Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Kannathil Muttamittal

   There are some films which touch your heart; then there are some which make you ponder but then there are some rare films which stay with you, whose characters remain with you. Kannathil Muttamittal is one such rare film. It is a film about a nine year old girl’s quest to find her biological mother and in the process come to terms with her existence. And this quest leads us the viewer, into the Sri Lanka- LTTE conflict. But Kannathil Muttamital (KM) is not about ethnic conflict that raged in Sri Lanka, but it is about the conflict that this nine year old- Amudha goes through to make sense of her life.

   Like all Mani Ratnam films, KM while having one central theme has multiple layers. While keeping Amudha’s story as the anchor, Mani Ratnam sketches beautifully the various characters in the film and their relationships. For example the brief yet sweet romantic track between Amudha’s father (played by R.Madhavan) and her mother (played by Simran). Or the relationship between Amudha and her mother (Indra, played by Simran) is a lovely relation of (re)discovering the love for each other. Indra does everything for Amudha, her love for is unconditional but then she is hurt when Amudha’s priority becomes the search for her biological mother (played by Nandita Das). Short yet effective scenes delicately bring out this emotional struggle that both (Amudha and Indra) go through.
  
    Then there is R. Madhvan’s character who as a writer observes the entire interplay of emotions that Amudha goes through. He is involved as the father but yet works more as a detached writer looking at his story subject. But then in the last scene this consciously cultivated detachment fades away.
    Mani Ratnam does not take any sides in the Sri Lankan ethnic conflict. Rather he sees the conflict through the eyes of Amudha. KM shows us the human element of any war. It shows us the human cost of the conflict. The sweeping scene of people fleeing their village as it is being bombed (backed by a haunting background song-Vidaiyel Kodal) brings us face to face with the human element of conflict. The sight of an old priest ringing the temple bell incessantly as gun shots and bombs are exploding around him is evocative.
   Or take the scene where Amudha watches a suicide bomber attacking his target; Mani Ratnam does not show us a grand attack scene, he rather makes us see it through Amudha’s eyes.

   KM is by far Mani Ratnam’s finest work as yet (though Iruvar comes very close to it). The cinematography is amazing, from the exuberant shots in the Sundari song to grand shots of the conflict to the close-ups of the Amudha in various sequences. Mani Ratnam conveys a lot through visuals. Watch out for the scene where Amudha comes face to face with LTTE soldier-girls of her age who are trotting rifles. No dialogues, no action; only the play of eyes and silence. This scene somewhere captures the ironies of conflict.



KM has a soulful music by AR Rahman, each song weaves the narrative in an intricate web of emotions. The song Vellai Pokkal (comes as the films ends) is true culmination of the emotional turmoil that Amudha and her parents have gone through. (perhaps the most soulful song Rahman has composed till date)



Kannathil Muttamital’s strength lies in its innocence. Amudha stays with us, we become the fellow-travellers in her journey to reconcile with her past, her present, her very existence. And in the process, it becomes our journey of reconciliation.

I often find myself wondering, how is Amudha doing now after reconciling with her past? How is she growing up in her locality of Ashok Nagar in Chennai? How has relation with her mother (by adoption) evolved? Is Indira (R.Madhvan’s writes under that name) the same-the writer first and then the caring father? Many such questions crop up. I do not insist for the answers; for KM leaves me with a calm soul. For me Amudha and her world is no longer a celluloid creation; it is an emotion that lingers with me. Kannathil Muttamital continues even after the end credits have rolled………………

(This blog is not about films but then this post is an exception)

4 comments:

Sonal Sher said...

i like the last paragraph...makes the movie seem like more than just a story told on screen and more like the life of a person on this planet!
Do write on movies too when you find time.

Ashish Thakare, IAS said...

Thanks yaar for your comments.. hope I am able to write more on movies..
Though I was not very satisfied with my efforts on this post...

tina said...

to comment on the movie - very well knit and appealing - the fact that you mentioned - a central theme with multiple layers gives another dimension to the movie- moreover i feel that just because the human element, (the fine depiction of various types of human emotionns )in the film- makes ourselves identify with amudha- the simplicity which is again complex and deep rooted.
u mentioned that this blog is not about films, but when it comes to india films like these tell a lot about indians and india

Ashish Thakare, IAS said...

Hi Tina,
I agree with you.. Such films depict a lot about India, its people and their issues..
The issue of Tamils in Sri Lanka is major concern for India, especially in the state of Tamil Nadu...