It’s difficult to write about something that has been analysed, written and talked about so much, even on this blog. But when the point of discussion is Hey Ram, there is always something new to say. In that belief, here goes my DVD-commentary-like post, best consumed alongside a repeat viewing of the classic. [Now, that’s a good excuse for not properly structuring this post!]

The movie begins with a dedication to Kamal’s mentor, Ananthu: “Thank you for directing me towards this direction”. Their relationship began while both worked under K Balachander, with Ananthu exposing Kamal to things like world cinema. Also, Hey Ram was supposed to be Kamal’s formal foray into direction, which was not to be. Anyway, we can consider it as the first movie Kamal wanted to put his stamp officially on.

In the Hindi version of the movie, notice the name of the movie appear in English last, after Hindi and Urdu. Kamal defies convention as always, while also granting importance to India’s own languages.

As I have mentioned a few times before, Kamal is to be treated as a creator whose chosen medium happens to be film. This is yet again symbolised in the title song. Kamal gives vent to his own agony and raises his (own) voice for sanity and peace, aptly in his own words (in Tamil). That pretty much summarises the objective of the movie.

In addition to donning the new hat of lyricist (to two of the songs), Kamal handles various usual departments including choreography. While his skill at screenplay has been proven in many other movies, this one features the Page-o-Minute technique — one minute on screen being written on exactly one page. Ironically, the script didn’t hold the attention of most movie-goers, with its multilingual dialogues.

Further on the technical side, this was the movie that brought back sync sound (dialogues recorded on the spot instead of being dubbed later). Of course, the voices for a few actors were dubbed. But you would notice that most actors remained unchanged for both languages of the movie. They were meticulously chosen for their background and also their ability to speak in either language.

Shah Rukh Khan was a big draw in the movie. Kamal openly admitted that: “Ask the distributors in North India what Shah Rukh means”. Among the movies I have watched, I’d rate this performance of his next only to Swades. Kudos for his effort in speaking Tamil too (unlike the recent buffoonery in Om Shanti Om).

Another person who had a great outing was Saurabh Shukla. More known for his dialogue-writing skills till then, he touched everyone’s hearts here.

A few gems in the screenplay are on display during the Kamal-Rani scenes:

• Aparna uses a pistol with no bullets to protect herself from potential intruders. Saket first makes fun of it, but it comes to his use later when he is held captive by the Muslim gang.
• While getting up from the bed, Aparna asks Saket to not disturb the mark-sheets. “Okay teacher”, he says. This is just one of the few references to her profession, without actually having a scene to establish it.
• After he ties the thaali (mangalsutra), he asks for some symbol for himself. She takes one of her toe-rings (metti) and gives it to him to use as a ring. Much later, when he goes to see Mythili and she touches his feet, he raises his hands to bless her and notices that ring, bringing back memories of his first wife.

Bollywood’s most-loved villain, Amjad Khan (also the name of Shah Rukh’s character) had a connection with this movie. His son, Shadab memorably played Altaf, the tailor in Calcutta who is responsible for Aparna’s rape and murder. Amjad Khan featured in Kamal’s Vikram one and half decades earlier.

Speaking of Altaf, Saket the common man very slowly realises the level of Hindu-Muslim tension in the country, culminating in the brutal end of his wife. Saket’s struggle is played out superbly with Rani Mukherjee’s continous screaming in the background.

Rani was at that time very new to the movies, with just the hits of Kuch Kuch Hota Hai and Ghulam behind her. Kamal the director extracted a very mature performance, which she is now known to be capable of, as the reigning queen of Bollywood.

While the director dwarfs Kamal the actor in Hey Ram, the latter’s performance is nevertheless not to be ignored. One image that stands out it is during the night of Saket’s wedding with Mythili — he shivers after pouring water on himself, as he struggles to bury the demons of his past.

