About Kabali and Societal themes in films

Around seven years ago, I watched James Cameron’s Avatar with a bunch of school buddies and happily walked home, thinking about the CG grandeur and visual effects of the film. When I was discussing the film with my close friend, a visual communication student, he asked me.

‘Did you get the concealed theme of the movie’? 

I stared at him for a second and asked.

‘What? Do you mean the ritual practice scene, afterlife and the spirit transfer concepts that resonated with Hinduism and Tibetan beliefs?’. 

My friend: ‘Well it's good that you noticed it but more than that it talks about….’

He went on and on for hours about the underlying themes on Avatar that he had noticed such as militarism, capitalism, conservatism, Imperialism, environmental preservation, the importance of one’s roots, cultural beliefs and lots. I was flabbergasted, to the say the least. It was absorbing to hear him and comprehend the themes he had explained me about. It was confounding to know how a CG-loaded, sci-fi film can speak volumes about appealing societal issues even though it catered the same platter to a fellow like me, a regular movie goer and my friend who is a critic, art student and more than all a socially conscious person than myself. I kept on thinking how I missed or failed to see these elements in the film. The more I thought about it, I understood, it’s not that I’ve failed to notice these themes in the movie but I neither had the fundamental understanding or concerns on some of the themes nor the communal awareness to consume them in the first place.

The more I started watching films coming across all borders, I learned how critical, important and global an art form such as a film is and how responsible and aware a filmmaker must be to put forward the same. Fast forward to 2012, Titanic was re-released in 3D format. I took the girlfriend to see it at a theater. What was supposed a to be a romantic movie date watching a classic movie with fun talks, holding hands and gulping sugar garbage turned out to be a dedicated 3-hour gyaan, focus session for me. I was utter silent during the whole runtime of the movie. I had seen Titanic for countless times in TV earlier but this time, I saw the movie in a different outlook altogether. Just around the corner of its romance and emotions tied the themes of the class divide, Marxism, inequality etc. Now, few more mainstream Hollywood movies have started carrying undercurrent themes concerning civil issues. The creators are even taking big beef from the fans on the portrayal of Black and Mexican characters in films and TV, gender stereotype in animation films, LGBT portrayal, Bechdel test, feminism, white actors playing non-white, Asian and European characters etc. 

Though the number of films is less, Indian cinema is no exception in the forte of films on social issues. The recent Hansal Mehta's Aligarh on LGBT laws in India, Nagraj Manjule's Fandry about the life of a young Dalit boy and Chaitanya Tamhane’s Court on how screwed up and totalitarian a judicial case can get are the some of the best examples. In Tamil cinema, off late, we can notice some of the mainstream films that had stirred a debate or a conversation on critical communal topics. Siddharth’s Enakkul Oruvan, the mercilessly butchered remake of the famous Kannada film Lucia, was criticized for the actor’s portrayal of an uneducated theater usher with a black/ mud makeup. Vetrimaaran’s Visaaranai voiced about police brutality and human rights violation, Karthik Subbaraj’s Iraivi, well, not totally about feminism but more about women’s stand in men’s world, Manikandan’s Kakka Muttai on the problems of globalization, alienation and the role of news media, Bramma's Kuttram Kadithal on the topics of school corporal punishment and the necessity of sex education for kids and Vijay Kumar's Uriyadi on caste-based politics. After a long period, Tamil film industry is churning out some of the best films in the mainstream, on collective issues. When was the last time a mainstream Tamil film had stirred a debate? Meaningful or not, impactful or not, worthwhile or not, an art starts a conversation, a healthy one rather. Its purpose has been achieved here and its creator’s core vision of the art has surfaced the daylight of the masses. And, that’s all it matters.

I didn’t like Pa Ranjith’s debut Attakathi in the first watch but I loved how the director handled a coming-of-age, rom-com story of a roadside romeo, set in semi-urban outskirts of the city. I loved his second work, Madras. Madras spoke the Dravidian politics on the Dalit on the basis of land. In a way, Madras voiced about Dalit's plight and the politics on a higher note than Kabali. Kabali speaks oppressed Tamil people’s issue in Malaysia on the basis of their skin color, dress, and other community-based dogma. A film starring superstar Rajinikanth is being debated for its political theme and social context. The man who shied away from acting in Shankar’s Gentleman and Mudhalvan, for its cast divide and political undertones, had finally dared to act his age and do a film that speaks about an oppressed community and the political concerns surrounding them. Yes, Kabali is bit of a weak film. It has its own flaws, pitfalls in the execution and it could’ve been definitely better but without a doubt, Kabali has arrived with a bang and Pa Ranjith’s deed is done.

