Editor’s Note:
After giving “outside support” for a very long time, HAL debuts as an author on AllThingsKamal.info. A different kind of post — hope all of you enjoy. In the Kamal A2Z series, we move onto ‘C’ in a couple of days…

Avvai Shanmughi is one of the underrated comedies from Crazy-Kamal combo. K.S. Ravikumar’s first with Kamal. Which was to be followed by Thenali, a more slapstick humour and successful film, then Panchathanthiram with a taut script of events laced with verbal humour, and the much anticipated magnum opus, Dasavatharam.

Avvai Shammughi has an interesting premise, inspired by Mrs. Doubtfire, garnished and served in Indian platter. Not to sound hyperbolic — frankly the narrative is chalk and cheese, and the execution is much better in Tamil version. The film opens with Kamal’s monologue “Avvai T.K. Shanmugham avargal-ku idhu paadhai kaanikai“, the film is dedicated to T.K. Shanmugham (Kappalotiya Thamizhan, Ratha Paasam), Kamal’s mentor who was a famous theatre artist. The film is a tribute to Shamugham’s various female performances on stage.

It would suffice to say that his mentor Shamugham would have been proud with Kamal’s near-perfect portrayal of a pseudo-Maami, Pandian’s disguised act as Avvai Shanmughi - a brahmin granny as a nanny. The body language, the dialect and the expressions here are top-notch, making one wonder how he does it through layers of make-up and get-up where likes of Eddie murphy just fail(ed), or just falls short of perfection like Robin Williams. Kamal treads a fine line of balance as Pandian himself wouldn’t be completely versed on Brahmin etiquettes and behaviour, the ‘caricature’ effect that Pandian brings as Shanmughi is justified and perfect.

While Virumandi deals on the nihilism of marriage in a darker realistic paradigm, Mouli’s Pammal K Sambandham is all about ‘marriage’ in a more banter-like narrative, KSR’s Panchathanthiram is a roller-coaster ride of ‘marriage’ and Sathi Leelavathy is about adultery and a disrupted relationship, with the protagonist giving her best to save the marriage. Here we have two people who love and marry, but then arises the misfit of the classes, the rich Janaki (played by Meena) who could not lead a bourgeois married life with an assistant dance master (as she says, a “koothaadi” — Kamal cuts back with statements like “Natrajar” is a koothadi, the lawyer is a vaayaadi)..

Unlike PKS where Kamal plays an innocent stuntman (his only other role of a direct worker in the industry), tricked by Simran’s scheme for a more selfish purpose and a different reason. It’s quite the opposite here, with Kamal pulling his ‘act’ to be with his daughter, named Bharathi, after the great poet himself. The deceit here arises out of loneliness and love for his family. Then starts the fable.

For its theme, the film maintains the humour with no homosexuality or no sexist remarks. That’s a remarkable achievement in itself.

What’s with a Kamal comedy without Chaplin reference, Deva’s score here heavily lifts from Chaplin’s theme. The memorable piece that we associate with Chaplin certainly lifts the mood of the scenes. With Chaplinesque collage moments, from the daily routine of Pandian to Shanmughi to Pandian again, or the quick snippets of Pandian/Shanmughi dressing or undressing. Kamal’s gestural sequences have always been an indirect tribute to Chaplin.

And assumed identity? Pandian-Shanmughi aside, there’s another inclusion in Pandian’s friend Bhai (played by Nasser), a chef becoming a mute Iyer cook (hence avoiding the ‘accent’ misfit). There is an hilarious moment when when he blabbers, and it’s assumed to be ‘gothra‘. (Kamal, as always, brings a slight dose of atheism at places, in a more subdued way here, of course.)

Mix-up of characters? Shanmughi has different husbands at different times. She creates a fictional one out of compulsion to escape from Vishwanathan Iyer’s crush (Ungalukku oru Chellamaa illaiya, adhu madhiri ennaku oru Chellappaa irukkaar). That is followed by a spoof of a yesteryear tragic song symbolizing ‘love-failure’ (with black an white transition in video), from an old Gemini Ganesan starrer, Kalyana Parisu. [The song soulfully rendered by A.M.Raaja is “Kaadhalile tholviyutraan“ — there is a female version too.] The once poignant nostalgic lines, “kaadhalilE tholvi yutraan kaaLai oruvan kadantha pinnE amaithi engu peruvaan”, used in a much similar context, offers a comical moment here.