Back to the director, a portion of “Nee paartha paarvaikku…” is simply brilliant. As Saket reminisces about Aparna fondly, a sequence of shots shows them both at various places in Calcutta doing a variety of things. It is structured as a few shots, but the camera moving from left to right combined with perfect editing lends to effective screenplay. Every place where Saket sees while roaming has a memory of Aparna.

Breaking the flow again, we need to get to Atul Kulkarni. He was a wonderful ‘discovery’ of Hey Ram. Kamal the actor lets him dominate in the scenes they share together, as per the needs of the script. Kulkarni rightly went onto win the National Award for Best Supporting Actor.

Just as the first twist in the movie, that of Saket’s peaceful life being shattered, the second one too comes up slowly. We are made aware of the Maharaja’s conspiracy to assassinate Gandhi bit by bit, starting from the air-port and ending at a secret location on the occasion of Dussehra. The last portion with Saket in inebriated state is filmed beautifully, with hardly any dialogues. All along, we also figure out the personal motives of the Raja and Abhyankar behind their plot to eliminate Gandhi.

The graphics is possibly a tad overdone overall, though it serves the purpose of projecting Saket’s thoughts.

The usage of Tamil (Saket’s mother-tongue) is effortless even in the Hindi version — be it “Balcony kadhava saathu, Aparna!” when he anxiously shouts out to protect her from the intruders or Hindu hymns in the Chennai episode. Kamal’s knowledge of Hindu and Brahmin traditions are pretty complete. It peaks with his rendition of “Brahmanandam…” when Saket renounces all relations before moving to Delhi.

The story is primarily the journey of one man. But it also travels to all corners of India and even to Pakistan. At every place, the rich cultural diversity of India is masterfully blended into the screenplay.

Though being a ‘period’ subject, the contemporariness is unmistakeable. After the decade of Babri Masjid demolition and Mumbai riots, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had just secured power in India. Warning bells ring in the movie with a reference to Savarkar, the Nazi Swastika morphing into a lotus (BJP’s election symbol). Kamal speaks through his characters at one point: “Religion and politics”, like “sex and violence” is a “pucca commercial combination”! Later in the movie, as a sign of things to come in the future of India, we witness corruption at Gandhi’s place itself.

Back to the movie, it thrives on sutblety and metaphors. One example is the Raja putting the mad / useless horse to death, with the rest of the horses in the stable being blind-folded. The man is ruthless in pursuing his objective and getting rid of useless items on his way. At the same time, he is careful to keep his other subjects unaware of his nature. At another juncture, when Abhyankar asks Saket to promise that he will perform the assigned task unmindful of his relations, he just turns to the left with sad eyes, the director merely indicating to us that his heart is hesitant to give up Mythili.

The protagonist of the movie is ordinary like any of us. As much as he tries to hide it from himself, he remains a confused man. Even in the end, when he argues with Amjad, he cries and convinces himself that Gandhi is the root cause, even as he struggles to maintain that belief. At the same time, the character also has a lot of the real-life Kamal. He himself said in an interview, sometime ago, that the movie was born out of the question “What would have I done had I been there?”.

The hotel in Delhi where Saket stays is the very place where Nathuram Godse stayed. There is a small reference to it in the movie too. Another interesting tidbit is that Kamal stayed in the same hotel while writing the script, to help him get into the head of Gandhi’s assassin.

The final part of the movie features an interesting character, Govardhan, played by Gollapudi Maruthi Rao. He had a memorable role in Kamal’s Swathi Muthyam (Sipikkul Muthu) too.

Naseer’s role as Gandhi was probably a dream-come-true for him. He was one of the actors who unsuccessfully screen-tested for the lead role in the 1982 biopic by Richard Attenborough.

Throughout the movie, Kamal effectively uses small facts to make his point — Jinnah’s daughter staying back in India, Rama coming through Khyber Pass (reference to Aryan theory), Mountbatten announcing that Gandhi was killed by a Hindu and so on.

