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59 Responses to “Images from Bala’s Paradesi (updated)”
I have a shot from Naan Kadavul in the sidebar today and every time I think of this film I have some regret that Vikram didn’t do this part. It could have been a greater film than it was but even as it stands it’s easily one of the most interesting films from either Hindi or Tamil cinema that I have seen in many years. A very singular work in very many ways.
I don’t think I have seen a movie as disturbing as NAAN KADAVUL in the past 15 years from India. It is so disturbing in its content and its the world it creates that one is pummeled into depression. I didn’t have the guts to watch it a second time though I still have the movie. Of course, as a cinematic piece, it is engrossing and well-made. But the world it operates in seems extremely barbaric even for cave-men. If you watch it on a Friday, your saturday and sunday will definitely go for a toss. Pitamagan seems like a KG movie on painful emotions when compared to NK.
That shot looks great though i have not seen the film. I have seen 3 of Bala’s films- Sethu, Nandha and Pithamagan- and loved all 3. I wish Suriya does a project with him soon
[Against the triumphalist narrative of ‘new India’ I offer Tarun Tejpal’s Story of my Assassins. The novel is an orgy of violence and sexual depravity, an extremely dark portrait of India’s urban and hinterland underbelly written as black comedy. Many moments actually make you flinch, it’s not just the graphic description of many moments but also the tone used throughout. This is an angry work in many ways that really in my view shames much of the competition (specially the ‘Hinglish’ authors) with its stunning polemic edge. Tejpal has since followed this up with Valley of Masks, an equally fascinating but terrifying fable about political and/or religious fanaticism.]
This one is supposedly about fishing villages in Southern TN which is interesting as Ratnam’s next seems to be taking on something similar. It’s nice to see him return to something interesting after the last film which I didn’t see but didn’t seem very Balaesque.
There was some humor on one of the dance shows this weekend along these lines where Rani made an appearance promoting Aiyyaa and there were lots of jokes similar to yours. The really amusing thing though is that in Tamil almost all of the words that end this way have a Sanskrit root (either they are sanskrit words or they’re original Tamil ones that use that form). It’s an inflection that none of the modern North Indian languages derived from Sanskrit use. Tamil was hugely influenced by Sanskrit in ancient times and those traces survive. The same is true for example with Malayalam, in any case a language closely related to Tamil and also considered a ‘dialect’ of the same by scholars before the last 800 years or so.
Isn’t that what I meant when I wrote Paradesum? Because that’s what I’ve heard ‘des’ being called.
Where was the joke here?
But of course you don’t expect me to know anything, leave alone the sanskrit roots of Tamil or any language, or to know anything about sanskrit for that matter or that the inflection at the end of many words in some languages of the south ( : ) also has sanskrit roots.
But never mind, it gave you the opportunity to air your superior knowledge and let everybody know about it.
My only ‘sin’ here is in thinking that you were joking… there too I wasn’t objecting to anything.. just offering some historical ‘irony’ if you will.. Phew!
“sanskrit for that matter or that the inflection at the end of many words in some languages of the south ( : ) also has sanskrit roots”
Oldgold (SSY )–I seriously did not know about that (:)
Thanx for telling
Ps: not knowing any south Indian languages- I also had the impression, it should be …um (agree)
Sanskrit is only used for religious purpose. There is no proof that Sanskrit is spoken in ancient India. Sanskrit has no alphabets, it can be written in any Language because of Hindi domination they made official use of Hindi alphabets for Sanskrit during British periods. Sanskrit has more relation with Tamil and Malayalam more than other languages . Even lot of Sanskrit words u use in Hinduism today cannot explain but Hindi but can explained but southern languages. Example Deepavali – Deepa+vazhi – Path of light in tamil and malayalam. Paradesi- Para+Desi – A person who fly(migrates ) different desam(country) for survival. Evolution of languages like hindi and other through Indo-persian infuence the meaning of many word.
Nice posters. Of course this whole silhouetting helps Bala keep the anticipation up on the look of his central character which is one of the major and defining marks of a Bala film.