The central theme of Oscar-winning film, The Revenant, directed by my most favorite director Alejandro González Iñárritu’s is a man’s quest for survival in the wilderness but it evokes lots of connotations on wildlife poaching, capitalism, colonization, magical realism, westerner’s injustice to the native folks of the land and some leitmotifs that one can notice in Iñárritu’s works such as death, loss, survival, human suffering etc. In the movie, there is a conversation between Hugh Glass (Leonardo Dicaprio) and his mixed-race son Hawk.

Hugh Glass: I told you to be invisible, son! 

Hawk: At least he... 

Hugh Glass: If you want to survive, keep your mouth shut! 

Hawk: At least he heard me. 

Hugh Glass: They don't hear your voice! They just see the color of your face. You understand? You understand? 

Hawk: Yes.

In his Oscar speech for winning the Best Direction for The Revenant, Iñárritu said “So what a great opportunity to our generation to really liberate ourselves from all prejudice and, you know, this tribal thinking, and make sure for once and forever that the color of the skin become as irrelevant as the length of our hair.”

In every art form, symbolism, motifs, creator’s motives, nuanced themes can be noticed, reviewed, spoken about by critically analyzing and dissecting them into every granular bit. Films are no different. The need for assimilating an art is not a requirement to enjoy it but one can try assimilating it at least to hate less, No? I see so many vicious posts online thrashing Pa Ranjith and Kabali. Tear down a creator for his work of art but not for his personal moral, ideologies and political stand. 

With Kabali, Pa Ranjith has donned a prestigious suit and suited himself in a majestic chair, amidst some of the important, socially responsible filmmakers from Tamilnadu. Let’s respect and welcome Pa Ranjith with open arms and that’s exactly the same thing he envisions to happen for the very people he speaks about in his films. 

'Award winning Tamil short film' - Based on multiple true stories₹

                             

An idea for a short film struck Saravana Subramani after he walked out from a bar. No, after a night show at Sathyam theater. No, after a DVD watch of a foreign film by Flickard Flinklater. He is a bored techie with a broken love life and currently dealing with a quarter life crisis. He reads lots of film reviews online in Tamilpadamglitz.com and an active participant of Sajith vs. Sijay fan rants in twitter. Thanks to his roommate’s 500 GB Seagate HDD, he delved into the films of Darantino, Zcorsese, Hong Kar Woi and of course, Guy Mirchi. One fine day, he realized he can direct a film now.

He called his friend Camerapal, proud owner of the Facebook page Santo Fotography with 172 likes and 220 HD pictures that includes flowing tap water, metro train crossing Tambaram, the broken bridge near Puzhal, Royal Enfield headlight, Mahabalipuram rocks etc.. Camerapal owns an ₹22700 Canon autofocus DSLR, which already qualified him to be the cinematographer of this untitled short film project. They discussed this project over a beer and prepared to make an award winning, romantic, cult comedy, Tamil short film.

He called his childhood buddy, the charmer, Arjun Arvind who is still friends with him in WhatsApp & messenger. Arjun, a big fan of Sheath Sledger & Sajith, is highly passionate about acting and stardom. Right from his 8th standard annual day dance event, Arjun knew that he always wanted to be a star, a performer, a method actor and all at once. His rugged beard traits and the ability to do the chest press with 125 kg load showed his commitment and passion for his acting craft. Arjun instantly agreed to do the lead.

Subramani was always afraid to make the first move with his yesteryear, super hot, first year, college crush Aishwarya Nandhini Iyer.  He took a bold move and dropped a text to Aishwarya and asked if she is interested in starring as the female lead in his award winning short film. Aishwarya was already busy with her GRE classes but spared some time to do the role, without her father’s knowledge, after our Camerapal made an offer for shooting her 27 profile pictures in a beach backdrop

Subramani’s friend from 'Sunday Rockerz' cricket team Aaron Paul is good in piano and had taken lessons in his Sacred Hearts school. He was appointed as the composer and his junior Vimal Anand, who had made a couple of Macromedia flash video presentation for college symposium has been appointed as the editor.

Subramani told about this short film project to his friends from work and convinced them to help him. They planned to do this short film with a shoestring budget of 3 lakh rupees. The colleagues chipped in a couple of thousand bucks each with a hope of getting cast in the film as extras.

Subramani had to sell his Royal Enfield and settle for a TVS Star. He also convinced his parents for burning his father's savings a little bit. Camerapal managed to rent an EOS 5D camera for a steal deal price of ₹12000 a day. They rented an ECR beach house for 7 days and shot the film mostly in the same spot and the street used in the tamil horror, slasher film Thinnaiyathaandi Tharuvaaya. They shot the film mostly on the weekend for 4 months. They edited it in 3 weeks, followed by a ten days dubbing session. They spent 4 days in a post production lab and finally cut a 27 min short film in a 41.7GB output size.