As much as I try to detach myself from my sixth viewing of the movie, I get drawn in and forget to note down points for this post. Ultimately, the movie will remain to me, more than anything else, a textbook in film-making.

[Image courtesy: Philip Lutgendorf, University of Iowa]

Editor’s Note:

Here we have yet another new author, Zero. Please welcome!

On the Kamal A2Z series, we have ‘G’ this fortnight. If anyone wants to reminisce about Guru or Geraftaar, e-mail your entries! The next fortnight, we’ll move onto ‘H’ for Hey Ram; but let’s not forget Hare Radha Hare Krishna too.

A 2-minute long tracking shot takes us through a lower-end brothel in Hyderabad and ends showing Guna on the terrace (shot from below with ‘godly’ respect), standing on one leg. It is a Pournami (full moon day) and Guna is awaiting the arrival of Abhirami. He sees a bride going through the Jaanavaasa ceremony and mistakes her for Abhirami.

So starts Guna, one of the best films to have come out of Tamil Cinema in the last decade. This was the first of the twin efforts (the other being the great Mahanadhi) of Kamal Haasan with his friend Santhana Bharathi wielding the megaphone. Kamal packs in a superb team (Venu for cinematography, Balakumaran for dialogues, and of course Raaja). Yes, it is not a flawless film. But, it is the kind of film that stays on in your mind.

The film looks at this man Guna, with unconditional sympathy; how he is doomed in this big bad world; and in that sense, it is a cynical film. Guna is a madman (an obsessional psychoneurotic) who is told, by a fellow asylum-inmate (Ananthu), that Abhirami (the Goddess) will marry him on a full moon day and will take him out of all his miseries. There is this sense of godliness attributed to him in the movie — he can unlock anything like cars, safes etc. and help his uncle in his thefts. He wants to be cleansed (in the famous scene Guna explaining to the doctor about how Abhirami would ‘cleanse’ him). He unconditionally believes that he is God, and that only Abhirami can cleanse him. He believes in uniting with Abhirami, the Goddess (an imaginatory sequence shows the formation of the Lingam). So he kidnaps her; takes her along with him to a deserted church on top of a hill and explains his love for her, and their destiny.

The screenplay of the film – written by Saab John, a Kamal Haasan associate who also wrote Chanakyan and played the role of Narasimhan is Kuruthippunal) is of the highest standards as far as Tamil Cinema goes. It’s expertly woven, richly textured, and is subtle and doesn’t scream for our attention. Not to forget the insightful and yet realistic dialogues by Balakumaran. Ilaiyaraaja gives a great background score (most of the BGM pieces during chase sequences are liberally borrowed from Kamal Haasan’s two earlier flicks Aboorva Sagodharargal and MMKR). Kamal Haasan comes up with a truly wonderful performance, with the rest of the cast chipping in accordingly.

What is striking is that the film doesn’t melodramatize the state of Guna. It doesn’t put him in fake glory. It looks at him with a detached sympathy. Guna is after all, a madman and it never bats an eyelid to put forth the fact to us. He says he is in love with Abhirami and that she can never go leaving him behind. But, he still ties her giving a new reason each time.

Apart from this, the movie also works as a traditional thriller with an (albeit heavily stereo-typed) villain, CBI in chase, and lots of money at stake. As in every other KH film, the subtle humour is unmissable.

Looking at the mythological connections of the story, the key point in the film is how the usual assumed gender roles are reversed here. The mythology has this story of Parvathi, the Goddess, who takes human form because of a curse and eventually re-unites with Lord Shiva. We also have other examples like Meera and Aandaal. In Guna, the roles are reversed. It’s Guna who has taken an earthly form and yearning to unite with Abhirami. This is apparent in many scenes like the following:

1. Guna tying the thaali around his neck.
2. Guna looking reverently at ‘his’ thaali after Abhirami walks out of the car hanging at the edge of a mountain.
3. Guna waiting for Abhirami to complete her meal.
4. Or when Abhirami kisses Guna.

