Love in Thamizh Cinema
I recall seeing Guna for the first time, i guess i was around 23 then., just stepping into the youth from the teens. I really did not like the movie the first time i saw it, felt it way too long and dragging. But the dialogue which Kamal utters in the movie just stuck with me.
Manithar unarndhu kolla ithu manitha kadhal alla
Roughly translated it means, this is not a love to be understood by normal human beings. I think maybe that could also explain my initial aversion to the movie. Guna for me was the first movie i had seen on obsessive love. The obsessive love which Kamal shows here, is not the dangerous one though. In fact for him, he mistakes the heroine, Roshni, to be a reincarnation of the Goddess Abhirami. Guna is not even a normal person, he is mentally imbalanced, and exploited by every one around him, including his uncle. The only person who really understands Guna is the doctor( Girish Karnad), who has been treating him. Guna is a child trapped in an adult body, who really believes that the Goddess Abhirami, will marry him on a full moon day.
This obsession was later explored in Darr and Kaadhal Kondein, but the difference here is Shahrukh in Darr and Dhanush in Kaadhal Kondein, know what they are doing, but don’t really care, as their primary interest is the girl. Guna on the other hand does not even know that he is doing wrong. The heroine is repelled by him initially, but when she sees the way he actually cares for her and how deeply he loves her, she begins to reciprocate. Stockholm Syndrome? Yes maybe, but the real criminal here is not Guna, but Roshni’s crooked uncle, who wants to kill her and usurp all the property. Though ostensibly directed by Santhana Bharathi, i feel one can make out Kamal’s hand in it, the emotional flourishes, the lapses into indulgence and the tragic climax. I have seen Guna, again later, and while i like it more than before, i still feel Mahanadi, was a much better movie than this. But Guna was my first exposure to a love story that goes beyond the standard Boy meets Girl in Ooty kind, which was the norm in most Thamizh love stories.
But when it comes to unconventional love stories, i guess the pioneer would be K. Balachander. Apoorva Ragangal in 1975, was a movie that was quite bold for its times. Kamal falls in love with Sri Vidya, who is older to him, while Kamal’s father Major Sundarrajan, embarks on a relationship with a much younger Jayasudha. To complicate matters further, Jayasudha happens to be Sri Vidya’s daugther.
Again in Moondru Mudichu, Rajni gets Kamal killed so that he could marry Sridevi. However Sri thwarts his designs, by going ahead and marrying Rajni’s father, becomming his step mother now. Quite a lot of KB’ s movies had a strong feminist angle, where it was the lady who was the focus of attention. Love in Balachander’s movies was not about boy meeting Girl, but about facing the challenges posed to it. Also the challenge was not parental or societal opposition, it was more due to circumstances. So in Avargal, Sujata, after divorcing her sadistic ex husband, Rajnikanth, again renews a relationship with her former lover. In Anthuleni Katha, Saritha( Jayaprada), has a steady boyfriend, but does not commit to marriage because of domestic problems. When she finds that her boyfriend loves her widowed sister, she gets them married, and accepts the proposal of her boss, however her dreams of a stable life are totally dashed in the climax.
Balachander some how seemed to love exploring the tragic side of l love in his movies, even in movies like Ninaithale Inikum or Maro Charitra( the Telugu original of Ek Duje Ke Liye), which were otherwise standard Boy meets Girl stuff, the ending was totally tragic and unexpected. KB however also showed his lighter side, in movies like Thillu Mullu, the Tamil version of Golmaal with Rajnikant playing Amol Palekar’s role. I however feel Balachander’s best work came in the 70’s. Though he again focussed on the tragic love aspect in Punnagai Mannan, some how never liked that movie much, just felt it was too overdrawn and melodramatic.
Balu Mahendra has been another director who has explored love in an unconventional manner. The climax of Moonram Pirai( Sadma in Hindi), still stands out, it just wrings your heart out, and hits you somewhere. Balu Mahendra also explored the concept of obsessive love in his 2003 movie Julie Ganpathy, where Saritha takes Jayaram as a hostage after an accident, and makes his life miserable. Yes the movie was a total remake of the Kathy Bates starrer Misery.
Speaking of unrealized love, one movie that really made an impact on me, was Kathir’s Idhayam. Murali playing a shy tongue tied medical student, who is unable to express his love for Heera was brilliant in the movie. The movie had a kind of subtlety and restraint, one rarely gets to see in mainstream Tamil cinema. The ending again was quite emotionally wrenching, but some how, inspite of watching the movie many times, it just leaves me in confusion. Was Heera’s symbolic act, her acceptance of his love? And was he really alive? Would love to see some one throw more light on this.
Vasanth again has been a director whose love stories generally tend to veer away from the normal. Keladi Kanmani shows a mature romance between S.P.Balasubramaniam and Radhika, but here the love is more understated. Asai was again well directed showing Ajith having to battle the evil designs of Prakashraj, his girlfriend’s brother in law, who kills her sister and has designs on her. Rythm however i felt is to date one of Vasanth’s best and a very underrated movie. The love story between Arjun, a widower and Meena, a widow, is treated with restraint and subtlety, not getting too melodramatic at any stage. Inspite of some great performances by Arjun, Meena and a fabulous soundtrack by A.R.Rehman, the movie sadly was a flop.
