Cheers
Kris

Firstly, you substantiate what Kamal mentioned during the time of Hey Ram — that he uses movies as a creative medium, just like a poet writes poems. People may dismiss it as entertainment, but it has literary value which can withstand the years.

Regarding atheism, even if Kamal doesn’t include it on purpose, it is natural for it to find its way into his writings, because it is a belief that influences his thinking.

Another subtle message that I found in Thevar Magan was in the climax scene again. After killing Mayan, Sakthi walks off carrying the heavy sickle on his shoulders. He could have dropped it and walked, but he didn’t. Of course, he wasn’t in a state to realise exactly what he was doing. But the way the shot is structured, it reminds one of Jesus walking with the cross. In a way, Sakthi bears the cross for the deeds of his people.

Kris: I feel the metaphors in Hey Ram are more obvious.

Thilak: ‘Sakthivel’ is a name which he used in Nammavar and Sathi Leelavathi too. It is said to be in honour of his friend, RC Sakthi, the director.

1.the names - in Indian metaphysics, or the yogic system, Sakthi is a positive force referring to , and Mayan refers to one of the two negative forces MAYA (the other being KAALA, or KALAN) - KALA and MAYA are believed to exert all the negative influences on one’s mind, while SAKTHI helps overcome the same!

Kamal repeatedly says he is an atheist, but if he is, then, he is a VERY well-informed/read/knowledgeable atheist!

2. the fight between the two families has shades of Mahabharata’s fight between the cousins, Pandavas and Kauravas, though this is not implied.

3. Fighting for a piece of land - doesnt it sound very close to what is happening in the Middle-east between Jews and the Arabs(Palestinians) ?

(a) like Shakthi and Mayan, the Jews and Arabs are related as well! in fact they both come from the same semitic tribe!

(b) like how the Jews and Arabs are fighting over a temple, the trouble begins in Devar magan storyline, when Kamal enters the temple! read the following:

“Palestinian violence erupted on September 28, 2000, triggered by a visit of Ariel Sharon to the Temple mount in Jerusalem. This location, called the Haram as Sharif in Arabic, is also the site of the Al-Aqsa mosque, holy to Muslims. False rumors spread that Sharon had entered the mosque, helping to fan the unrest. The US called a summit conference in Sharm-El Sheikh in October, in order to bring about an end to the violence. Both sides vowed to put an end to the bloodshed and return to negotiations. At the conference, it was also agreed to set up a US led investigative committee that would report on the causes of the violence and make recommendations to the UN. This eventually resulted in the Mitchell Report. Shortly thereafter, however, Arab leaders and Yasser Arafat met in an extraordinary Arab League Summit in Cairo, and issued a belligerent communique praising the Intifada and calling for an international investigative commission rather than the one agreed upon in Sharm El Sheikh. About two weeks later a suicide bombing in Jerusalem put an end to the truce”

The similarities are startling!

in one shot, Kamal the genius has made subtle references to the West Asia problem as well!

Reading this elements, kamal mentions just in One line, about these 5-elements in Virumaandi, just after his appathaa’s death scene…

Included snapshots really made this post more interesting.

Hope to contribute something, in coming days

the climax reminds u jesus carrying the cross, well, when i see (young)kamal himself doing Jesus role, in the movie Annai Velankanni, i see the ‘+’ shaped cross as alphabet ‘T’ decipting ‘T’amil Cenima…he carries the whole Tamil Filmdom on his shoulders happily with so much pain!! Or is it too much imagination?!?!

Once again, well done PR. Hope to read more of your work soon.

PS: Do us all a favour and write a movie!

MRT: Interesting analogies. That reminds me that I need to post about Kamal’s article on Al-aqsa. And yes, Kamal is definitely a well-informed atheist.

Sakala: Your imagination, though it went a bit too far, was interesting nevertheless…:-)

Didn’t know Sakthivel was actually a tribute to RC Sakthi.
Sakthivel(u) is Kamal’s name in Nayagan too (mentioned only in the last scene with his namesake grandson.

//He could have dropped it and walked, but he didn’t. Of course, he wasn’t in a state to realise exactly what he was doing. But the way the shot is structured, it reminds one of Jesus walking with the cross.//
Lovely ! Actually Thilak had a pic of that too. In fact he puts it in words too when he tells Esakki :’Edthukkittadhellam pOdhumdA” and walks off with the disproportionately large sickle (reminding me of the unwieldy sword held by Kikuchiyo, the 7th Samurai in Seven Samurai - by one of Kamal’s favourite filmmakers: Akira Kurosawa)

Very interesting links Bala, particularly the second one.

Thilak, no idea about the names. MRT’s reading of Mayan and Sakthi are pretty interesting. But otherwise the names do not seem to stand out here (unlike his other films)

Kumar, that was a beautiful part about the final showdown.Credit for the great pics go to Thilak. Perhaps the spectator God strengthens MRT’s Mahabaratha connex.My favourite connex is the more obvious map to Godfather.Sometime else.

I have always wondered why it was so windy during the final scnes of the movie. I wonder if any meteorological evidence can be provided for such occurrences in non-seaside rural areas in Tamil Nadu. This seems to answer some of those issues.

I believe the entire silambam sequence has an undercurrent of associating violence to the male pre-occupation with his sexual identity. This theme also finds its way into Hey Raam. Wonder if similar themes are seen in Virumaandi? Anyone?

The silambam sequence is just extremely well done. Sakthi is shown to be easily worked up to defend his ‘pride’ when taunting comments are made, particularly about his ‘woman’. This immediacy between sexual affirmation and bravery (bravado) is primitive as it gets. Scratching the surface of Sakthi is shown to be very similar to what he claims he is not.(Another instance is when his uncle questions his “identity” in the panchAyat.)

Peria ThEvar:”indha kAttumirANdip paya koottathule ‘ngoppanum
oruthan dhEin ngradha maRanthuraatha”
Sakthi: appidi paarthaa naanum oruthan thaan ‘ya…..aanaa adhai ninaichu perumaip pada mudiyala

If the scene that justifies the title, it is actually the silambam sequence that provides the rich meaning(s) to the title.

raising interesting questions about identity and the influence (or the apparent lack of it) of education and exposure on someone’s personality. As a side note: Ilayaraja’s BGM is just awesome in the silambam scene. He is pretty much a co-writer !

Virumaandi is all about misplaced bravado (remember the original title ). But the setting and characters do away with any need to be subtle about being ‘primitive’. The PanchAyat scene exchanges bear that out. The scene itself ends with Virumaandi getting violent when there is an insult to KothAlan’s wife !

1. The BGM for the slow motion scene post Peria Thevar’s death.
2. The purposeful silence through the entire of the dialog right up until Peria thevar catches a hold of Sakthi’s collar.
3. The intro BGM when Sakthi and Banu exit the car when they arrive for the first time - In the words of Senbaga Pandian “Athukke Aayiram pon kodukalaam!”

There is also another instance of a cyclical nature that indicates Sakthi’s transformation. The “modern” Sakthivel kisses Banu when he sends her off the first time (its done pretty quickly). But when he sending her off the second time he leaves abruptly and Banu kisses him, maybe in the hope of finding the old Sakthi, bu he isn’t there.

Speaking of Virumaandi there is an interview that Kamal gave on Astro Vaanavil (malaysia - I caught it on Youtube), where he speaks abt the ecological ills of digging way to deep in search of a receding water table. I thought that was interesting while noting how I completely missed that point while watching the movie.