The story also owes the main thread of obsession towards the Goddess to the story of Abhirama Bhattar, who wrote Abhirami Anthathi. In a beautiful sequence, Rohini and Guna playfully pretend to be bees and buzz around in air (ending with the bees ‘kissing’ each other), and Abhirami asks Guna to tie the thaali (mangalsutra), Guna says they have to wait till Pournami. But, she says, “Nila aagasuthalaiya irukku? Manasula irukku. Manasu thaan nila. Neranja naal” (”Is the moon in the sky? It’s in the heart. The heart is the moon. Filled (?) day”)! Apart from serving as the point of culmination of their love, it also directly refers to the mythology itself. In the story of Abhirama Bhattar, Abhirami turns an Amavasai (new moon day) into a Pournami by throwing her ear-ring into the sky. Guna recollects the mythological incident, and says, “Aamaam! Abhirami sonna Pournami thaan” (”Yes! If Abhiram says, it is a full moon day”)!

And when the movie ends (with that divine and strangely soothing theme playing in the background), we see the deserted church in the bird’s eye view and the glowing moon behind it. It is the next Pournami (thus completing the cycle) and Guna has joined hands with his Abhirami. Or has he?

[Original post]

Editor’s Note: In the fortnight of ‘F’, we fall back on ‘A’ to ‘E’…

It’s good to remember a landmark of a movie and a time when Kamal was just about half his present age. He was introduced to Bollywood formally and what a mark he made! Of course, the role was a tailor-made launch vehicle, under the man who had mentored Kamal and let him unleash his extraordinary range of talents.

Kamal was already well-established and was on the verge of superstardom down South, but it was only then that he was really stepping across the Vindhyas. His character was relatively simple and the role of a South Indian guy learning Hindi suited him very well. In one of the last scenes, he speaks various dialects of Hindi to impress his in-laws. In turn, he must have made an everlasting impression on the Hindi-speaking audience too. Kamal had a short run in Hindi, tasting box-office success in a few masala capers.

The movie was a huge success everywhere and one of the top grossers of that year. The Tamil audience too were thrilled to see their man conquer the North and lapped up the movie. The term “Ek Duuje Ke Liye” (made for each other) is still used in Tamil movies, with or without proper meaning. I remember my aunt carrying a bright handbag with the title of the movie on it — a clear sign of what kind of a hit the movie was even in Chennai.

The movie’s success was not really a fluke. It was the remake of a mammoth Telugu hit, Maro Charitra, involving many of the same cast and crew. Credit should go to the team for adapting it very well when they took it to Hindi.

The man who led them was veteran producer LV Prasad. Kamal remains grateful to him till date, taking up Vasool Raja MBBS only since his production company was involved. We also remember Prasad featuring in a memorable role in Kamal’s 100th movie, Raajapaarvai, that released the same year.

The music of the movie was a big draw too, with classic hits by the combination of Laxmikant-Pyarelal and Anand Bakshi, rendered primarily by the duo of Lata Mangeshkar and SP Balasubramaniam. SPB had a great debut too, going onto win a National Award and being fondly remembered when he returned for Maine Pyaar Kiya.

The movie was just a tragic love story, but created impact in every aspect. K Balachander toned down his rebellious streak and possibly accomplished more than what he set out to do.

Ellam Inba Mayam, made in 1981 (story, dialogues and lyrics: Panju Arunachalam) was in many ways a precursor to Kamal’s later movies. He dons a multi-character role, speaks different dialects and above all, explores a full-fledged light-hearted comedy for probably the first time. G. Rangarajan, the director, would go on to make another comedy Meendum Kokila with Kamal the same year and Maharasan a decade later. The setting and spirit of “Solla solla..” song (a perfect spoof of ‘disco’ songs of the period, resurrected on YouTube) was taken further in the evergreen “Ilamai itho itho…” in Sakalakala Vallavan, a year later.

