I am not a maven on Indian cinema, neither Bollywood nor Tamil, having seen only a handful of them, including Taare Zameen Par, My Name Is Khan, Outsourced, and Udaan. I have enjoyed all of the above, especially TMZ. I found "A Peck On The Cheek" which I saw on a Netflix DVD, to be overall an extremely well done film, with excellent effects in the war scenes, and fine performances, especially the girl who played "Amudja". She gave a very realistic and complex portrayal of a 9 year old, who upon finding out she was adopted (with little sensitivity by her parents), wants to find out who her biological mother was. From that point, it was a given that she would eventually connect with her. We have seen in flashback at the start of the film how her mother became married and why she gave her child up. The only reason I gave the film an 8 instead of 10, as so many have, is the journey took too long to get there. There were a number of events that took a substantial amount of time, while advancing the story very little if any. This had the effect, for me, to become a bit impatient. And the music, which was great in TMZ, seemed here to just break the flow and intensity of the film, without being relevant.Despite this, I liked the film and would recommend it, but unlike some other reviewers, I don't think I would want to watch it repeatedly, as I have done with TMZ, Outsourced, Khan, and Udaan, all of which I have purchased. Were it about 15 minutes shorter, I think it would have been more focused.

It pays to watch Reader's Digest. Or Time, if it was the original source of the article that served as a supposed inspiration to Mani Ratnam to make this masterpiece. Based on a true story of an adopted girl who goes in search of her biological parents, Mr. Ratnam paints a classic that rivets as much as it rebukes, cherishes as much as it chastens and preaches as much as it practises.Where does one start? The foreboding gloom that precedes fresh strife in northern Sri Lanka? The chaotic household of a family headed by a firebrand engineer-author and 3 adorably naughty children? Or that murky region where reality crosses the point of providing a comfortable existence and becomes a monster of incredulous and sinister events and ideologies? Whichever way one looks at it, this film is worth being in your collection, if you happen to like Mani Ratnam's compelling dramas.Mr. Ratnam is a past master in blending fictional tales within real life incidents and in this film, he oozes class in adapting two real-life stories into one. I will not go into the story as it is better seen than read. But, what I will dwell upon is the impact it had upon me and why, for all the war-mongering that happens in this world, it cannot destroy that simple yet inexhaustible force called hope.Innocence, in its purity, cannot fathom the complex desires of adult decadence and greed. Nor does it recognize perils when it is accompanied by the fierce determination to seek what it wants. It is an innocence of such nature that drives Amudha to seek her biological parents, despite warnings that they could be lost in the cauldron of civil war. Having survived a terrorizing experience of conversing with a physically challenged man only to realize that he is a more lethal entity in disguise, Amudha sticks to her cause in a manner that tears down her well-wishers' resistance. And finally, when the twain do meet, mother and daughter, the reunion is so taut with emotion that even the temperamental adoptive father is reduced to tears. Aided by a coruscating background score from A R Rahman, the scene that follows is poignant to melt even the stoniest of hearts: a list of questions that Amudha has to ask her biological mother. In a culmination as dramatic as the sequence of incidents leading to it, a child discovers its mother, alive in body but lost in spirit. With the crushing realization that she has no hope of staying with the one who bore her, Amudha does to her adoptive mother what this film's title means: a peck on the cheek.As for the cast, the trail is clearly blazed by the brilliant PS Keerthana. Mr. Ratnam has a gift of extracting spectacular performances from little-known child artistes, but this should take nothing away from Keerthana for an award-winning performance. With an able supporting cast of Madhavan (Thiru), Simran (Indira) and the stupendous Nandita Das (Shyama), she embellishes the scenes in almost every frame she is in. The music may be not as memorable as other Rahman offerings but that still didn't stop him from garnering another National Award for the best music direction. "Vellai Pookal" is as much an ode for the need to cherish human life as it is for nature. The dialogues are top-class (sample the touching exchange Amudha and Indira have on the swing, shortly after the revelation that she is not Indira's biological daughter) and the cinematography, superb.This film is a clear statement to drop arms as much as it is to respect human life and expressions. Do not judge it as a lesson in film-making; you will only lose out on experiencing one of the very best from the Mani Ratnam-A R Rahman stable.

Maniratnam, who in India, is often compared with prominent world film makers and is regarded a genius in film-making, has yet again proved that he can only make the frames look visually good, without offering much food for thought.Forget about pure cinematic pleasure that can be derived from cinema as a very old form of art.While I would not like to claim and portray myself as someone who has seen all the beautiful movies made around the world, still any thoughtful and a bit educated film goer can identify that his films do not contain innovative ingenuous plots, does not contain lingering effects afterward and MOSTLY contain ridiculous ending and a LOT of melodrama, seen profusely in Indian movies.Overall, Maniratnam has successfully confirmed my distaste for his films once again.Sorry for those who on this board were claiming otherwise. My suggestion to you: WATCH SOME BEAUTIFUL CINEMAS MADE AROUND THE GLOBE.

Our local public library showed this film, part of the "Film Movement" series to which it subscribes. These films, although occasionally humorous, are mostly about people in extreme situations -- often hopeless. We in America have little concept of the Tamil "insurgency" in Sri Lanka, but this film vividly portrayed the horrors of civil conflict in a country best-known for peace, love, and natural beauty. There are many war and battle scenes, reminiscent of Costa Gavras and his portrayal of the human dramas resulting from imperialistic and revolutionary conflicts. These are extremely well done, apparently with little or no digital and other artificial film-making tools.Indian family life and values are well-portrayed in this film. The adopted daughter, with darker skin, is fully integrated into her middle-class family, and the trauma of discovering that she is adopted is handled with sensitivity and great love. Her desire to find her mother - quite unrealistic in the war-torn refugee camps of northern Sri Lanka - is nevertheless undertaken by her parents, one of whom is a famous novelist.This film moved me very much, and I'll check it out and see it at least once, again.