grouch, no I dont agree. Only Nagesh holds frames together when NT is not on screen. Baliah gets a vengala kiNNam.
Padmini - pongalO pongal. In Jil Jil's nadaga kottAi, as they meet after a dispute, azhagu kAttuvadhu - look at the difference between NT's and Padmini's expressions. Ofcourse, nAttiyakAri so adhukkAga konjam exaggerate paNNi irukkalAm but still I find the performance over-cooked.
TRR, Danaal, Sarangapani and co. - passable but inconsistent.
Balaji, Nambiar and the mirasdAr - Balaji comes out top among these. Enough said
Madanpur rANi - :(. unsahikkable
Manorama- granted, her best performance ever and a lovely character.
I maintain that I can only ever watch NT scenes and Nagesh scenes without flinching.
One flaw in the movie is both Balaji and Nambiar episodes go through the same conflict resolution method. My guess is that the Madanpur episode must have been much longer and with more meat in the novel. Here, it just about serves the purpose of closing out the movie.
A classic no doubt due to the memorable characters but because of NT's excellence, performances look inconsistent to me atleast.
It is very close to my heart as it is one of my father's absolute favourites - he apparently watched it 29 times over a month and a half after it was released. That's a family record for his extended family. But I am sure there are many here who would have beaten that record.