The movie follows a hackneyed script but the Kamal takes the situational comedy to a level where we can forget the mindlessness of it all. In fact, the movie seems to have been made with the singular objective of showcasing Kamal’s acting talents with no regard to logic. His scenes with YG Mahendran are some of the best of the period, in terms of comic timing. Two examples: Kamal and YGM have just arrived at Madras, and are visiting the Gandhi statue at the Marina beach. As they remove their slippers and move to the statue, YGM remarks “Aasirvaadham vangippom. Yengayo avasarama poraru pola irukku..” (Let’s get his blessings. He seems to be in a hurry to go somewhere.). Later, when a prospective employer inquires about their competency, Mahendran explains, “Nalla saapiduvom“. The man then demands, “Appuram?”, to which Kamal replies without batting an eyelid, “Kai kazhuviduvom…” (the beauty will be lost in translation) – proving again what it takes to transform an ordinary script into an engaging act.

The Charlie Chaplin influence on Kamal is seen in this one too – probably for the first time on screen. The scene where Kamal and YGM dine at a local restaurant Chaplinesque to the core, especially the sequence where Kamal cannot stop his hiccups. The way he walks in the Basavappa character is again reminiscent of Chaplin’s films.

There are many elements of the village bumpkin character which Kamal seems to have retained in Kameshwaran of MMKR. The naivety, the walk, the awkwardness are all trademark Kameshwaran. Also of note is that for a typical masala movie, with villain and fights intact, there is no gore or even a single murder, much like Michael Madana Kama Rajan. Incidentally, both movies were produced by Panju Arunachalam’s P. A. Arts. Ellam Inba Mayam may not be one of Kamal’s best; but looking back, I am sure it has influenced his career path and his disposition to full-fledged comedies.

Editor’s Note: We’ll continue with ‘E’ for a fortnight as usual. But the next letter is ‘F’, which unfortunately has no movies. So, let’s catch up on what was left out from ‘A’ to ‘E’ during that time. Send in your entries!

Editor’s Note: Okay, the purists might say that the spelling should actually be “Thevar Magan”. But we’re strapped for movies — will you kindly excuse? And is anyone ready to quench our thirst for Daisy, Donga Dora or Dekha Pyar Tumhara?

Hmm, what do I write about a landmark movie that has been analysed in umpteen ways, even on this very blog? I think I’ll look back at the movie, the times and some interesting tidbits.

• Few shots come to mind when I think of Devar Magan. One of them that is stuck permanently is from the climax. Kamal carries the mega-sickle on his shoulders and walks down, like Jesus with the cross. At that instant, I saw Kamal disappear and the character take over completely. But my wish for a National Award didn’t come true. There were 6 others for the movie though.
• The movie was talked about for Sivaji Ganesan coming together with his on-screen successor, Kamal. The chemistry was simply memorable. Kamal seemed to have almost reproduced their real-life relationship onto the reel. Sivaji remarked after the movie’s release that Kamal had just asked him to be himself to play that character.
• When the movie was being shot, Devi, the Tamil magazine had covered it. It featured sound bytes from Sivaji mainly. To one of the questions, he had said that Kamal was still young and could continue acting for another 15 years. The year was 1992.
• In my mind, this was Sivaji’s best performance along with Mudhal Mariyadhai. He famously refused the Special Jury National Award, as he hadn’t been recognised in all the years.
• Traces of The Godfather are evident — the local chieftain, the younger son being preferred to take over and so on. Kamal later said that it was indeed a tribute. It was actually a bet amongst friends on who would do the Hollywood classic in Tamil first. Mani Ratnam won with Nayakan, 5 years earlier.
• Revathi took over the role of Panjavarnam that Meena turned down due to lack of dates. Though a tad old for that role, she went on to add another feather in her cap in the form of a National Award.
• Vadivelu possibly never did a role like this before or after Devar Magan — sheer casting genius.
• The songs were very situational and not all of them became big hits. But “Inji iduppazhagaa…” rocked and fetched a National Award for S Janaki.
• When the movie became a huge success, Kamal underplayed it by saying that it was just a ‘rehearsal’ for Marudhanayagam. We’re still waiting for the real thing.