By the way, the last (the earliest posted) image here is not related to Paradesi (too cosmopolitan for Bala), it’s a still from the actor’s previous film, Muppozhudhum Un Karpanaigal.
Some of these are stunning images.. as a collection these are the best I’ve seen from contemporary Indian cinema other than Ratnam’s Raavan/Raavanan. And on that note the fourth image from the top here with it’s unhinged ‘portrait’ isn’t too far from some Abhishek stills in Raavan (it must be repeated here that the Hindi film within its contexts was a much more radical effort than the Tamil one within its own… for canonical reasons — the Kamban Ramayan tradition in the South — and for those of its lead star and his own Bala genealogy). I’ve always felt that Abhishek had the more interesting (and vital) performance here (Vikram does not outdo his Bala attempts) and if you read Ratnam’s responses closely in the Rangan book he too seems to suggest as much in his own laconic way.
What’s the full tweet Satyam
What’s te shame ….
Btw good images but WHO are these people and what’s goin on
Is Rahman scorin the music here –the setting seems familiar
” Paradesi, his next offering, is set in the 1940’s and is about the lives of a few tea estate workers in South India. Based on a novel, the film has Atharva in a very different avatar with a totally new haircut that was kept under wraps for a long time.
The posters show Dhansika and Vedhika in very different roles, a far cry from their glamour ridden films in the past.
The film’s music is already topping charts and GV Prakash is a happy man thanks to the appreciation, especially of the BGM. ”
Having just spent a weekend in beautiful Valparai (on the Tamil Nadu/Kerala border) with its picturesque tea estates, the movie’s theme is especially resonant to me: seen from on high, the neat tea-slopes (about as thoroughly manmade as anything natural could be) could have been from Tolkien’s Shire, but the amount of violence required for the British to “clear” dense forest and replace with tea plantations — on such a scale (and then to think of this happening in so many parts of India and Sri Lanka) — must have been staggering.
‘Paradesi’ gets rave reviews at sneak shows
Source : SIFY
Last Updated: Fri, Feb 08, 2013 07:39 hrs
Director Bala is one of the biggest brands in Tamil cinema as far as “good cinema” is concerned. Right from his first film Sethu to his last release Avan Ivan, Bala films has got critical as well as commercial success.
His latest Paradesi is set in the 1940’s in a tea plantation in Munnar . It is loosely based on Paul Harris Daniel’s Red Tea which has been translated into Malayalam and Tamil. The film has Atharva and Dhansika in the lead with lovely melodies by GV Prakash.
Those who saw special screenings of the film are raving about it . Noted director Anurag Kashyap who saw the film tweeted: “ Just saw Bala’s Paradesi. Absolutely blown by it. His best yet.” Paradesi is Bala’s fastest film to evolve and was completed in 90 days.
Paradesi is now all set for a release on February 15 worldwide.
That’s heartening though this might be another case of Kashyap giving his friend a shot in the arm. Still, I’m looking forward to this though it’s going to have to wait till the home release.
These stills are quite captivating but don’t seem natural. The lead actor’s hair style, the body poses, expressions, the colours / shades of light that the pics are awash with resemble centre spreads from a lifestyle mag in a conscious ‘lets get rough and earthy’ sort of way. Bala has a very over-the-top visual and emotive style of storytelling but these stills are way more ‘painstakingly adorned’.
“The lead actor’s hair style, the body poses, expressions, the colours / shades of light that the pics are awash with resemble centre spreads from a lifestyle mag in a conscious ‘lets get rough and earthy’ sort of way. Bala has a very over-the-top visual and emotive style of storytelling but these stills are way more ‘painstakingly adorned’.”-welll articulated there..
now that u mention, i agree
They could have called it NRI instead of Paradesi. The song that immediately comes to mind is, well, Pardesi Pardesi Jaana Nahin from RH. In India, expecially in villages, anyone not from their clan or place, are called pardesis. Opposite of sons of the soil. And the sons of the soil brings the marathi bihari conflicts and other variations of the same. And why no daughters of the soil? Is it because daughters are considered parayadhan?
