Paadam

Paadam
Paadam
Directed by	Rajasekhar
Written by	Rajasekhar
Produced by	Gipin P.S
Starring	Karthik; Vijith; Yashika Aannand
Edited by	S.S Mano
Music by	Ganesh Raghavendra
Production; company	Rollon Movies
Release date	27 April 2018;
Running time	126 minutes
Country	India
Language	Tamil

Paadam (transl. Lesson) is a 2018 Indian Tamil-language drama film written and directed by Rajasekhar and produced by Gipin P.S.^[1] The film stars newcomers Karthik and Mona as school students, Vijith, Nagendran in the lead roles while Yashika Aannand and Jangiri Madhumita provide pivotal roles in the film. The music is scored by Ganesh Raghavendra. The film was released on 27 May 2018.

Plot

A school boy named Jeeva, who is the son of police officer Kottai Perumal, questions the inabilities and defects in the Indian educational system and also shows his frustration towards studying lessons in English instead of Tamil.^[2] On the other hand, Jeeva's father also hesitates and feels afraid to speak in English. If Jeeva hears even a single English word, he becomes frustrated. One day, Kottai Perumal was sent on a transfer to Chennai after his unruly behaviour with a higher police officer who did not know to speak in Tamil. At the same time, Jeeva is excited as he thinks that he can avoid learning English by leaving the village to Chennai. But Jeeva is compelled by his father to study in English as his father desired him to be fluent in the language. Jeeva attended the high school Valluvar Vidyashram in Ramapuram and started to learn English, but his English teacher, is punitive toward students who have difficulty with English. But Jeeva gets support and advice from his Hindi language teacher and escapes from the school. When his father learns of this, he politely requested his son to study in English medium. Finally after his father's request, he changes and learns English.^[3]^[4]

Cast

Karthik as Jeeva
Mona as Jeeva's friend
V. R. Nagendran as Kottai Perumal, Jeeva's father
Jangiri Madhumita as Jeeva's mother
Vijith as an English teacher (Chennai high school)
Yashika Aannand as Hindi teacher
Venkatesh as an English teacher (Kottaimedu government middle school)
R. N. R. Manohar as principal
Bala Singh as Minister of Education

Reception

A critic from Ananda Vikatan criticised the film and wrote that "Director Rajasekhar, who has rarely seen children's films in Tamil, has taken the film like a little child. In all the scenes of the film, 'Do you know what kind of scene this is... enjoy it!' The screenplay feels like it is stabbing me with a stick".^[3]