Editor’s Note: While it may not be a good idea to have the Hindi re-make follow the Tamil original, we hope that readers will understand that we are handicapped by the limited number of movies available for ‘C’. Anyone ready to do Chanakyan?

Kamal does not really favour re-makes though he has featured in quite a few on either side of the Vindhyas. Unlike many of his other movies, he quickly took Avvai Shanmughi Northwards. After a public spat with the designated director, Shantanu Sheorey, he took over the reins hesitantly, as he had planned a grand launch for himself with Hey Ram. Unlike his other recent ventures, he struck gold with Chachi 420. With back-to-back successes of Hindustani (dubbed from Indian) and this one, “Kamal Hassan” had returned to Bollywood. The movie endured other controversies too including its earlier names “Chikni Chachi” and “Stree 420“.

When I caught the movie on one of the Zee channels, I was a curious Tamilian who wanted to know what Kamal had done with the hit movie when it was ‘translated’ into Hindi. Overall, the movie managed to retain the commercial essence of the original. Crazy Mohan’s witty dialogues were too native and original to emulate though; they came up with stuff much above average. Also, to cater to a wide market, it took on a tinge of vulgarity with a few close-ups of the old lady’s bosom and a bedroom sequence involving the lead pair.

The more obvious difference was the actors. Kamal, of course, reprised his role, now in the avatar of a Marathi brahmin lady, Lakshmi Godbole. He went through his rigorous prosthetic make-up yet again to surprise the new set of audience with his drag act, while managing to do a Bihari with Jaiprakash Paswan. Moving onto other actors, Tabu played the role of Janki — a cake-walk for an actress of her calibre. She provided her own touch to the character, transitioning from a lover to a separated wife. For the key role played by veteran Gemini Ganesan, Kamal went for Amrish Puri. He fared better than he did in Viraasat (re-make of Thevar Magan), but the comic and romantic angle of Gemini was missing. Om Puri played Delhi Ganesh’s role in his own way and came out trumps. Paresh Rawal played the small role of a landlord, showing a glimpse of what he would unleash in several movies in the future. Nasser repeated his role in Hindi and was just okay. A different girl played the kid adequately while Ayesha Jhulka was nothing much to write about. The real piece of brilliance was bringing Johnny Walker out of retirement. He underplayed the role superbly and brought us back old memories.

The hit combination of Gulzar and Vishal Bharadwaj provided a different kind of music, while maintaining the light nature of the soundtrack. Kamal dared to sing Chachi’s number (”Jaago gori…“)  himself and did well, in the company of Asha Bhonsle. Gulzar also took care of the dialogues.

Looking back, Kamal provided Bollywood a taste of good comedies, which they are still bad at replicating.

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.

by Krish

Cast: Kamal Haasan as Madan, Rajnikanth as Rajni, ‘Cheapriya’, ‘Coconut’ Srinivasan and ‘Major-Blunder-Rajan’
Director: S.P. Muthuraman

This is a write-up on a not much reviewed multi-starrer. Aadu Puli Aattam is not the first movie that comes up in our mind, when we think of Kamal-Rajni starrers of late 70s. This is the aspect which made me sit and watch the movie (besides being a Kamal starrer) on Vijay TV, a week back. I don’t think the movie was commercially successful or critically acclaimed. It might have been an also-ran movie, as there were no big names involved, apart from the two superstars.

