Vagabond) is a 2013 Indian Tamil-language period drama film written and directed by Bala[2][3] starring Atharvaa, Vedhika, and Dhansika.

[6] The film was based on the novel Eriyum Panikadu, a Tamil translation of the 1969 English novel Red Tea by Paul Harris Daniel and inspired by real-life incidents that took place before independence in the 1930s.

The film opened to highly positive reviews with critics mainly praising the performances of the cast and the direction of Bala.

The movie was an average grosser at the box office Raasa is a carefree young man living in a rural village in the Madras Presidency, during the early days of the British Raj.

During a tea party, an English socialite asks the plantation manager to bring in a real doctor to treat the workers.

However, he is then told that by adopting Maragadham's daughter, he has also inherited both her parents' debt to the plantation and will have to work there for almost 10 more years to pay it all off.

Paradesi, a pejorative Tamil term meaning a foreigner or wastrel, deals with the story of enslaved tea plantation workers in pre-independent India.

[16] Pooja, who had appeared in Bala's 2009 film Naan Kadavul, was originally selected to play a crucial role in this movie,[17] but later had to opt out owing to call-sheet problems.

She was subsequently replaced by Dhansika, who during post-production publicity noted that she starved for six days to achieve her look in the climax portions of the film.

[21] However, with the tiff between the FEFSI and Producers' Council still going on, the director has decided to postpone the shooting schedules until the issue is resolved.

[23] To get her act right in the climax scene, Dhansika survived with mere water and fruit juice for six consecutive days.

Later after the release, the scenes were shown to be a part of the film and Adharva tweeted on his Twitter saying that the sticks Bala used were just dummies.

[34] All lyrics are written by VairamuthuS Saraswathi of Rediff rated the film 4 stars out of 5, saying "Bala's Paradesi stays with you long after you walk out of the theatre.

In fact you need a few minutes to reorient yourself back to the present, Bala captivates with his authentic script, unadorned visuals and down-to-earth characters.

[36] Shankar Ganesh rated it 4 out of 5 and stated that "Paradesi is dark, gritty and bloody realistic & concluded that it's film-making at its best.

"[37] IBN Live called the film "pure unadulterated cinema and the screenplay and the plot rank high above everything else" and "a master class in great filmmaking".

[38] One India stated, "Paradesi is a brilliant made movie but the lack of commercial elements will not guarantee the success".