*Diamonds from the Jewel of acting called Kamalhaasan
*It is the year 1983 and we celebrated the great Victory of India in the Cricket world Cup and went for this movie that weekend. Twenty four years down the lane, the movie lingers as one of the finest Indian movies that I have ever watched.
Climax Scene-Immortalising art
*It is the stage for Kumari Shailaja(S.P.Balasubramniam’s sister) to perform. It is her widowed mother’s desire to cherish her dream of seeing an art(Classical Indian Dance) not die with the prodigal Balakrishna(Kamal Haasan) . Balakrishna who is battling for life wants shailaja to become a great dancer, which he could not with so much talent that got buried in his trials and tribulations and that transformed him into a cynical drunkard columnist.
The sadhana starts in the Hospital with the song.
“Vedham Anuvannuvuna Nadham”
The background song continues with the reluctant Shailaja waiting to perform at the stage marked for Madhavi(Jayapradha) to donate for the Hospital and to pass the baton of classical dance from Balakrishna to Shailaja. Shailaja who conceives her widow mother to be having relationship with him realises when Balakrishna in his coarse voice and melting heart describes her as an unadulterated mother.
maatru devo bhavva.pitru bhavva. aarcharya devo bhavva.aarcharya devo bhavva.
atidi devo bhavva.
She worships in dance form her mother, her acharya and the athiti(guests).Shailaja dances on with aplomb and her mother Madhavi sees Balakrishna in him.
naTaraju guru vaina daivam, naTaraju nadivya nadam
guru paavu kaburaina natyam, guru dakshi naipOyE jeevaM
Kamalhaasan sitting on the wheelchair sees Jayaprada and sighs to her that he has achieved it and slowly rests his head on Raghupathy’s(Sarathbabu) hands.
*"jayanti te sukRtino rasa siddha kaveeswarAh, naasti taesham yasah kaale, jara maranajam bhayam",
The shot turns to the wheelchair. The legs which were dancing to the beauty and balance of laya and tala becomes numb. The wheelchair turns and Sarath Babu takes him out of the auditorium. It starts pouring and Sharath Babu tries to cover Kamal haasan with his Kurta. Jayapradha joins with an Umbrella.
You will see on the corner of the frame-END and it follows with THERE IS NO END TO ART.
This is the culmination of a classic by Director K Viswanath who is the epitome of showing Indian classical art via Commercial Movie with such vibrancy and emotion that the movie should end in the beautiful words of Vetturi Sundaram murthy “Art is immortal and will never die” It fills your heart as much as the subtle Human relation between Kamal Haasan and Jayaprada which is in the background of the art as it comes to the fore in its purity and tranquillity.
Roses:- Jayapradha sings the first lines of Mouna mela noyi at the Sea shore. Kamal appreciates it and as they drive back, he gets down the car midway and lets his mind out on a rock. He calls her and proposes to her. He goes to her house and when she opens the door, he plucks a beautiful rose at the door step and hands it over to her.(masterly body language by Kamal) He hands over the marriage invitation and asks her whether it is wrong to express love and to get married when two minds unite. She is in a state of perplex(being married already and left in the alter). As she moves across with the invitation, the thorny plant is caught struck to her saree. As she opens the invitation, it is of Kamal’s friend Raghupathy’s(Sharath Babu) as she sighs in relief.
K. Viswanath at his best with his lovely subtle emotions and surprises just like in the scenes where Kamal receives the photos and the national level performance invitation. The background score in such moments by the Maestro Illayaraja simply takes you out of the world into that living room.
*Mounam elaNoyi –Silence reigns
*It is the first night of Sharath Babu and Kamal and Jayapradha are on the terrace. The youthfulness and the quietness of the moonlit night and the gentle breeze across the sea-shear magical are the lyrics and the tune
mounam ElanOyi ee marapu raani rEyi, edalO vennela veligE kannulaa
edalO vennela veligE kannulaa, taaraaDE haayilaa
ika mounam ElanOyi ee marapu raani rEyi
*palikE pedavi voNikindi endukO, voNikE pedavi venakaala EmiTO
kalisE manasulaa virisE vayasulaa, neeli neeli voosulu lEtagaali baashalu EmEmO aDiginaa
mounam ElanOyi|
The emotional journey of transcending love from friendship attains the multitude of thoughts in sublime mood that flow like gentle breeze in the night.
Thorns:- Kamal comes to know that Jayapradha is already married and left in the lurch. What follows is a dance at the Sea shore in the turbulence of the tides and his entire emo*tions are shown gulfing like those tides in the background music which soars high and reaches a crescent.
With his head down and after throwing all the emotions the way a dancer would do, he sits on the rock. The scene shifts to Jayapradha running to make Balu her love and her future and the music shifts to the different note of Anandham. She bumps across her Husband on the boat. Illayaraja chooses silence over music. Jayapradha’s transformation of emotions, her Husband’s desire to marry Kamal to her, Kamal’s magnanimity to make them join back ends with her taking the rose out and placing it on the Marriage album.
K Viswanath’s brilliant touch leaves you spellbound with so many emotions and thoughts which make you feel what is going on in the minds of the three, Jayaprada’s wonderful performace, Kamal’s love that changes into devotion as he gives away both art and heart with the turn of events including his mother’s death, the BGM of Illayaraja makes it a classical concoction of an evergreen tea.
The Art-Transcendental yet sublime
Kamal Haasan relishes classical dance as much as his love for acting and leaves no stone unturned to learn Kathakali, Kuchupudi and other forms. The choice of dance forms, the locations, the energy in the artist, the writer( Vetturi) and Illayaraja’s beautiful percussions, the moving track frames at ground level that makes the dance form pleasant, photogenic and at times ecstatic reaching peaks(the choice of high altitude locations) simply makes it a vibrant majestic and mesmerising treat to watch. The dance in front of the huge Ganesh Statue is a rapturous delight while the Sea adds texture and modulation to dance.
The Heart-It fills you again and again.
It is not the commercial hyped movie that you would like to sit and enjoy. It is a movie to endear even with subtle humour as both Kamal Haasan and Jayapradha perform outstandingly frame by frame where you can feel them close up heart especially the tumultuous scenes like Kamal putting his hand up to watch Jayaprada’s face with sindhoor after so many years, under pelting rain when she just saves her from the fall dancing on the well in an inebriated condition.
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