Gautam Menon also has been another director, who treats the love tracks pretty well. And best example being Kaakha Kaakha, where the romantic track between Jo and Surya, blends into the movie, rather than serving as a distraction. I think the reason here being, that Jo’s character is well etched out. She is shown as an educated, independent woman, living life on her own, having her own mind, and when she proposes to Surya, one does not really feel odd. Pretty unlike the standard Tamil movies, where you would have the heroine throwing herself all over the hero. Gautam again goes beyond convention by exploring the romance between a middle aged, widower, Kamal and a divorced Jyothika in Vettiyadu Villayadu.
Bharatiraja has been another director, who has at times gone off the beaten track in showing love. Mudhal Mariyadhai, is one of the best movies, showing the forbidden love concept. Here the middle aged Shivaji Ganesan, married to a shrewish woman, gets into a relationship, with the free spirited village belle Radha, much younger to him. The movie explores love against a background of convention and tradition. Shivaji can’t openly declare his love for Radha, even though his married life is miserable, bound as he is by conventions and the onus to keep up with being the village headman. The older guy, younger woman love angle gets a very mature, restrained treatment from Raja, without again going too overboard. 16 Vaiyathanille, again captured the love that flourishes in a young teenage woman played by Sridevi. Kamal plays the village idiot who loves her dearly, however she loves the village doctor more.
When it comes to Maniratnam, while he generally treats the romantic scenes, thematically his love stories have been pretty straight. In fact the romance between Amala-Prabhu in Agninatshatram looked totally forced. I felt Mani’s best was in Iruvar where he wonderfully explored the relationships between Mohanlal-Aishwaraya and Prakash Raj- Tabu. Without going too overboard, or too judgemental, he beautifully bought out the love aspect there. Alaipayuthe had gorgeous visuals, but the relationships and romancing parts, had a heavy hangover from Mouna Raagam, Agninatshatram.
Selvaraghavan seems to revel in exploring the darker sides of love. Kaadhal Kondein, followed in the footsteps of Guna and Darr, of the hero having obsessive love for the heroine. Dhanush playing the obsessed hero here, and Sonia Agarwal playing his love interest. But the motivation is well set up here. Dhanush being an orphan from childhood is ill treated, and humiliated by every one around him. The only person who seems to emphathize with him is Sonia, which he mistakes for love. The fact is here was a person, who has never ever known what it means to be loved, and so the moment some one shows empathy with him, he feels it is love. However when he comes to know Sonia loves some one, he feels he is losing whatever he had in life. 7 G Brindavan Colony, was a love story unconventional in every sense. The climax and ending parts was a shocker and even to date contentious. Does Anita( Sonia Agarwal), sleep around with Kadhir( Ravi krishna), just before her marriage to some one else, because she knew that no way she could escape from the marriage parents arranged for her? Or is it the fact, that she feels Kadhir just wants her body, and she wanted to satisfy his lust?
Not a very exhaustive list, just some random ramblings from my side. Would like to know if you felt there were any other Thamizh cinema, that depicted love in a not so routine format? And what is your take on the general depiction of love in Kollywood?
Tags: love Stories, Tamil Cinema
Anurag Kashyap
Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
Hansal Mehta
Khalid Mohamed
Kundan Shah
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Verma
Manish Gupta
Navdeep Singh
Bhavani Iyer
D. Santosh
Onir
Ashvin Kumar
Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
Suparn Verma
Santosh Sivan
Shashank Ghosh
Shivajee
Pavan Kaul
Partho Sen-Gupta
Prroshant Naryannan
Sam Langoria
Satish Kasetty
A very exhaustive list indeed. Love the way Gautham Menon treats the love track, they are mature, sensible and realistic. His female leads always have been given some proper charecterisation even in hero oriented subject like KK and VV. Maniratnam is all class with subtleness. He brings out the chemistry really well between his co stars. One person who seems to be really missing in the list seem to be Kamal Hassan. He treats the romatic angle with such honesty and realism. He is always criticised for his depiction of love scenes as unnecessary by a section of media, which is so unfair . Be it Hey ram, Virumandi, Kuruthipunal, Mahanadhi, guna the romantic angle were a treat. Remember a article by the baradwaj rangan in his blog where he listed the top five directors who depict the depict romantic track / scenes which had raj kapoor, balachander and Kamal Hassan ( dont remember the other two).
Balaji, while i loved Kamal’s romantic tracks in Moonram Pirai, Guna, VV and even Virumand. I some how feel in some movies, the romantic aspect becomes way too indulgent. For eg the part in Thevar Magan where Gauthami comes back, and finds Kamal married, cud have been edited, felt it just went on and on. Also did not like the romantic tracks in Hey Ram either, way too indulgent and overlong. Even in Anbe Sivam, the romantic track between Kamal and Kiran Rathod, looked pretty much forced for me.
But yeah speaking of Kamal and Love, Raaja Parvai is another great movie. Kamal was just brilliant as a blind violinist in that movie. Even in Pushpak too director Singeetham handled the romantic track between Kamal and Amala beautifully.