The director S.P. Muthuraman wasn’t really popular at that time. Nevertheless, it is not an avoidable one. I would say that APA is more watchable than Ninaithale Inikkum or Alauddinum Arpudha Vilakkum. The first 20 minutes are pretty interesting but the story takes some bizarre turns later and falters. Some parts of the movie are engaging.

Unlike the other films these two acted together, this one is neither a family drama nor a romantic movie. The story seems like it is tailor-made for MGR & Nambiar as there are quite a few stunts scenes, two-timing and some punch dialogues too.

Aadu Puli Aattam (translated in English, ‘The Goat and Tiger Game’) refers to an old chess-like board game played in Tamil Nadu using pebbles. The movie starts with Kamal and Rajini, close associates, playing this game in a bar. When the game is finished, the couple, along with their gang ransack the bar and loot the money.

In brief, this is the story of a young man who dreams of becoming a policeman, but decides to go against the police due to circumstances and heads a gang of thieves. When he comes to know that his associates are much worser than thieves, he joins the police and nabs the criminals.

There are some notable scenes. A prisoner called ‘Bhai’ who is to be hung soon has a blind son. After Bhai is executed, Kamal who does not want the kid to know the truth & tries to act as Bhai by mimicking his voice. Though not a great scene, it must have been new to Tamil cinema during those days. More recently, a Prabhudeva-Karthik movie was entirely based on this concept. Later Kamal tricking one of Rajni’s associates by ‘capturing’ Major turns out to be a nice scene. I especially liked Kamal’s expression when he comes back to Major and unties him.

The bike-car chase between Kamal and Major is also well-shot. Just note the scene when he is shot in his leg. The way he limps is just too natural. No other actor bothers to display the pain and feelings as much as this man. The Sardarji make-up and North Indian accent is a good attempt too. Similarly the climax stunt scene is a well made one featuring Kamal and Rajni in a long drawn fight on a roof top. It is a well picturised stunt scene with very few camera tricks, thanks to Kamal’s agility. He is extremely quick, energetic and dedicated. I could not spot a single shot in which he uses a double (’dupe’). But the same can not be said about Rajnikanth. This whole fight sequence was shot with Rajnikanth’s double and Kamal Haasan. Yes, even in close-up shots you can see Rajni’s double trying hard to cover his face with his palms.

In the second half of the movie, Kamal gets an opportunity to work for the Crime Branch. Kamal, as usual is at ease in these roles. In the investigation scenes I felt, he could have avoided starting all sentences with a ‘Well…’. [In fact all wannabe-Kamals appearing in mimicry shows, never fail to copy this.] From here on, Kamal’s role becomes more James Bond-like working for the police, two-timing Rajni’s associates and finding his hide-outs. In the end, Kamal pushes Rajni from the top of a building, Rajini falls on a bush and loses his eyesight. As expected, the villian mouths the most common dialogue used in a climax…”Naan thirundhitten” (I have turned a new leaf).

The movie has a good number of cliched scenes. The director follows the age-old practice of placing an odd-looking wig on the hero’s head in the flashback (to show him as an ‘innocent’ man!). The flashback scenes are pretty much avoidable (especially Kamal dreaming of his ex-lover, who chases a train in ’slow-motion’ is funny). Thankfully there are only two songs and there isn’t much romance. I guess the Bhai and his son were straight out of some drama troupe as their acting reminded me of early-80s Doordarshan plays (’naadagams‘).

Major Sunderrajan is asked to wear the khaki uniform yet another time. I can imagine the outrageous response he would have received from the audience when he mouthed his famous two-liner, “Naan kandippa seyyaren. I will certainly do it!”…;-) There are some good one-liners for Rajinikanth. Especially “Idhu Rajni style” is stylish, indeed. But the way he says ‘dost’ everytime he meets Kamal is funny. It sounds more like Sivaji Ganesan’s ‘Thambeeeee‘, ‘Ammaaaaa‘…:-). Thengai Sreenivasan gets introduced in a grand manner, as a pipe-smoking Brahmin CID with a double barrel gun. But his role is disappointing. This movie doesn’t have any comedy track, either.