I think it will have subs. One of the sites mentions this but more than this I don’t recall seeing a Tamil film at least in the Big Cinemas chain that didn’t have them. I know Kadal played with subs everywhere in N America, or at least I checked with people in both the US and Canada and there were subs at all these locations.
yes that was true in India. I was referring to Big Cinemas ‘overseas’. On Rat-Trap there used to be a youtube with English subs (basically the British DVD transfer) but they removed it a long time back.
That’s impressive –the fench are always more clued in bout ‘art’.. Was it in Jacques Brel?
Ps: btw what happens when one is dreading a high stress high stake meeting/ program, is getting all geared up and suddenly it gets postponed /cancelled?
Pure bliss & then the sudden ‘release’ 🙂
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SATYAMSHOT 
June 17, 2012 at 9:13 AM
I have a shot from Naan Kadavul in the sidebar today and every time I think of this film I have some regret that Vikram didn’t do this part. It could have been a greater film than it was but even as it stands it’s easily one of the most interesting films from either Hindi or Tamil cinema that I have seen in many years. A very singular work in very many ways.
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June 17, 2012 at 10:31 AM
Definitely — a strange film in the true sense of the word, like nothing else.
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December 20, 2012 at 3:58 PM
I don’t think I have seen a movie as disturbing as NAAN KADAVUL in the past 15 years from India. It is so disturbing in its content and its the world it creates that one is pummeled into depression. I didn’t have the guts to watch it a second time though I still have the movie. Of course, as a cinematic piece, it is engrossing and well-made. But the world it operates in seems extremely barbaric even for cave-men. If you watch it on a Friday, your saturday and sunday will definitely go for a toss. Pitamagan seems like a KG movie on painful emotions when compared to NK.
LikeLike
June 17, 2012 at 9:27 AM
That shot looks great though i have not seen the film. I have seen 3 of Bala’s films- Sethu, Nandha and Pithamagan- and loved all 3. I wish Suriya does a project with him soon
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June 17, 2012 at 12:38 PM
This is an arresting image, I must say!
PS
At a glance it looked like Arya to me.
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June 17, 2012 at 3:09 PM
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June 17, 2012 at 3:10 PM
part of an older comment:
[Against the triumphalist narrative of ‘new India’ I offer Tarun Tejpal’s Story of my Assassins. The novel is an orgy of violence and sexual depravity, an extremely dark portrait of India’s urban and hinterland underbelly written as black comedy. Many moments actually make you flinch, it’s not just the graphic description of many moments but also the tone used throughout. This is an angry work in many ways that really in my view shames much of the competition (specially the ‘Hinglish’ authors) with its stunning polemic edge. Tejpal has since followed this up with Valley of Masks, an equally fascinating but terrifying fable about political and/or religious fanaticism.]
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June 17, 2012 at 2:55 PM
This one is supposedly about fishing villages in Southern TN which is interesting as Ratnam’s next seems to be taking on something similar. It’s nice to see him return to something interesting after the last film which I didn’t see but didn’t seem very Balaesque.
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August 9, 2012 at 1:50 PM
Official 1st Look Poster- http://www.haihoi.com/Channels/cine_gallery/director_bala_paradesi_movie_first_look_wallpapers_58577_S_210.jpg&sa=X&ei=7PcjUNnQNcXYqgGyu4CYDg&ved=0CAQQ8wc4Bw&usg=AFQjCNHy6O_KFo38QAPdzql7knzRzQ25Fw and http://static.ibnlive.in.com/ibnlive/pix/sitepix/08_2012/pd080812_1c.jpg&sa=X&ei=IfgjUJTSHNKCqQGp5IDgBw&ved=0CAQQ8wc4BA&usg=AFQjCNH_gFe8dvN8AIQ9lHOm9Q_fb5w9sQ
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August 9, 2012 at 4:59 PM
neither link is accessible. I’ve seen one poster with just the film title on it.
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September 25, 2012 at 8:21 AM
Love it at first sight. Simply arresting!!
