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Meiyazhagan Movie Review

Meiyazhagan is a 2024 Indian Tamil-language drama film directed by C. Prem Kumar and starring Karthi and Arvind Swamy. It’s such a beautiful movie.

Twenty-two years after losing his home, Arulmozhi Varman returns to his native Thanjavur to attend his cousin’s wedding. Amidst the celebrations, Arul is reintroduced to an upbeat man whom he cannot recall. With the help of the unknown man, Arul reconnects with his past. I was taken aback by how moving this film ended up being. It even made me cry at one point because it was so genuinely heartwarming.

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There is a lot to love in this film, but above all else its intimate approach to storytelling. Yes, it’s an overlong movie for such a simple story. There was absolutely no need for this movie to be almost three hours long. Thus, I felt that length quite a bit, especially in its somewhat slower and less engaging first half. But the second half became genuinely touching and earned in its emotion due to terrific character development and fantastic dialogue.

Karthi is wonderful as this distant cousin of our protagonist. This man is always cheerful and has the tendency to talk for hours. He is a natural-born narrator and a lovable goof. Arvind Swamy is the standout performer as his acting here is absolutely phenomenal. This is a powerhouse performance in such a rich role and one of the best of the year. If audiences in the West actually watched some Indian movies for a change, he would undeniably be appearing in best of the year lists.

His character is moody and seemingly difficult, but this distant cousin opens him up emotionally and he eventually comes to reconnect with not just him, but his own past and his past self. That ending where he finally recollects everything genuinely made me cry as it was so damn emotional. The final moment where he goes after him and finally shouts out his name, which is aptly the title of the movie itself, was just incredible. It was the perfect way to end this story and it truly ranks as one of the best movie scenes of 2024.

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Meiyazhagan doesn’t have a whole lot of music, which is odd for Indian cinema, but here this choice worked as after all this calmer, more meditative and wistful tone was left intact throughout its entire runtime. I strongly relate to this particular subject as I am also deeply nostalgic about my childhood, which was genuinely perfect in my eyes, so this movie spoke to me on a very personal level. The inherently cinematic, immaculate choice to actually recreate the titular character’s narration made for tender imagery that was not manipulative, but truly nostalgic.

The dialogue is simply exceptional and the film just gets that feel of talking to your cousins and reconnecting with them and your shared past so well. Just following their recollections, their funny anecdotes and the smiles that those put on their faces will certainly make you feel something if you aren’t a robot. This is a hugely emotional movie, but I found it to be earned for the most part. The characterization is so strong that it earns those feels. The other characters were extremely sidelined and the other plot beats were somewhat rushed, but the central dynamic was incredible and these two were the heart and soul of the movie. The directing and editing are pretty good and so was the cinematography.

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