Thanks to the power cut and Internet speeds of Chennai, Subramani took a flight to Bangalore to upload the film on YouTube, from his uncle’s apartment at Whitefields. He shared the YouTube link of the film in an email, facebook, twitter, google talk, google maps, Quora, Pornhub, reddit and what not.

‘Kaadhal Koffee', the fantasy love story short film directed by Saravana Subramani, milked ₹9.2 lakhs in total to be made. It broke the internet with 1012 views on YouTube, counting 301 likes,  278 dislikes and 42 shares. Praises flowed from everywhere with lot of polarized comments like ‘Machan kalakkita... sir, super love story.. mams gethu pannita da you are the next Gotham Basudev Meghan.. boring film not worth the time.. timepass short film all the best do well.., the heroine is sexy plz share her phone number.. free Airtel recharge 4G click here.. camera angles good  but stupid romance story... what is ur next film bro.. click here to download hot sunny leone pictures' etc...

Subramani sent it to 25-30 short film festivals spending one more lakh. With a million INR mark, the Tamil short won the prestigious ‘Best romantic short film of the month’ award, finally, ending up as a real award winning short film, in an online poll event conducted by visual communication department of Zapollo arts college.

A year later..

Saravana Subramani flew to Australia for a long term onsite project. He is currently engaged to his cousin.

Camerapal is still passionate about photography. He frequently shoots and uploads HD pics online. His recent project is ‘My unforgettable honeymoon in Maldives – 34 pictures’.

Arjun Arvind recently ran a 10k TZS Marathon. He dedicatedly shares diet related posts & movie quotes in WhatsApp. He still supports Haam Haadmi party Hejiriwal.

Aishwarya Nandhini Iyer moved to Dallas for her master’s degree and often checks into Chipotle for a Vegan Burrito. Now a budding feminist, she enjoys Gossip Girl and a big fan Game of Thrones.

The colleagues & friends who helped to chip in money for the film are still paying back their ICICI, HDFC, and Canara Bank personal loans.

Reflecting on this process and talking about it over Skype, Subramani once told me, ‘Maybe, I should’ve written the idea as a script first’.

Thoughts on Dileesh Pothan's 'Maheshinte Prathikaaram'

 

    

Full Spoiler Alert. Don't read this if you haven't seen the movie yet. 

The frame opens. We witness Mahesh cleaning his slipper and soaping himself and jumping into the small water body. We as the audience dive into in the life of Mahesh, his life, daily routine, town, home, dad, photo studio, buddies etc. All of this is rendered in a sequence of montages with a beautiful opening song that sets comfortable as niche edited initial pages of the first draft in a pleasant novel which you luckily happen to chosen and flip on a warm Sunday evening. This is a surprise, fresh breeze of the wind for someone like me who come across so many mundane regional movies and every ‘award winning Tamil short film' ever with an opening sequence nauseatingly voiced mostly by the director or one of his film buddies that go like …. 'Alarm clock sound while suprabatham plays in another side. A fellow wakes up slowly and a disgusting voice-over begins… Idhu dhaanga Mahesh. Namba Hero. Idhu avanga appa and amma. Appa: Ne urupadave maata da. Tharudhala. Amma: Appa solra interview ku po pa. Voice over continues.. Idhu avanga udhavadha close friends. Idhu Mahesh oda girl friend Priya. Priya: Ne eppayumey late dhaan da Mahesh. A phone conversation montage followed by the voice over Parunglen namba hero Mahesh phone la epdi kadala podran.  Mahesh love enna aachu. Mahesh enna aana nu namba paaklama.' Why don't you cut the audience throat already? We don't see any of this in Maheshinte Prathikaram or stumble upon an opening sequence with the hero sitting in a bike outside a tea shop mocking his dad and eyeing a girl in the opposite bus stand. Hence, this is indeed new to folks like me. You see where I'm going right. As Mahesh says to his customers in the studio, I adjusted my posture, chin up, shoulder down, eyes open and ready to be genuinely clicked and moved by the art itself over the next few hours. 

After this brief sneak peak into Mahesh's life, we immediately go back to the current time. As a routine, he prepares a drink for him and his father in the night and finds his dad missing. We meet his 2-3 close buddies who help him out in this situation and take him to the police station to file a complaint about the missing father. From his buddies, he learns how odd his father's behavior changed off late. Something that Mahesh hasn't noticed being in the same house with his dad. Just like the fact we realize about our own family/ close one's change in character or behavior from someone else, though we live under the same roof. Disappointed Mahesh comes back home with his friends and finds his father in his own garden taking pictures in the night with a camera. 

After the briefing of Mahesh's life in a song, we see this ‘Daddy is missing' sequence as a guest moved into Mahesh's home and we feel that we were indeed with Mahesh right at this home where all this happened that night. We moved little close to Mahesh now. 

