TLDR: An unbelievably fantastic low budget movie which was a trend-setter then, became a cult classic later, created by a bunch of final year Film Institute students who came out of Madras Film Institute in the 80s. It revolutionized not just the Tamil movie industry but changed the technical landscape & storytelling aspects wrt to psychological thriller genre movies of tamil cinema forever.
About the movie:
Its not exaggerated if I say this one movie propelled the whole south indian cinema to push its boundaries above and beyond to include the novel, layered-storytelling approach and the ingenious technicalities which were way superior considering its time of release.
Oomai Vizhigal (The Blind Eyes) is still considered as a masterclass wrt to the storytelling, with a thin plotline and the technical brilliance it brought onto the screens in the 80s which shocked the puritans then.
Plot:
A psychopath named P. R. K, who is on a killing spree, is aided by a local politician and a nefarious doctor. But things go haphazard when a policeman and a committed journalist join hands to nab him.
Now, about the movie and the characterization:
Refined writing is what makes the movie a cult classic and standing apart. Every character has its shining moments though Vijayakanth who was holding a commendable bankable star position in Tamil industry back in the day. The treatment was new and very fresh which hit the audience as a tour-de-force. Characterizations very organic and placed what the story demands amidst of the 100+ garbage movies of 80s where the heroes either stalk their girl or do silly romance by cricling around the trees in a park or either perform over the top stunt scenes with cringe-worthy mummy sentiments. But OV doesnt had any. Ofcourse there a few flaws which you wont notice, but every movie has their own.
Cast:
The actors/actress performed their roles excellently. An epic role played by 'Captain' Vijayakanth with his brilliant portrayal of DSP Deenadayalan, a brave & honest cop. Others chimed in accordingly where its necessary. There is no cringy sentiment scenes, over the top action sequences, no force fitted love or romance scenes in the movie. Still, it seems the movie was banned by the then govt due to unknown reasons. The team had to fight out a long battle to release the movie in the cinema halls then, considering the dark theme of the movie was non palatable for those regressive India censor board 'purists' of 80s.
Technicalities:
Technically the movie was fabulously superior and it shocked the whole industry upon its release, when OV made the audience felt the full prowess of 'Cinemascope' and how well a low budget movie wud be received when the creators mix up great piece of storytelling with the technical abilities combined together.
Cinematography:
Tamil people and the casual movie lovers awakened to a pleasant shock after watching one particular scene of this movie where a white dot appears out of pitch dark background which unfolds to depict a very long array of convoy of cars, coming one after the other with a pulsating bg score. This very scene speaks about the exceptional camera work the guy (Aravindraj, the director himself) has put in. Mindblowing stuff which was way far ahead of its times.
Music:
Songs became evergreen and created sensation then, composed by newcomers Manoj-Gyan, and its still rules the nights, played in various FM stations all around the tamil speaking diaspora.
Verdict:
A cult classic which would stand the test of times forever. Do watch it.
Where to watch:
Available in SunNXT app (subscription required) & in Youtube (free to watch).
