My tryst with the Best Indian movie I have ever seen.

It was during a 23 day “Industrial tour” during my engineering that the movie released. After a grueling and enjoyable 22 day tour across Goa, Mumbai, Jaipur, Delhi, Shimla, Gwalior, and Kolkata we landed up in Chennai without visiting a single Industry. My classmates were keen to make it to at least one company to do some justice to the name of our tour. On the other hand I was persuading my friends to watch the latest Manirathnam movie which released during that time. It did not take much effort as they were least interested in the industry visit. Thus began my journey to watch the movie which over the years was being considered as the best movie made in India in the last three decades.

The majority from our group went to TI Cycles for the “Industrial tour” and the six of us went to watch Manirathnam create poetry on screen. (Which I did not realize to the full extent that day)

It had a great mix of my favorite film personalities. Manirathnam with the megaphone, Santosh Sivan with the camera, Rehman entrusted with the music and the back ground score, and the versatile Mohanlal perfectly essaying the role of Anandan, this was one of a kind. He was well supported by Prakash Raj and Aishwarya Rai (her debut film).

If you are still wondering what I am talking about, the year was 1997 and the movie Iruvar (Tamil)

I went into the cinema and realized that it was showing square on the rectangular screen. The photography looked good, enjoyed most dialogues, (of Prakash Raj), and got mesmerized by some great expressions from Mohanlal and that was all I could get that day.

I did not make much of the movie at that time.

Over the years I read a lot about Iruvar from different sources and was getting desperate to watch it on DVD. I searched for the DVD in different cities I was in during 2002/04. Mumbai, Bangalore and Chennai did not have it. And finally at Landmark, Bangalore in 2005 I got hold of the same for Rs 400. (It has reduced to Rs 250 odd as I write)

I have watched it many times since then and I thought I will put down my view on why I think it’s the best.

The movie starts with a disclaimer stating that it is fictitious. But you don't need a great sense of Tamil Nadu history to realize that it is based on the lives of MGR, Karunanidhi and Jayalalitha. The movie starts in the 1940s and progresses towards the 80s in the end.

The story

It is a story about an aspiring actor Anandan (Mohanlal) and a writer Tamilchelvam (TC) (Prakash Raj). They start of in the film industry together. Anandan goes through a lot of struggle before striking it big. TC on the other hand joins him in the first movie (does a few more) and branches towards politics under Nasser. They both grow in their respective career and get back together into politics after realizing the growing screen power of Anandan which translates to political power for their party.

Anandan’s popularity brews some uncomfortable feelings in TC and he decides to keep him away from politics by stating that he has to choose between the two, film or politics.

Anandan is hurt and revolts and gets thrown out of the party. The subsequent scenes show how Anandan floats a new party and gets a crack at power. The movie chronicles how Cinema as a medium is used by the characters to influence the Tamil Nadu public and their opinion. In between all these happenings both the main characters get to marry and romance other women as well. Aishwarya Rai, Gowtami, Revathy and Tabu get to play these roles and they do it aptly. Ash though has the biggest pie, both on screen time and the love interest Mohanlal( Pun intended J). The dialogues have been penned crisply by Suhasini Manirathnam and the editing (or the forced ones from Karunanidhi) seems to have mellowed down the punch in some of the scenes.

Cinematography

Santosh Sivan has filmed the movie in 35 mm film to recreate the times. Some initial songs are shot in black and white to get the feel. To say that he has done a wonderful job will be an understatement. With the limitations of a 35 mm film the locales were shot breathtakingly. The song shot in the backdrop of the Taj Mahal (Vennilla Vennilla) is a case in point. I have never seen Taj Mahal shot so beautifully. The entire song is shot with the monument in the backdrop from different angles. Mind-blowing shots…

http://youtube.com/watch?v=VeT5DyMdce0&feature=related

The other song (Ayirathil Naan Oruvan) shot in the Himalayas and Rajasthan is another master piece.

Santosh Sivan also managed to get a lot of critics talking about the shot in which Mohanlal gets to the terrace to realize that a huge crowd is waiting for him below. It also got rated by many as the ‘best shot on Indian screen’ and can be found on Youtube under the same heading. The scene gets complimented by Mohanlal’s acting and Rehman’s back ground score. When Lal first sees the crowd he is nervous. With some hesitation and TC’s support he raises his hand to a thundering back ground score. The beats seems to suggest how the nervousness in Lal turns to excitement and finally to confidence when he throws the shawl in the end to a waiting crowd. The back ground score almost blends into the characters’ heart-beat and combined with the expression and the camera angle can give goose bumps to many.

He went on to win the National award for the best Cinematographer (1998).

Music

A R Rehman has done a great job composing for the film. The instruments and the sounds used are wonderful and take you back to the 60s and the 70s. The first song starts with a classical base and it starts getting trendier (jazzier) with the passing time. He has captured the mood wonderfully. My favorite would be the "Vennilla Vennilla" number rendered by Asha Bhonsle.