Anbe sivam was probably the only romantic track that did not work for me. But for me in thevar Magan it was beautifully done. How about the track between revathi and him in the movie ?? Hey ram had several sequences between him and vasundra das which were very well written. Probably i am being a bit prejudiced being a Kamal fanatic
.
Yaar Balaji, if ur a Kamal fanatic, i am his bhakt, LOL.
But maybe its just my feeling that of late he has been way too indulgent. I loved the track between Kamal and Revathi in Thevar Magan. But somehow did not like the Kamal-Gauthami track in the movie, or maybe the fact that i can never stand Gautami on screen.
Dunno yaar, some how never really liked those scenes between him and Rani, Vasu in Hey Ram. Felt too long for me, or maybe i guess i was focussing more on the political context of the movie.
That was a trip down memory lane, from Guna to Kadhal Kondien…you comeup with all these stuff…dont ur hands pain when writing all these? Pl dont give me a modest answer….anyways excellent as always anna…
Sridhar, yeah u bet, writing these long reviews is quite exhausting. Sometimes i dont have the patience to go beyond. Thats why always write in starts and stops, he, He.
Was the timing of the article with the valentines week a coincidence or intentional
.Off topic, just curious have you written anything on Audrey hepburn or Katherine hepburn, if so would like to read them.
Well guess maybe a coincidence, never a big fan of Valentines Day or Week or whatever.
Well regards Audrey Hepburn, article has been due on her, she is one of my favorites, and been wanting to write about her. Thanks for reminding me, dude.
Ratnakar,
I only reiterate what I had said in a recent post of Tushar’s; this is more relevant now that you brought this post up.
none deals urban romances the way the madras magician does.
you know who the magician is, don’t you?
and
here’s a sitter for you.
What would a stereotypical Telugu movie director’s team be called?
come on you don’t need KC brains for this (just kidding), and remember there is a bomb on the bus! ;)
Santosh, yeah i know when it comes to urban romances, Mani is one of the best, but thematically i wud put the way he handled the love tracks in Iruvar the best. Also the Madhavan-Meera Jasmine track in Ayithe Ezhuthu.
“What would a stereotypical Telugu movie director’s team be called?”
Speed?
Caste & Screw ;)
Well RS- great post & makes me nostalgic again.I’ve personally connected to all these movies.For me its KB & Mani who’ve always stood out for capturing the essence of romance in tamizh cinema.And Kamal Haasan has always been a master at it whether as an actor,producer or director
of late I’ve liked Gautham Menon’s capturing of romance on screen.I also feel Vasanth (K.B’s school) & Selvaraghavan are people who can get the essence right.
@ratnakar
I watched roman holiday, charade and wait until unitl dark in two days, and have not been able to get audrey hepburn out of my mind
. She is so charming and lovable. Any other movie of hers you suggest, gonna watch sabrina tonight…read the nuns story is her best, thinking of watching my fair lady ..have never a watched a musical ..so just postponing it….
My Fair Lady is a classic, thanks u given me idea for my next post, Balaji.
Ratnakar,
Nice post. When i was 17, i watched “Guna” dubbed version telugu, at that time, i didn’t quite understand what the kamal character is all about..
But i am not sure whether you consider K.Viswanath’s “Sagara Sangamam” as love story or not. Even though the movie is about aspiring artist/dancer, for me its a love story. I think, there are so many layers in this film..One of my all time favourite.
Another movie you can include inthis list is Mani’s “Geetanjali”..Do you remember the scene,where Geetanali asks Nag,why did he hide the fact that he is gonna die..” ..its beautiful..
Thanks
Gopal
Well written. I am surprised you didnt mention much about “Mouna Ragam” and “Nenjathai Killathe”. Both similar but such a subtle treatment i regard both as important tamil romantic movies. “Alai payuthe” was a really nice movie till a certain stage – i thought the climax was a bit forced. I do agree about kamal and forced love etc. Although he has given quite a few romantic movies in his time. I do disagree the “devar magan” romance – it was so nice – especially when gouthami sees the marriage picture for the first time and kamal reaches out – it was pretty cool. “idhayam” worked because of the dialogues. btw, johnny might not have been a great movie, but that one scene between rajni-sri devi makes it a must-see. I really liked “varanam aayiram” for the surya-sammera romance. I havent seen “sillunu” yet.
“kadhal kottai” would have been a classic had the leads done a better job.
btw, one movie which matched up to the book was “love story”. when i was 20, i thought it was too good a romance movie.
other good ones…
sleepless in seattle
when harry met sally
the apartment
while you were sleeping
moonstruck
annie hall
…
…
@ Gopal
Sagarasangamam was a classic for me. The love story was there, but it was more in a background. Geetanjali was nice, it had some charming moments, but wud not rate it as Mani’s best, those comedy scenes were really irritating.
@ Padhu
Nenjathai Killathe is a very underrated movie, it was way ahead in its treatment, and also its ending. Sillunu was an Ok movie. Also i felt Ajit did a good job in Kadhal Kottai, though cant stand Devyani. I did see Johnny, good masala flick must say.