[ctsy - rMadhavan ]
A very nice chat with
Iyengar today morning, brought fresh memories of Alaipayuthey.
The discussion was about Shankar's strategy of telling messages through his movies. So far, as i have seen (and not seen), Gentlemen - Indian - Mudhalvan - Anniyan, all of 'em talks only of corruption. And i dont see any message to take home. But on the contrary, Maniratnam gave me a message to take home, even though it was irrelevant to me in Alaipayuthey. Anbe Sivam touched my life, that i adopted a few qualities (or atleast tried to).
Talking of Alaipayuthey, a movie every youngster in Tamilnadu enjoyed, rejoiced and thought they were gifted with Yet another classic Love story. But Alaipayuthey was more to it. It was a complete Love story, I would say, Complete in all its senses. Most of the Love stories end up showing the Happy Lovers rejoining after a Calamity to the Villain. Alaipayuthey starts there.
Karthik and Shakti have got married, even before you realize. They were in Love, and never even tried to understand each other (much like reality). Maniratnam shows an Ad-Hoc Love, and is not stressed to show the purity of Love between them, as is not. Both of them, have the support of their friends/ sister and with that dirty courage they get married, without informing their parents. After incidents, they move to a separate residence, where they begin a Husband-Wife life. Pretty incidents throw Mis-understanding in between them. It is common in a married life, yet, in a Love-marriage mis-understandings are commonly interpreted as Disappointments.
Shakti has tons of disappointments, and Karthik is depressed by the quarrels. What seemed to have been a Beautiful Romantic life, is all of a sudden a Quarrelsome affair. Thats when Mani takes over. "Enough guys, enough seeing a peppy love story, listen to what i have to say about your life. What you need in a married life. ". A state-of-the-art accident scene, and Shakti is in hospital. And Maniratnam sends his messengers into the playground. Arvindswamy and Kushboo.
I would reccomend you to watch those scenes. Mani understands when to use technology. He uses Slowmotion Freeze frames, in those climax scenes, unlike using them for showing Fingers of Heroes in their introduction scenes. He does that to impose- super impose his message.
The care and understanding, and most of all Back-support at critical times, is what is important in any relationship. When you Yell or back fire the person for committing a mistake, for which the person is already feeling bad about, the person becomes aloof. He/she doesnt have support when he needs it.
A relationship, in generic terms, should make you feel cozy. Make you feel comfortable. You are never alone. Even when somethings wrong, it gives you courage, that you will face it together. Mutual understanding, care and support are key factors of any relationship. Thats what Karthik and Shakti missed in-between them. And thats precisely the message of the movie, if you did not get it from theatres.
Katz ! If you are still not convinced, let me know.