Its an exciting prospect when Mani Ratnam makes a movie that isn’t being made in Hindi in parallel. One of Mani Ratnam’s strong points about a movie is how grounded in the milieu that the story is set in is. Jeyamohan’s writing on “Angadi Theru” and “Naan Kadavul” were good to put it mildly. Both stories were gritty, grounded and hard hitting. The latter had a lovely philosophical and religious subtext that ran in parallel to the narrative. Therefore when Jeyamohan teams up with Mani Ratnam expectations are surely going to peak, who’d not want to see what the master of modern day urban romance (in as artistically it can be within the boundaries of the mainstream) do to Jeyamohan’s story.
This is a story about good vs evil, about Sam and Berchmans. Sam Fernando, a scion of a rich family wants to become a priest, goes to a seminary where he meets Berchmans, who is from a poor family, the place in the seminary being his meal ticket. The clash of personalities manifest right at the outset with Berchmans’ playful prank playing nature contrasted by Sam’s silence and frugal eating habits. Sam happens to catch Berchmans, both sworn to celibacy, with another woman and there begins the journey of Berchmans wanting his revenge on Sam. He spouts lines about the Satan stopping short of calling him a fallen angel, but you get it by now.
The story moves to a fishing hamlet on coastal Tamil Nadu. A small boy is taking a nap, lying on top of his mother. When a man comes knocking and asks the boy to go out and latches the door behind him we realize that his mother is a prostitute. A few seconds later the lust borne man rushes out of the hut after discovering that the lady’s been dead for a while. The small fellow goes back and tries to wake his mother and goes back to hugging her corpse. The clergy refuse a place in the Church’s cemetry to the dead woman which results in her being buried by the sea, her leg having to be broken to be fit into what’s her coffin.
The simile this brings is to a prostitute who couldn’t keep her legs closed, it hits you hard. This is not the Mani Ratnam you know. At it’s best this could be Bala’s territory. But then you realize this is the Mani Ratnam trying to push boundaries. The kid gives a priceless expression mourning the death of his Mother looking into the camera. When he lands up at the house of who he thinks is his Father, the cinematography is raw, you can see the cracks in the wall, almost smell the dry fish that is laid out to dry in the verandah. The little boy, named Thomas, grows up in the same village, ridiculed and ostracized by the local populace.
This is when Sam, who has now become a priest, lands. Sam wants to reinvigorate faith in the fishing community that has lost it’s communion with God. He goes about setting his Church and manages to weave his way into the heart of the boy and the community. The Priest now has a son, a Father becoming a father to put it in a colloquial way. In a story of good vs evil how long can you move the narrative without the antagonist in it. Berchmans, now a wealthy fishing contractor, lands on the shores where Sam lives, shot by a rival gang and left to die. Sam nurses him back to life and Berchmans plots his moves in the fight against good to establish his supremacy.
Sam gets thrown in jail for murder which plays out as an accident while he’s being tried by the congregation on allegations of immoral behaviour involving Serena, a superb and short portrayal by Lakshmi Manchu. The condemnation, judgement and arrest plays out like The Passion of the Christ in how it unfolds and the imagery used. Thomas falls for Beatrice (called Bea), a young girls living with nuns in a monastery, she’s apparently some sort of a nurse or paramedic. Thomas, who is orphaned yet again, is taken into the fold by evil incarnate Berchmans. He’s a sinner, he later confesses to his beau, who is playing hopscotch. She says he’s forgiven, that’s all it takes for him to redeem himself. But has he completely? The rest of the movie is about how the fight of good and evil plays out and who wins in the end.
The complete nonchalance at how some artistic, political and social issues are mentioned casually in the movie is a delight. Berchmans killing Thomas’ father, who lands in Thomas’ arms to breathe his last after having spent his whole life disowning him is poetic. And there after Berchmans mentioning it casually as a death due to firing by the other side, a reference to the Sri Lankan navy which is always in the news for firing on Indian fisherman, is subtle. The now powerful Thomas being able to exhume his Mother’s remains from the beach and give her a burial in the Church’s cemetry is a nuanced portrayal of the double standards that the Clergy mete out to the poor.
This story has done what few mainstream movies manage to do and that is to not explain everything moronically. Between what’s shown on screen are gaps which are filled in the mind. Sam is never shown conducting a mass or giving a Sunday message in oratorical flourish to establish how he wins over his flock. Berchmans deceit in using Serena to accuse Sam isn’t spoon fed. AR Rahman’s music (songs and background score) is fabulous. Chithirai Nila plays when Thomas loses his Mother in the beginning of the movie and again when he loses his Father. Magudi is the title card song, it’s also the “falling of Thomas” song. Adiye is the love lorn youth’s lament song. Nenjukulle plays out amidst chatter. Moongil thottam is classic Mani having his fun on the beach. However, the songs comes at points where the story is paused for the music videos to play out, that’s a bummer. Nee illai is the end credits song.
Rajiv Menon’s cinematography is excellent, but do we need DI in every frame that the skin tones, the sky, water and the horizon look “photoshopped”? One has to mention that the steady cam work was top notch all through the movie. Art direction is just fascinating in this movie. Sashidhar Adappa, not the regular Sameer Chanda, does the production work and it stands out in a non-obtrusive manner all through the movie. Be it the Kasimedu type fishing stalls on the beach, the churches or the boats. The dialogues are in a dialect that is unique to the Southern parts of Coastal Tamil Nadu which many might find a little difficult to keep up with.
Arvind Swamy is wonderful as Father Sam Fernando but it’s Arjun Sharja who takes the honours for the best part in the movie. He lives the role he’s playing and his eyes sparkle with venom when he espouses vengeance. Gautam Karthik performs decently, though this isn’t an all out star-kids-debut movie or subject, he manages to hold his own. Thulasi Nair has a nice and unique smile, but one smile cannot a full movie make. Her performance is woefully inadequate which leaves me wondering if the romantic and spiritual angle would have gotten more depth if her role was portrayed by a more consummate actress? I also wonder if the character was written as “child-like” as an after thought to keep with the actress’ juvenile portrayal? Why does Mani cast such woefully inadequate actresses in his movie? This after casting excellent talent like Revathi, Shobana, Amala, Saranya in the past!
Mani Ratnam is also someone who stretches this suspension of disbelief aspect with respect to locations in every movie. He continues the same in this movie by shooting in Kasimedu, Manappadu, Dhanushkodi and backwaters in Alapuzha (Chitira Kayal, Vembanad Lake) to edit them together as one place. Is the church shown in the end titles Kuruvilangad St Mary’s Forane Church? And the church shown in the medical camp Cheriapally in Kottayam?
Kadal is a wonderfully layered attempt at charting out a new territory in terms of content and execution.