Kamal Haasan is the heart of Aadu Puli Aattam. The entire story is about him — his early life, his lover, shattered dreams, gang of thugs, enlightenment and revenge. For most part of the film, he appears in the hippie-style, which was hugely popular in the late 70s. He looks dashing in the intro scene where he rides a bullet. This role is a cakewalk for this extremely skilled actor and he doesn’t get a chance to showcase his abundant talents in APA.

The scene in which he goes to Rajni’s den and gets a cold welcome is good. Rajni throws a garland on Kamal and calls him an ‘Aadu‘. In turn, Kamal turns back and throws the same garland on air which falls right on Rajni’s neck, and says, “Idhu nanbanukku poatta malai illa“, implying that he is the tiger and Rajini, the goat. Like this there are few promising sequences, but overall, the movie is just average. Music is disappointing (neither MSV not Illayaraja) but photography was pretty good, especially in the opening scene. By the way, this is a black & white movie.

When I watched it, I could relate it to several other films which came later. Kamal’s own Khaki Chattai, a much bigger success and a better entertainer, can be called a remake of APA. More recently, Kireedom and Pokkiri have some scenes resembling this movie.

Editor’s Note:
Krish does a good job of letting us know about a not-so-familiar movie. We have more of ‘A’ since ‘B’ is pretty much done. Next week, we move onto ‘C’. Very few movies, but a couple of popular ones. Send in your entries!

Such little information is available on this movie that I’m just going to put down whatever I know and found out. I tried in vain to rent the DVD too. [But it’s not available here in the Bay Area. Maybe, I’d have had better luck in Bangalore.]

Benkiyalli Aralida Hoovu (the flower that bloomed in fire) still remains one of Kamal’s popular ventures into Kannada cinema. It is the remake of Aval Oru Thodarkathai starring Sujatha, which had Kamal in a supporting role. He acted in the Bengali remake Kabita too.

This 1983 Kannada movie had his real-world niece Suhasini in the lead role, being the only movie in which they acted together. Kamal plays the role of a bus conductor, not the same part he played in the Tamil original. The “Mundhe Banni…” song (with playback by SPB) is still an old favourite.

Anyone knows more? Give us all some details in the Comments section.

Editor’s Note:
Unfortunately, this seems to be the only movie for ‘B’. Or does anyone know some other movie Kamal was atleast associated with and not necessarily acted in? Otherwise, let’s continue with more movies starting with ‘A’ for this fortnight. Send in your entries!

Apoorva Raagangal (more commonly pronounced as ‘Aboorva Raagangal’) was part of the second innings of K Balachander, one among the ’shock-and-shake-up-the-audience’ series of movies (the others being Arangetram, Aval Oru Thodarkathai and Avargal). Kamal featured in all of those, but got possibly his first opportunity as leading man in Tamil with this movie released in 1975.

Barely in his twenties, he stuns the audience with his fearless and mature performance. When one thinks back now, it seems like Balachander actually tapped the rebellious streak and raw energy in Kamal for the role of Prasanna. The intelligence, interest in arts and indifference to societal rules all seem to match with his real-life self. In that sense, Balachander and Kamal were working off each other.

This movie is also known for the debut of Rajnikanth. In the few scenes they have together, Kamal and Rajni are in a way pitted against each other, both being interested in the same woman. Again looking back, the slowly maturing relationship between the two seems to reflect their personal equation in the future superstar era.

But the image of the movie really is from the popular “Adhisaya raagam…” song — Kamal singing away and Srividya looking at him in wonder. Yesudas’s classical voice and Kannadasan’s simple yet meaning-laden lyrics add beauty.

Get more details about the movie from the entries on IMDb and Wikipedia. Kamal reprised this role 9 years later in the Hindi remake, Ek Nai Paheli, with Hema Malini and Raaj Kumar.