Geo’s Talkies – Onayum Aatukuttiyum

Tamil Cinema has been going through a wonderful period recently where anyone who has a good story – even decent story -  to narrate is getting the avenue to make his or her movie. The audience is surprisingly receptive to these movies from rank newcomers in an industry that is dominated by stars, big production houses and larger than life premises. Cinema was always supposed to be the common man’s escape from his daily grind, which is true to a large extent but should cinema be slotted within or constrained by such platitudes ?"

In a year where even a Mani Ratnam’s movie had to bite dust at the theatres came Mysskin’s “Onayum Aatukuttiyum”. Mysskin is an intelligent filmmaker, too intelligent some would say. In this movie he brings the story of a medical college student whose life gets intermeshed in a vicious web of crime and deceit. On his way back home after a night of studies at his friend’s house, Chandru finds a man lying on the road with bullet-shot wounds. Earlier a lot of people pass by the hapless man, the usual apathy we exhibit at this situation is portrayed starkly. People who stop to see if the man has life and leave when they see he has. People who shoot pictures for social media. People who don’t want to do anything about a wounded man on the road.

The system is the next on Mysskin’s list. Chandru isn’t able to get medical attention to the wounded man in a hospital, neither is he able to get the law enforcement’s attention. One of the police men even steal the wounded man’s watch right behind Chandru’s back. Sheer desperation forces Chandru to take the man home and treat his wound with help from his Professor, who himself is bereaved that night, an event that seems to play a role in the Professor deciding to help Chandru perform the medical procedures after initially rebuking him sharply for acting irresponsibly.

The Crime Branch lands on Chandru’s house the next day because the wounded man was Wolf, who was fleeing after being shot by the police in an “encounter”. Wolf, according to the Police, is a most wanted criminal with over 14 murders to his name which includes a blind teenager. A lot of these facts help us join the dots together in the third act of the movie. Chandru and his elder Brother are taken into Police custody, unofficially, while Chandru’s sister in law is kept under house arrest.

The Police characters have been sketched well. We are used to templates of either too good or too bad cops in uniform in Cinema. Here you have a mix of policemen. The corrupt officer who is hand in glove with another dreaded criminals. Tons of policemen on night beats, manning check points, who are scared as we’d be at such times. High ranking officer who want to help Chandru but hesitates due to passive pressure from his juniors and yet when circumstances change has no qualms in calling a hit to rid the society of an alleged dreaded criminal.

The best writing comes in the form of a CB-CID duo who read between the lines all through the movie to pursue their own course of finding Wolf. One of these two has a brilliant dialogue explaining to his superior officer why he won’t let Chandru escape Police custody, despite the custody being unlawful. When the Wolf wants to meet Chandru the Police hatch a plan to eliminate him. Is the Wolf stupid enough to walk into a trap laid out by the Police ? Why does the Wolf want to meet Chandru ? The rest of the movie is about how Chandru is used by the police as a lamb to lure the wolf and how Wolf navigates the quagmire.

This movie has been shot entirely in the night, not the usual DI work of turning a day shot into night. Ilaiyaraja’s foreground score, as the titles put it, support the movie ably. Mysskin’s martial arts background set the stage for some brilliant action choreography, complete with two samurai’s nailed to each other in the end. Mysskin even stretches the Onaay trait by showing Wolf with a tail. God is an underlying character all through the movie showing up on the wall Chandru runs past, as screams from Policemen who get shot, in the cemetery etc. “Onaayum Aatukuttiyum” is a brilliant attempt from a filmmaker who is completely in control of his form and technique, a Tamil movie that can rival any other good thriller from anywhere else in the world.

Geo’s talkies – Kadal

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.

Geo's talkies - In the Loop, Eeram, State of Play

"In the Loop" is a delightful British comedy on state of affairs in today's world which satirizes the machinations of world leaders and in the process provides solid laughs. This is a movie that highlights the complete ignorance, stupidity and pathetic levels of understanding that manifest bureaucrats in higher echelons of power.

