Vedham Pudhidhu

A movie by Bharathiraja, released in 1987.. I remember watching the movie in a theatre long time back with my parents when i was kid , only able to comprehend spiderman cartoons! After that happened to see the movie in tits and bits few times . But only for the last few years started showing a real liking for social movies. And one of the movies i liked most in this genre is 'Vedham Pudhidhu'

The movie is essentially based on a village backdrop . Baaluthevar (played by Sathyaraj) a well to do man of the village , is a die-hard atheist and vehement critic of the caste system, vedas and all superstitions. But owing to his generous and sympathetic nature earned the good-will and respect of the villagers .
In the same village agraharam , lived Neelaganda Sasthrigal , an orthodox brahmin(Charu Haasan) , who earned his bread teaching the vedic scriptures to the brahmin boys of the agraharam. He lived with his daughter Vaidehi (Amala) and son , Sankara. Despite being a young boy ,Sankara showed signs of marked reasoning and inquisition at that age itself.

Baaluthevar's son Chakrapaandi, a educated youth , once happens to see the beautiful Vaidehi and falls in love on first sight. Vaidehi too surrenders to the Cupid's arrow! Romance blossoms between them despite their caste differences.Vaidehi's father comes to know of his daughter's love interest and immediately pleads Baaluthevar to save his dignity by restricting his son Chakrapaandi . Baaluthevar discerns unwillingly and orders his son Chakrapaandi to forget Vaidehi. The Sasthri quickly arranges for his daughter's marriage elsewhere. But Vaidehi, escapes from the marriage putting up a feign of having committed suicide and moves out of the village and rescued by an outsider(Nilalgal Ravi).

In the meanwhile, the most unfortunate happens when both Vaidehi's father and Chakrapaandi get killed by a freak mishap. The real crux of the story begins from here, when Neelaganda Sasthri's son Sankara is left orphaned and none came forward to take care of him
even from their own brahmin community. Baalu Thevar , comes forward and invites Sankara to his home. Sankara, becomes a solace for both Baalu Thevar and his wife ( Saritha ) from the loss of their son Chakrapandi. Sankara is more isolated from his community since he lives with a non-brahmin man, Baaluthevar and get refused of any Vedic education and even excluded from the 'aani-avittam' ceremony despite Baaluthevar's best efforts. At the same time Sankara's wisdom & reasoning,turns an eye-opener for Baaluthevar and gets slowly reformed for his affection for the boy. Above all ,Sankara stuns Baaluthevar when reminded of his strong Thevar community inclinations, despite an ardent critic of the caste system all these years. Baaluthevar then on disposes his thevar identity and becomes Baalu !

In the meanwhile ,Vaidehi, returns to the village and comes to Baaluthevar's house to meet her only kin , Sankara. The village comes to know of Vaidehi's return, whom they assumed had committed suicide. The villagers stimulated by evil advise turns angry considering her return inauspicious to the village and march towards Baaluthevar's home to drive away Vaidehi.But in the drama, Baaluthevar gets killed pathetically . In the end , Sankara too throws away his brahminical inclinations and mingles with the other caste children of his age, as a positive note.
The movie is filled with razor-edged dialogues throughout and is impeccable. The vedas , caste system and religious beliefs rediculed all through Baaluthevar. And when vedas are criticised, it is invariably brahminism bear the brunt. But the same Baaluthevar , when backfired by the brahmin boy Sankara, of his own caste bias deserves big applause.

Sathyaraj has done a superb acting. With the make-up of an village god-father clad with 'kadar' dress and towel , one can hardly see the actor Sathyaraj in Baaluthevar ! Saritha has done her role suitably well. The end sequence is too dramatic undeniably. Too many things happens in one night and the way BaaluThevar gets killed is unconvincing. Romantic interlude of Raja and Amala is beautifully depicted though acting opportunity is limited.

Surely , Baaluthevar, Sankara and the striking dialogues will remain eternal in our minds.