Tamizh Padam-Traditional Myth's Structure and Hero's Journey

 

    There are many ways to structure the plot in a movie. When it comes to 3 act structure or tragic hero stories we can feel it's fundamental phase. In 2011 Tamil Padam, directed by C.S.Amudhan (Yeah mine too..haha) released and contains much parody in it. Parody which came from traditional Tamil industry's plot.structure or over exhibited heroic qualities. Well, then the story is parody and intertextuality of Tamil movies, so what about its structure?. Eventually, we came to our argument, which is rolled up around 12 stage myth hero's journey and their characteristics. Of course, the film has a sense-less story but the structure matters.

"12 Stage method  is a very powerful way of showing the adventure plots, many epic movies like Star Wars, Inception, Avatar and Gladiator are written in this way, Tamil Padam is one of it"

Ordinary world:
    In the film ordinary world represented as a usual Tamil industry's standard place Chennai. It doesn't point place alone, a song, comedy and all in it. There is a lot of important parody in it, we can discuss later in another post.
Call to adventure:
   The adventure begins with when Siva tends to search for his parents to marry his girl. In stories, it usually begins with when there is a thread to his self-respect and his ordinary life-events. And it ultimately causes the disruptions to his existence. When he gets to the adventure, every hero need's supernatural aid, for us here is the chain in Siva's neck.

Mentor and Helper:
  His friend is his helper and the mentor is one village guy who later appears in the plot. A mentor is a such a powerful character who is the great healer of hero's flaw.  He is a one who gives wise advice and often self-confidence. This is a reason why he became the important character later in the movie.

Tests allies and Enemies:
    There are so many challenges in hero's journey in order to reach his destination. In this movie it appeared as "Migrated villagers", and "Village head's craziness" and so many. And this is the place where Hero's supernatural aid helps him. He finds his parents by the chain.

Transformation: The transformation occurs when audience know that Siva is a police officer who is in undercover.

Approach to the Inmost cave: Which means that where situation became worse in the plot. In the movie, it appears where Siva finds out the truth that his grandma is an actual villain in the movie. This concept must be difficult for the audience's belief on the story.

Return with elixir(Reward): Mentor who we seen before, is the one who helps our protagonist to solve his problems. In the story, Siva's reward is his job promotion.

 There is a lot of matter in the film like this. You may ask why "Refusal of the call" is missing...That is the point and parody, Tamil heroes are never refuse their heroic calls. I can compare the Deadpool's writing to this movie. Deadpool is the parody of comic and Tamil Padam is the parody of Tamil cinema. There are many valuable arguments in this movie. So even the story is an entertainer, but listen to the structure and theme, you may find it.