A British minister who suffers from foot in the mouth syndrome, who thinks the war in Iraq is "unforeseeable". A Director of communications in the ministry who's got a vicious and profane tongue. Cross over to the US and you meet their counterparts who are scheming, silly and outright stupid at times and you have a sure fire recipe for laughter. This movie has a one line story, it's more about the actions that are weaved around it and the "impending war" a reference to the conflict in the middle east (Iraq). For the one's that like comedy that's not contrived or artificial this one is a must watch movie.

"Eeram" is a good movie to comes out from the stable of S Pictures directed by another newbie. All movies produced by this production house have had reasonably good content and neat execution and this movie is no different despite the paranormal tint in the story. A murder in an upper middle class dwelling raises eyebrows with the majortiy alluding to the woman's infidelity as the cause for it.

The fact that the investigating officer is a person who wanted to marry the woman murdered when he was in college adds to the intrigue and from there it becomes a case of 'whodunnit'. The ending is a tad disappointing however the movie is way better than most of the one's that get released every Friday.

"State of play" is a superb thriller which starts off with the murder of a staff in Senator Stephen Collins' office, this staff was the chief researcher for the committee which was reviewing a particular company's role in providing home land security, an example of in-sourcing if one could call it so. Things get murky when the senator's friend, a journalist with the Washington Globe investigates two murders and starts to see a link in them.

Things take a dramatic turn there and the movie hits out in many directions before reaching it's finale. This is a plot heavy movie which works incredibly well, a must watch for the one's that seeks thrills and suspense.

Bala on Rahman

"Rahman's music would not have worked for my films, from Sethu to Naan Kadavul", said Bala in an interview in rediff about his last release "Naan Kadavul". With all due respect to the fine director and story teller that Bala is, I wonder how would you know unless you've already given it a try and given up! 

Geo's Talkies - Naan Kadavul (I'm God - Tamil)

I have a particular fondness for a film director who writes his own story. There's a sense of conceiving an idea, carrying it in one's mind allowing it to grow and finally giving birth to it by seeing it play on screen, there's a motherhood cycle related to it. Today there are as many director's who take another person's story and get the movie to work as are director's who write the story and screenplay and direct the movie for the big screen. 

Bala belongs to the latter group, after interning with Balu Mahendra this young man from Madurai debuted with the superhit 'Sethu' which was as middle as a mainstream Thamizh movie could become gave a fresh lease of life to a hitherto unknown actor who has been the voice of many on screen, Vikram. Bala's fourth directorial attempt 'Naan Kadavul', which translates into 'I am God', starts promisingly. When the protagonist utters 'Aham Bhramasmi' a couple of minutes into the film it sets expectations and also get's the viewer all excited to get a sense of how far a mainstream movie can go to work around the concept without having to bother about formula and without tinkering with logic. 

The movie opens gloriously in Kasi, 'Om Sivoham' plays as the title sequences play out, visuals of the Ganges in Kasi are sights to behold. Here's a father in search of his son he gave up in Kasi 14 yrs ago heeding to astrological advice hoping for better fortunes for his family. Accompanied by his daughter he reaches a famous priest in Kasi who helps him out despite abhoring the thought that a father gave up his son listening to superstition.

Rudhran is the son the father has been searching for, he's an Aghori (see trivia for more) now. Rudhran is sent by his Guru back to his hometown to return after renouncing his worldly connections. Rudhran arrives in his hometown in Southern Tamilnadu to his mother. The mother doesn't get the son's love nor can they understand the methods to his madness - blowing the conch and playing rustic drums in the middle of the night, smoking ganja etc.

Thandavan (notice the resemble to 'Andavan' meaning God in Tamil) uses beggars to earn his living, he's the head of a large begging mafia in this small town. He earns large amounts of money getting people to beg and doesn't give a damn about human life. He beats the one's that dare question, he deforms and multilates them. Murugesan works for Thandavan and is assigned a group of beggars who collect the highest among their peers by begging in the foothills of a hill top temple - Malaikkovil.

