Have you ever experienced a feeling where, the thought of something, some seemingly insignificant thing in your past; could be the memory of a regular day, a page from a book, or even the colour of the sky, made you smile? It’s almost a feeling that exists அரிந்தும் அறியாமலும் (Arinthum Ariyaamalum — a little consciously, and a little subconsciously). For me, it is this very same movie that came out in 2005.
I hadn’t watched it in the theatres, I probably wasn’t even aware of it’s existence in 2005. One day, much later, it was school break and I was flicking through different channels. I finally found a movie I hadn’t watched (which was a very big deal) and decided to catch it.
Perhaps the reason why it makes me feel so warm and familiar inside is because it combines so many genre tropes into one, never feeling ashamed to do so. Some of these include ‘the good don-bad police’, ‘the naive charming village boy’, ‘tomboy girl falls for naive boy’ etc. But at least according to me, the movie is the right combination of these and so I excuse all of them. The problem, in the form of the bad cop, only comes across as a breeze. A mere afterthought, in the presence of a father yearning for his new found son’s love. A father caught up in the mafia world, which Dir Vishnuvardhan is very careful not to get into the depths of. He never shows Adinarayanan (the father, played effortlessly by Prakash Raj) kill or intentionally hurt someone. All we get is an acknowledgement of the fact that he is a part of a very violent world. Because had he brought in those moral gray zones, we wouldn’t have felt sympathy when Adi almost begs his son to accept him as his father. Instead, we get the rowdy Kutty (Arya, who almost plays himself with his loose attitude) who does all the violence. But the movie forgives all of this, because he is THE older brother. He tries to coddle his new found young brother and one of the most epic dialogues that make me love Kutty is when he brings gifts for his brother Sathya and says:
“Fridge. Washing Machine. TV. Kutty. எல்லாம் உனக்கு தான் (All for you)”
Usually, or especially during those times, watching an original Tamil movie that was not about one man fighting all odds to win over an enemy or a girl, was rare. Maybe this movie was an indicator, among others that times were changing. And Vishnuvardhan’s early movies like Pattiyal and Sarvam, also had 2 very familiar ingredients in very unfamiliar contexts and proportions: Love, and Violence. Is that why Karan Johar sought him out to direct Shershaah? I don’t know, but Shershaah has only about 20% of the magic of this dichotomy that existed in these 3 movies. The Love-Violence trilogy, if you will. I don’t remember much of the details of Sarvam and Pattiyal, just the outlines. And I was writing this, I just realized a random fact that heroines in all of these 3 were called Sandhya. Maybe that also held my attention as I watched all 3 on TV.
The other thing about it is, if I had suddenly discovered I had a father who was a don, but also a teddy bear at heart (especially when dealing with me), I would have asked logic to fuck itself and hugged him tight, flexing this fact to all my friends the very next day. It’s that same weirdly satisfying feeling I get while watching another movie, Arunachalam. If, (again, what a coincidence!) through a new found father, I had inherited crores of rupees under the condition that if I spent them I will get more, like Hello? Dir Sundar C? Are you even listening to yourself? I would have rented 7 different private jets and chosen one for each day of the week. Let’s begin there. It’s the same feeling I get with Arinthum Ariyaamalum, albeit in smaller amounts. Adinarayanan wasn’t as rich as I’d like new found fathers to be. :(
Yuvan Shankar Raja, the reason I love music as much as I do, was at his peak. And he never was, and still isn’t known to pick his ‘better tunes’ and give it to a high budget film. So despite being a movie with 2 almost new faced heroes, Yuvan gives what I would argue as one of his top 5 albums ever. In that magical voice, he lets out,
ஏன் என் மனம் எம்பி குதித்துதான், கடலும் அலைகளும் தாண்டுதோ
It’s not objectively a GREAT movie. At best, it deals with emotions in the right manner and has GREAT music. But screw objectivity, because I am analyzing this movie as I choose to, a little consciously, and a little subconsciously.
If you’re having one of those days where you need comfort food and comfort TV, and especially if you’re Tamil (sorry :P the thing I’m going to suggest doesn’t exist otherwise), screw over Netflix and go to SUN NXT. Watch KTV Live, probably some random 90’s movie would make you feel like a kid again, safe at home. Protected from the outside world. Might even be a Vikraman movie, which made us 90s kids believe in happy endings and one-song-successes. Or watch Arinthum Ariyaamalum.