Till this date he considers Iruvar as one of his best compositions that went unrecognized and unappreciated. (I guess people have woken up to it off late)

Performances

Aishwarya Rai (now Bachchan) made her debut in this film and this can be rated as her most natural performance. Stating that only Manirathnam could have extracted such a performance from her is not an overstatement considering that the other critically notable performance from her came in “Guru”. (I can hear some die hard fans mentioning Raincoat, Choker Bali and Provoked)

She was convincing in both her roles, as a demure housewife and as a bold actress who grew up as a brat. Mani was careful enough not to delve on the actresses back ground and ended her character quite ‘nicely’ most obviously to keep “Amma” quite.

Prakash Raj has some good dialogues as he plays the writer Karunanidhi (Tamizh chelvam ). He does a neat role and is careful enough in essaying the role in a subtle way not ever trudging the path of over-acting. It would have been an irresistible temptation for lesser actors if they are pitted against the likes of Mohanlal ( he had already won 2 out of his 3 national awards by that time). Prakash Raj is ably supported by Tabu who had very little to do, but did a graceful job. Nasser as the party chief was passionate. He justified Mani’s choice for the role. Revathy was dignified for the time she spent on screen.

What do I say about Mohanlal, the person who made me my miss my TI cycles Industrial tour to watch this movie. His superlative performance lifted the entire movie up by several notches.

The movie captures the growing up of a character from an aspiring actor to a successful actor to an aspiring minister and to a ‘successful’ Chief Minister. Mohanlal lived the character to perfection. The body language changes subtly from the first frame to the last frame. You can notice the young aspiring actor in the first frame all restless and innocent and that of an old Chief Minister towards the end, old, weak and dignified and with all the other phases in between. There are some scenes in which he shows why he is one of the best actors in India. Be it the scenes like when he holds Ash after she falls out of the car and he falls for her charm, hesitating a bit, feeling attracted, embarrassed by it and then giving in to her (this one is a complex one and perhaps none could have done it better), or when he is refused the health portfolio of minister ship, or when he realizes that he is expelled from the party to name a few.

The scene to die for will be when for the first time he realizes that the actress on the screen has a very close resemblance to his first wife. The expression of utter disbelief, confusion, surprise and then being attracted to (or was it lust?) Ash can best only be viewed than be described.

His performance is absolutely smooth throughout the movie and he was living the role even when the focus is on the other characters, and when the dialogue is not his.

The subtlety and the intelligence with which he has essayed the role has to be seen to be believed. There is a complete lack of melodrama in his portrayal and for those who enjoy 'good cinema' this is certainly worth a dekko. (Non-Tamil viewers may take a subtitled version of the movie)

Manirathnam has done a good job in researching and in the screenplay of the movie along with Mrs Mani. There is a certain flow to most part of the movie. Somewhere towards the last half an hour there seems to be some disconnect. The time flies little too soon and the only way we can guess is by the greying of hairs of the characters. Did Mani deliberately do it to show the mental state of the lead characters, who also lose their way towards the end? Two friends who swear friendship, who swear to change the lives of people getting lost in the maze of jealousy, deceit, power, politics and corruption.

That in a nutshell sums up the movie at a very different level. The beauty of this movie and other great movies are that it works in different layers. It works as a story about two friends and their different relationship, it works as a story of the filmworld of Tamil Nadu in the 1940s to 1980s, it works as a story of glamour and power and that of absolute power that corrupts. Each time I see it a different layer emerges.

Some after thoughts

Iruvar received a cold response in the box office. Karunanidhi who was in power did not like the idea and the movie was banned from advertising on SUN networks. Or may be it was because the audience did not like the portrayal of their heroes as having extra-marital affairs, or of being power hungry and corrupt. This certainly was not made for the masses.

Incidentally this movie won rave reviews in the Toronto Film festival and THE TIME Magazine had rated Mohanlal as India's answer to Marlon Brando after seeing his performance.

Closer home THE HINDU had rated it as the best movie of Manirathnam and singularly cited the electrifying performance of Mohanlal as Anandan to be the main difference between Iruvar and other movies of Mani. (Originally the film was to be titled ‘Anandan’). Prakash Raj went on to win the national award for the best actor in a supporting role along with Santosh Sivan for cinematography.

Ash had arrived with a dream debut.

Mani himself acknowledged that it was his best baby and remarked that he forgot to say ‘cut’ seeing Mohanlal performing in some scenes. He went on to say that he was India’s most natural actor and that he will never again direct him as he had become a fan of him.

Rehman’s music did not create any storm then but have been in the discussion very much off late. It was probably one of his most underrated scores.

As for Mohanlal, as they say a mere National award would not have done justice to this once in a lifetime performance. (He lost out to fellow actors Suresh Gopi and Balachandran Menon who shared it that year)

And as for me, I think I made a wise choice of going ahead and watching Iruvar rather than going with the TI cycle tour which I doubt would have been so enriching and satisfying.