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September 25, 2012 at 8:47 AM
Why is it called Pardesi?
Is it in hindi?
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September 25, 2012 at 9:50 AM
Paradesi isn’t used in Hindi alone.
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September 25, 2012 at 4:48 PM
But then shouldn’t it be ‘Paradesum’?
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September 25, 2012 at 5:09 PM
There was some humor on one of the dance shows this weekend along these lines where Rani made an appearance promoting Aiyyaa and there were lots of jokes similar to yours. The really amusing thing though is that in Tamil almost all of the words that end this way have a Sanskrit root (either they are sanskrit words or they’re original Tamil ones that use that form). It’s an inflection that none of the modern North Indian languages derived from Sanskrit use. Tamil was hugely influenced by Sanskrit in ancient times and those traces survive. The same is true for example with Malayalam, in any case a language closely related to Tamil and also considered a ‘dialect’ of the same by scholars before the last 800 years or so.
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September 25, 2012 at 5:26 PM
Isn’t that what I meant when I wrote Paradesum? Because that’s what I’ve heard ‘des’ being called.
Where was the joke here?
But of course you don’t expect me to know anything, leave alone the sanskrit roots of Tamil or any language, or to know anything about sanskrit for that matter or that the inflection at the end of many words in some languages of the south ( : ) also has sanskrit roots.
But never mind, it gave you the opportunity to air your superior knowledge and let everybody know about it.
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September 25, 2012 at 7:55 PM
My only ‘sin’ here is in thinking that you were joking… there too I wasn’t objecting to anything.. just offering some historical ‘irony’ if you will.. Phew!
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September 25, 2012 at 8:31 PM
“sanskrit for that matter or that the inflection at the end of many words in some languages of the south ( : ) also has sanskrit roots”
Oldgold (SSY )–I seriously did not know about that (:)
Thanx for telling
Ps: not knowing any south Indian languages- I also had the impression, it should be …um (agree)
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September 25, 2012 at 11:20 PM
Satyam you’re such a pretentious asshole for providing a coherent response. You should know better.
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September 26, 2012 at 12:28 AM
yeah learned the lesson the hard way!
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September 26, 2012 at 7:59 AM
>My only ‘sin’ here is in thinking that you were joking…
hmmmm! Therein lies the subconscious ‘reason’ for why you thought that.
>there too I wasn’t objecting to anything..
*This* confirms it 😉
I wrote because I know the sanskrit influence.
Your name stands out as a daily example.
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September 26, 2012 at 8:06 AM
“Your name stands out as a daily example”
Hahaha
Saty(am) : u r now stumped 🙂
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January 31, 2013 at 12:23 PM
Sanskrit is only used for religious purpose. There is no proof that Sanskrit is spoken in ancient India. Sanskrit has no alphabets, it can be written in any Language because of Hindi domination they made official use of Hindi alphabets for Sanskrit during British periods. Sanskrit has more relation with Tamil and Malayalam more than other languages . Even lot of Sanskrit words u use in Hinduism today cannot explain but Hindi but can explained but southern languages. Example Deepavali – Deepa+vazhi – Path of light in tamil and malayalam. Paradesi- Para+Desi – A person who fly(migrates ) different desam(country) for survival. Evolution of languages like hindi and other through Indo-persian infuence the meaning of many word.
LikeLike
September 25, 2012 at 9:53 AM
Nice posters. Of course this whole silhouetting helps Bala keep the anticipation up on the look of his central character which is one of the major and defining marks of a Bala film.
LikeLike
September 25, 2012 at 3:52 PM
Is the actor Abhimanyu Singh? Close resemblance….
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September 25, 2012 at 7:53 PM
man, i really need to start watching some regional indian films, i am so ignorant
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September 26, 2012 at 8:06 AM
Nope, that’s not Abhimanyu Singh. His name is Adharvaa.
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September 29, 2012 at 5:45 AM
By the way, the last (the earliest posted) image here is not related to Paradesi (too cosmopolitan for Bala), it’s a still from the actor’s previous film, Muppozhudhum Un Karpanaigal.