One night in search of ganja Rudhran arrives to the hill top to find other ascetics (some real, some fake) smoking to their glory. This hill become his abode from here on. He mouthes filth and sanskrit shlokas when questioned and is revered and feared by the folks around him. Amsavalli is a blind beggar with a sweet voice, she's stolen from her group of small timers who don the roles of MGR, Sivaji, Rajini, Nayanthara etc to make money and is taken to Thandavan. Here enters Nair from Kerala who runs a large begging group in places of religious interest in Kerala, Nair wants a change of faces to improve collections and hence takes people from Thandavan to Kerala.

Nair comes back to Malaikkovil with a proposal to make money with Amsavalli hoping to sell her off to a rich but completely deformed person who'd never have any woman bed with him due to the gory nature of his face. Amsavalli is left in the hill top temple by Murugesan and his accomplice hoping to save her from the ill that is to visit her and pleading the God there to save her. Rudhran answers their prayers, he takes on Nair and kills him. This infuriates Thandavan who mutilates Amsavalli's face. How Rudhran takes on all the evil he sees around him complete the narrative.

Arya comes out tops as Rudhran, the key here being in the fact that he doesn't have to emote too much. He brings in a completely different mannerism and body language to the aghori ascetic's character and the long beard and hair complement the persona of the character he is playing. Pooja, the glamour girl we all are used to, surprises us with her portrayal of Amsavalli. Shod of any glamour and with darkened complexion and lenses to blind her vision she does a good job of portraying the character of a blind beggar. Her north indian accent lends a wee bit more of credibility to the role she's playing though many see it as a handicap. Arya and Pooja have got the roles of their life time in this movie. Despite this one can't but imagine how it would have been should a more competent pair of actors were chosen to esssay these roles.

Every other character in this movie is aptly cast, there's no one who is miscast or who doesn't play the part well. I'm not able to name the person who played Thandavan, he's menacing and the very look of him on screen builds a huge amount of hatred in our hearts. Bala has reportedly used real beggars to act in this movie for a monthly salary of 2500/month. It shows on screen and most of them play their part rather beautifully. 

There's an underlying tinge of humor in some scenes and despite the rather sordid state of affairs we see on screen some lines made me laugh rather loudly. The way the beggars laughed and made fun of the world around them brought both a smile and a tear to one's eyes. I had a minor problem with the dialogues in the beginning of the movie when it sounded very dramatic in that the characters mouthed them like it was a stage drama.  Arthur Wilson's cinematography is the other high point of this movie. The opening in Kasi is outstanding. The camera literally crawls in and out of scenes majorly, most of the shooting is done from below the knee level which adds another layer of mystique to an already mystic movie.

Ilaiyaraja's music elevates this movie one notch more. The songs are superbly written and tuned. I couldn't pick one number which didn't fit the mood of a scene or which wasn't melodic enough. The background music was superlative to say the least. Here's a movie where Harris could learn a thing or two about writing for action scenes. Raja Sir's score for the action is apt and fits the thematic needs perfectly. The dialogs are laced with lewd and vulgar language when one sees it from a prudish metro dweller's point of view but one shouldn't expect anything less from a fare that is so grounded in reality. 

All the Tamil swear phrases have been beeped out but a particular swear word in Hindi which would translate into 'sister violater' wasn't beeped out. Is it that the Censor board folks in Chennai don't know enough Hindi? Given the large influx of IT professional from various parts of the country into Chennai this swear word should be rather widely known. It's rare that an actor get's an author backed role, Arya certainly get's to play the most challenging role of his career. The way he's introduced on screen while he's doing seershasan is so bold. On the low side Arya's character is not completely explored, there is no mention of what's he thinking or how he's tuned to see things, we have to assume that as an aghori he's broken off all his material leanings including his family which deserted him 14 yrs ago. The logic given towards the end for moksha for a character who begs redemption is hardly plausible.

