whole, 'Deiva Thirumagal' could have been a classic, and if it did not, none other than the director can be blamed for it.