Pavalakkodi (1934) Review - A beautiful, scratchy piece of history

If you have a couple of hours and want to see where Tamil cinema basically started its obsession with singing heroes, Pavalakkodi is essential. But honestly, if you can't stand crackly audio that sounds like a frying pan, you will probably turn this off in five minutes. 🍳

It is a mythical love story about Arjuna and Pavalakkodi, who is the princess of Coral Island. Yes, Coral Island, which looks suspiciously like a flat wooden stage.

The cardboard crown and the high notes

First off, the budget for crowns must have been about four rupees. Arjuna's headgear looks like a very serious school project made of tinfoil.

But then M.K. Thyagaraja Bhagavathar starts singing. His voice is so incredibly high and clear, even through eighty years of hiss and pop on the soundtrack.

You can tell this was basically a stage play they just pointed a heavy camera at. The camera does not move at all.

It reminds me of how awkward early sound was in the West, though maybe less polished than something like the comedy short Come Clean from around the same era. Here, the filmmakers did not care about camera movement; they just wanted the songs to hit you.

Things that made me chuckle

• The way characters stand in a perfectly straight line to talk to each other.
• S.D. Subbulakshmi has this amazing, intense stare that could probably cut through solid wood.
• The absolute lack of actual coral on Coral Island. 🏝️

There is a moment where Arjuna is disguised as a holy man and the way he glides into the scene is just pure theater. You can almost hear the director whispering "okay, walk now" from behind the lens.

The romance is very... polite? They mostly just sing at each other rather than actually interacting like real humans.

But there is a strange charm to it all. It is like looking at an old, faded family photo album where everyone is squinting at the sun.

If you are expecting a fast plot, just forget it. The story stops every three minutes for another song.

Still, I am glad I sat through it. It is a messy relic, but it has a real soul.