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September 29, 2012 at 5:58 AM
Though it did remind me of this Pithamagan still. A striking image evoking a sense of a ‘stranger’: http://www.reocities.com/ram7479/pita.jpg
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December 20, 2012 at 1:22 PM
Some of these are stunning images.. as a collection these are the best I’ve seen from contemporary Indian cinema other than Ratnam’s Raavan/Raavanan. And on that note the fourth image from the top here with it’s unhinged ‘portrait’ isn’t too far from some Abhishek stills in Raavan (it must be repeated here that the Hindi film within its contexts was a much more radical effort than the Tamil one within its own… for canonical reasons — the Kamban Ramayan tradition in the South — and for those of its lead star and his own Bala genealogy). I’ve always felt that Abhishek had the more interesting (and vital) performance here (Vikram does not outdo his Bala attempts) and if you read Ratnam’s responses closely in the Rangan book he too seems to suggest as much in his own laconic way.
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December 20, 2012 at 1:34 PM
Which is why the last image kinda sticks out like a sore thumb. 🙂 It is actually from Atharva’s previous film.
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December 20, 2012 at 1:51 PM
will remove it..
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December 20, 2012 at 1:53 PM
my polemics on this once more!
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December 20, 2012 at 2:59 PM
What’s the full tweet Satyam
What’s te shame ….
Btw good images but WHO are these people and what’s goin on
Is Rahman scorin the music here –the setting seems familiar
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December 20, 2012 at 1:22 PM
” Paradesi, his next offering, is set in the 1940’s and is about the lives of a few tea estate workers in South India. Based on a novel, the film has Atharva in a very different avatar with a totally new haircut that was kept under wraps for a long time.
The posters show Dhansika and Vedhika in very different roles, a far cry from their glamour ridden films in the past.
The film’s music is already topping charts and GV Prakash is a happy man thanks to the appreciation, especially of the BGM. ”
http://www.sify.com/movies/Paradesi–A-period-film-imagegallery-2-kollywood-mmsnGRgbbid.html
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December 20, 2012 at 1:37 PM
Absolutely looking forward to this!
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December 20, 2012 at 2:17 PM
Stunning images.
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December 25, 2012 at 11:22 AM
Qalandar:
Having just spent a weekend in beautiful Valparai (on the Tamil Nadu/Kerala border) with its picturesque tea estates, the movie’s theme is especially resonant to me: seen from on high, the neat tea-slopes (about as thoroughly manmade as anything natural could be) could have been from Tolkien’s Shire, but the amount of violence required for the British to “clear” dense forest and replace with tea plantations — on such a scale (and then to think of this happening in so many parts of India and Sri Lanka) — must have been staggering.
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December 25, 2012 at 11:23 AM
thanks for this very evocative comment Qalandar..
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February 8, 2013 at 6:18 AM
‘Paradesi’ gets rave reviews at sneak shows
Source : SIFY
Last Updated: Fri, Feb 08, 2013 07:39 hrs
Director Bala is one of the biggest brands in Tamil cinema as far as “good cinema” is concerned. Right from his first film Sethu to his last release Avan Ivan, Bala films has got critical as well as commercial success.
His latest Paradesi is set in the 1940’s in a tea plantation in Munnar . It is loosely based on Paul Harris Daniel’s Red Tea which has been translated into Malayalam and Tamil. The film has Atharva and Dhansika in the lead with lovely melodies by GV Prakash.
Those who saw special screenings of the film are raving about it . Noted director Anurag Kashyap who saw the film tweeted: “ Just saw Bala’s Paradesi. Absolutely blown by it. His best yet.” Paradesi is Bala’s fastest film to evolve and was completed in 90 days.
Paradesi is now all set for a release on February 15 worldwide.
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February 26, 2013 at 10:00 AM
That’s heartening though this might be another case of Kashyap giving his friend a shot in the arm. Still, I’m looking forward to this though it’s going to have to wait till the home release.