Shanmughi’s husband is cyclic with instinctive lies from Pandian / Shanmughi: For Mudhaliyar (the landlord, played by Manivannan), it’s Sethuraman Iyer (Delhi Ganesh). In a well-conceived funny moment (reminiscent to Ganesh-Kamal-Lakshmi in MMKR), here we see Ganesh-Manivannan-Kamal:

Pandian: Shanmughi oda purushaen Sethuraman Iyer thirumba vandhutaaru...
Mudhaliyar: Ayyo nee anniku Vishwanathan iyer-nu thaane sonna…
Pandian: Oh adhayum sollitaenaa! Rendu pEr..
Mudhaliyar: Two purushanaa?
Pandian: Rendu pEr, Sethurama-Viswanatha Iyer-nu neelama vechutanga…
Mudhaliyar: Adha suruki, Sethuraman…neenga nambula parunga..irunga…(to Sethuraman iyer) Vishwanathan Iyer, Sethuraman Iyer..rendu perayum* ennaku theriyum illa?

* ‘pErayum‘ is cleverly used as a pun here, as this would mean a ‘name’ of person or as the person. In MMKR, Kamal and Delhi both use ‘adhu’, one referring the Bangalore trip, the other about intimate romance — not to forget the hilarious ‘Nadodi Mannan‘ reference.

Sethuraman Iyer: Unakku theriyaadadha Pandia..kalyanathuku appuram pirichu vechadhu thappu thaan. Adhulla enakku udanpaadu kedaiyadhu…
Pandian: Podhum podhum…kelvi ketta mattum thaan badhil sollanum…(to Mudhaliyar) Podhuma mudalyar?
[Deva uses the Mudhal Mariyaadhai ‘kuyil’ sound for Manivannan in a hilarious fashion.]

For Sethuraman Iyer, it’s Mudhaliyar, who says, “Chellappaa Iyer thaane sonna?”, for which Pandian cooks up “Chellappaa Iyer thaan manam udanju, Mudhaliyar-a convert aytaaru“.

Then in jewellery shop, the drunkard Joseph (Nagesh) becomes Chellappa Iyer / Mudhaliyar, Shanmughi’s fictional husband to Gemini. The cycle ends with Pandian being Shanmughi’s another interest. Rip-roaring word-play to guide throughout…

Or simple gestural humour…

Or the improvisation when Shanmughi improvises a Tabu song “Ruk ruk ruk” (from Vijaypath), to Carnatic fusion, serving the purpose of the occasion, as well as lightening up his kid. Incidentally, Tabu plays Janaki in the remake, Chachi 420.

Like the famous Apoorva Sagodharargal complicated mechanism, here we have a setup to fool Mudhaliyar and Heera with a pedestal fan, pulley, hook and a mug, to simulate Shanmughi bathing inside the bathroom.

The other characters: Heera’s character, an assistant to Pandian, and in a formulaic way, has a crush on him. However, she isn’t distasteful so to speak of. I guess she is the Madras progressive lady here as against the traditional “iyer aathu ponnu” in Meena, one has to look at her short exchange with Mudhaliyar (”Yov, ‘na?“, LOL). Shanmughi also asks her in his first meet in disguise,

Sholay anybody? There is another shorter character (Kamal’s films often has memorable ones) in studio-worker Subburaj:

Pandian: Enna Subburaj-u, pillayar enga podhu?
Subburaj:Idhu ‘pullayar’* illa, ‘ganpathi’, Ezhaam number floor-la Indi padam sooting…
*(Madras variant of ‘pillayar’)
Pandian: Yaarudhu?
Subburaj: Adhu inna* pEru adhu? Maruti biscuit-a illa discuit-a, avangathaan…
*(not ‘enna’, this is Madras improvisation)
Pandian: Yov! Madhuri Dixit-ya, Maruti, Ambassador-nu..

Then there is a very funny physical fight in the market with Kanal Kannan.

And yeah…

While Kamal also shows the Tamil film industry, where the hero (Ramesh Arvind in a short cameo) romances with the heroine, while the dance masters simulate a step (much like the weak-hero spoof in PKS). Or, the touch-up to an artist by the make-up man. Kamal teaching the heroine to exaggerate her bosoms in a song. A satirical take on Tamil film’s dance-song routine…

Or the play of words (verbose)…

“Illai-nu sonna, naan sonnadhu nijam ayidum, nee sonnadhu poi ayidumE” — from Shanmughi to Janaki.
“Vishwanathan ponna kalyana pannadhunaala, yEn ponnu vishwanathan iyer pEthi aydichu, Vishwanathan pEthi, adhoda amma idhu”- - from Pandian to dance master.
“Avaru vandhu “joot” solvaru, apram thaan adikanum enna? Pechu vartha nadakum bodhu, vanmurai koodadhu…” — Sethuraman Iyer to the mob.

Finally the chase? The film ends with a ‘chase’, like other Kamal comedies. The husband (in disguise) chases the wife. It’s either a symbolic motif to represent the ‘chasing each other’ in a cultural / metaphorical sense, or just a recurrent tribute to The Circus. I would like to believe there is an implication here, from what we know of the filmmaker.

While we await Kamal-KSR’s Dasavatharam, here’s a film from their combo to liven up.