I should admit that I was surprised (unpleasantly)when I heard that Tamil actor Dhanush who also happened to be the son in law of arguably the most influential person in Tamil Nadu, Super star Rajanikanth, bagged Nation's most respectable award for the best actor. I have seen his debut, 'Thulluvadho Ilamai' followed with his much hyped up movies like 'Kadhal Kondein' and 'Pudhupettai' and I am not afraid to admit that, he never looked promising as an actor to me. As I hate to be ruled over by my very own collection of prejudices, I took an immediate decision to watch the movie in question; 'Adukalam'. Movie started brilliantly with a decent narration on rooster-fighting and it's history in the background of beautiful title graphics. Unfortunately this was the only thing which was rewarding. After burning midnight oil all I could find was a set of people who spoke Tamil in madurai Village accent and a lot of fluttering of Lungi's and a story that went like a kite cut loose. My quest went longer and longer to find out that magic moment of acting which swept the Award Jury off their feet and to my sorrow, there was nothing to find. Director Vetrimaran should have known that, all those movies that spoke Madurai Tamil didn't make a 'Virumandi'.
But there was a surprise package in the movie, and that's the character 'Pettaikkaran' (a fighting Rooster-Trainer), the godfather of Karuppu (dhanush) who turns a Villain in Jealousy of his disciple's over night glory. This character was played by Sri Lankan Tamil writer and political commentator V I S Jayabalan who's settled in Norway. His performance was absolutely stunning and it was difficult to believe that it was his debut as an actor. If Adukalam was ever going to win any award, that had to be Jayabalan, but Jury had something else in their mind. After MG Ramachandran the demigod of Tamil Cinema then, bagged the same award in 1972 for his film 'Rikshakkaran' , this has to be the second undeserved recognition in the history of Tamil Cinema.