Extras don't have any role to play in a scene in Indian movies. They simply have to stick to a marked position with a particular look on their face which an AD gives them. This movie breaks that routine. I'd like to mention a very short scene of a beggar crawling in a bus asking for alms during a song sequence. In the background you see the insides of the bus, the camera looking into the front where a conductor is changing the board of the bus, the back reads 'Bus Station' implying that this bus is leaving to a suburb or village nearby. The conductor picks his bag and moves ahead to issue tickets. All this happens in a couple of seconds but to keep a scene so dynamic takes a lot of rehearsal and vision and Bala has it. It's small things such as these that elevate 'Naan Kadavul' to a good movie. 

This is not a pop corn movie. This movie arrests it's viewer. You can't take your eyes off the screen. You are either repelled by the scenes you see or are engrossed in it in a non voyeuristic manner. The star behind 'Naan Kadavul' is Bala, the writer/director. It takes a lot of courage and guts to take a story about beggars and their problems and project it on screen. On paper it's not viable at all and no producer worth his salt would spend a penny on a project that looks so doomed. I hope this movie is seen by as many people as possible for the sheer magnitude of thoughts condensed into it. At a little over 2 hrs this is a lot shorters than the normal postcard swiss dramas we see churned out by our filmfolk.

Trivia:

# Aghori sanyasis see them as a symbol of Lord Shiva as per Hindu mythology. They are rumoured to indulge in cannibalism. 

# Aghori sanyasis believe in the perfectness of Lord Shiva and the fact that he is responsible for everything in this world - animate and inanimate.

# Corpses are freed off their curse by Aghori sanyasis to allow them attain moksha hence liberating them from their cycle of reincarnation.

# Aghori sanyasis can be distinguished from others by the way they smear ash left after incarceration of a corpse on their faces and body.

# The scenes in Kasi were shot in the real Kasi on the banks of the Ganges.

# The scenes depicting Malaikkovil were shot at Thenkarai near Kumbakarai in Theni district of Tamilnadu.

# The water falls shown near Malaikkovil is Kumbakarai falls in Theni district. This area was known to be naxalite prone but fast developing into a tourist spot recently.

Thiruppavai in Sivaji

A 1300 yr old song composed by Saint Andal praising the Thamizh God Thirumaal (believed to be an incarnation of Lord Krishna) finds it's way into my aural arena and many other men/women/children of today, thanks to the soundtrack of 'Sivaji'. "Thiruppavai" is a collection of 30 verses in praise of Thirumaal sung primarily in the month of Maargazhi which falls in the latter half of December and early half of January according to the Gregorian calendar. It is also said that each of the 30 days in the month of Maargazhi is named after these 30 verses.

Now back to 'Sivaji', the reason I'm talking about these verses. The way the lyrics blends with such sublime music in 'Sivaji' is a moment of musical brilliance. All flamboyance and style is reserved for the hero in all other songs but what beauty, almost spiritual divinity, in this song that one can keep hearing it forever. I tried my hand at deciphering the words in this verse and then got it translated through one of my friends Mr.Shanmugham (70 yrs young and keeps pushing me to complete 'Ponniyin Selvan').

Maali! Manivanna!

Maargazhineer aaduvaan

Maylaiyar seivanagal venduvana kaettiyal

Njalathai yellam

Nadungamularvana

Paalvanna vanaththul paanjajaniyamay

Polvana sangangal poipaadudaiyanavay

Saiyarperum paraiyay pallaan thisaipaaray

Kola vilakil kodiyae vidhanamay

Aalin Ilaiyaay

Arulaylo rempavaai

Oh Lord! (The original is a reference akin to Black Diamond)

Give us the strength

To complete this penance in Maargazhi like you did to our elders

Give us oil lamps, flags, powerful big drums,

singers who sing praises and conches that sound;

like your pure multi hued voice -

the sound which makes the universe shudder

Oh Lord, bless us,

Let us do our penance

I tried to stay away from transliteration and would be glad to correct any mistakes in the interpretation of the verse. The verses are powerful, the music adds to it's grandiosity. Simple and minimal orchestration, Rahman knows when to sink us in the power of the divine aural spectrum. Splendid song, another of the treasures of Thamizh literature polished and embellished by Rahman.