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February 26, 2013 at 6:19 PM
nice arresting stills…which film is this and who are these people?
too tired to even read
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February 27, 2013 at 2:02 AM
These stills are quite captivating but don’t seem natural. The lead actor’s hair style, the body poses, expressions, the colours / shades of light that the pics are awash with resemble centre spreads from a lifestyle mag in a conscious ‘lets get rough and earthy’ sort of way. Bala has a very over-the-top visual and emotive style of storytelling but these stills are way more ‘painstakingly adorned’.
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February 27, 2013 at 5:57 PM
“The lead actor’s hair style, the body poses, expressions, the colours / shades of light that the pics are awash with resemble centre spreads from a lifestyle mag in a conscious ‘lets get rough and earthy’ sort of way. Bala has a very over-the-top visual and emotive style of storytelling but these stills are way more ‘painstakingly adorned’.”-welll articulated there..
now that u mention, i agree
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February 27, 2013 at 6:14 AM
They could have called it NRI instead of Paradesi. The song that immediately comes to mind is, well, Pardesi Pardesi Jaana Nahin from RH. In India, expecially in villages, anyone not from their clan or place, are called pardesis. Opposite of sons of the soil. And the sons of the soil brings the marathi bihari conflicts and other variations of the same. And why no daughters of the soil? Is it because daughters are considered parayadhan?
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March 13, 2013 at 10:52 AM
Here in Paris, it’s released (in one theatre!) under the title “L’esclave”, which means “the slave”…
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March 13, 2013 at 11:24 AM
That’s still one more than I’ll probably have access to in NY (or NJ)!
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March 13, 2013 at 3:10 PM
Sad..the only places where it will be played are California and Connecticut..
http://pragathi.com/movies/Paradesi-Tamil-movie-in-US-showtimes-tickets-schedules/
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March 13, 2013 at 4:02 PM
yeah checked at my end earlier and it’s definitely not playing.
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March 13, 2013 at 4:05 PM
^ that’s the difference between America and France haha
Thanx for that update Mandoo — btw that names so cute 🙂
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March 14, 2013 at 11:17 AM
@ Satyam:
Think we might be lucky..u just got to hope that gas prices do not increase dramatically over the week-end to drive to NJ!! & I to Virgina..
I also need to pray that it comes with sub-titles..I understand nothing of the language except ‘ Nalla Irka’ and ‘Saapad’
http://pragathi.com/movies/Paradesi-Tamil-movie-in-US-showtimes-tickets-schedules/
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March 14, 2013 at 11:51 AM
oh wow, it is playing in NJ! Thanks much. The theater website is now showing the same info which wasn’t true up until yesterday.
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March 14, 2013 at 11:55 AM
I think it will have subs. One of the sites mentions this but more than this I don’t recall seeing a Tamil film at least in the Big Cinemas chain that didn’t have them. I know Kadal played with subs everywhere in N America, or at least I checked with people in both the US and Canada and there were subs at all these locations.
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March 14, 2013 at 12:31 PM
At my end even in Big Cinemas Kadal was playing without subs.
Aside saw half of Adoor’s Rat-Trap after your recommendation. The youtube video has Italian subs but English subs are available separately on the net
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March 14, 2013 at 12:36 PM
yes that was true in India. I was referring to Big Cinemas ‘overseas’. On Rat-Trap there used to be a youtube with English subs (basically the British DVD transfer) but they removed it a long time back.
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March 13, 2013 at 3:54 PM
That’s impressive –the fench are always more clued in bout ‘art’.. Was it in Jacques Brel?
Ps: btw what happens when one is dreading a high stress high stake meeting/ program, is getting all geared up and suddenly it gets postponed /cancelled?
Pure bliss & then the sudden ‘release’ 🙂
LikeLike
March 13, 2013 at 12:21 PM
Strange story:
http://ibnlive.in.com/news/shocking-behind-the-scenes-footage-of-paradesi-goes-viral/378557-71-216.html
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March 14, 2013 at 6:02 AM
It’s all staged.. I’ve put up the teaser.
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March 14, 2013 at 10:06 AM
Yeah it’s pretty clearly staged although it’s still kind of a weird way to promote the film.
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