A character named Crispin comes in as a Photoshop assistant for a flex printing shop next to Mahesh's photo studio. Crispin was more like a meta reference to us, the audience. We move even further closer to Mahesh's life and his studio and this is a sign that we are going to meet Mahesh often and get to know him better along with his life circumstances, as the film progresses. 

We then hear about a death of a farmer who Mahesh and his adjacent shop owner were just talking about over their lunch. Mahesh figures out that he is going to meet his childhood crush/ girlfriend at the death ceremony. We get to know more about Mahesh's interest on her, their long distance relationship and the cute romance they share between them. This actually reminded me of the over dramatic Emdan Magan sequence when Barath shouts in joy as if he is now free from his chastity and is all set ready to meet his girl after ages. Now we slowly start to realize how every character, event happenings, actions, and choices are well connected and how everything in the movie has a command and an impact in the film and Mahesh's life in general. 

Mahesh's girlfriend gets a proposal from a financially well off guy. She makes rather a rational decision over an emotional choice and decides to marry that guy. We're left wondering how Mahesh is going to know about this and take it. 

A scene opens on a comedy note, leading to a funny brawl between two folks and a middleman who finally takes the beating in the fight. This scene blows up in a grand way to a whole cause and effect scene leading to a big embarrassment for Mahesh and he ends up getting his arse kicked by a fellow named Jimson in front of everyone in the center of his town. He vows not to wear his slipper again until he beat the hell out his bully. Here, right here, I waited for the frame to freeze and fade to interview card but It didn't. Mahesh comes back home and a news awaits to get his heart kicked out cold now. He learns that his girlfriend has chosen someone else. He hears her breaking down in the phone and saying ‘I am a coward but this is good for both of us'. Mahesh understands her rational choice and situation and realizes she moved on already quick and quiet. He doesn't frown upon days and days and ends up drunk in his father's lap. We don't see his father bathing him clean from his own vomit and advising him to move on like Autograph Cheran's father. Mahesh does not sing ‘Ava enna enna thedi vandha anjala' over few beer with his friends. Mahesh definitely goes through pain. Of course, a huge traumatic one after a heartbreak from his childhood crush, but he handles it smooth, gentle and matured. Perhaps, he was always emotionally prepared for this unfair reality and knew that his heart would be crushed someday, maybe. He decides and prepares to move on. He tries to mend his emotional self and on the pursuit of mending his physical self too, by kicking the bully Jimson's arse. He gears up for a brawl but it's too late that Jimson moved to a foreign country. We all left puzzled now and the frame with Mahesh's barefoot fades to Intermission card. 

This whole sequence, the core of the film, reminded me of Ship of Theseus fame Anand Gandhi's decade old short film Right Here, Right now based on the whole paradigm synchronization of our life choices, the cause-effect of our moods and behavior, and the impact it has on others elements around us. More like a Chaos theory butterfly effect ideology. It would sound funny but I highly advise you to watch it, if not. It's totally magical, how it unfolds, just like life itself. 

The first half alone is so alluring. A lot of events occurred organically in Mahesh's life and you are cliff hanged in the present situation without any reason or answer and you just stand there barefooted, physically and emotionally, with your spirit and existence shocked and staring a plain wall right in front of you. You can choose to end this and leave right here if you are a Nihilist. If you aren't, please continue. 

Just hold on there, still.

The spiritual connection with different characters and factors continues. We get to know that Mahesh has now joined in a Kungfu class to train and beat his bully. He is still in his routine but without a slipper now, a loyal oath keeper. He meets Jimson's sister Jimsy. Jimsy is undoubtedly a special one in Mahesh's life.  We realize this not after a complete character focus on her in the story but by the way she emerges in Mahesh's environment. They fall in love eventually. This is not a typical love at first sight, followed by a rain and ‘Engeyo paartha mayakkam' song sequence. It happened after a cause and effect sequence again but not after a casual meet and greet at Jimson's home. They don't even get to see each other at Jimson's home during Mahesh's visit. 

Her question and remark on Mahesh's profession and his knowledge of the craft shakes his ego deeply. Why did he not just pass her comment as a casual claim on his stereotypic profession and shake it off but takes seriously? Of course, he would've encountered this scenario earlier. But why Jimsy's question is so personal to him.? A result of a cosmic connection he has with her, maybe.  

He learns more about his profession and himself in the next few days. It doesn't happen like a sudden spark of an idea or a brain freeze. He naturally liberates his traditional perspective and gets a better understanding of his craft's potential and senses an artistic awakening. All of this unwraps beautifully in a soulful sequence where his dog, who was always chained in the first half of the film, breaks free and runs in front of him, turns and gives him a stare. We understand how important the dog is to Mahesh, even though we aren't spoon fed in any scene about Mahesh's affection for his dog by hugging him or playing Frisbee with him or practice a romantic proposal or poem in front of him like our actors from other regional films does. Remember, every character and object in the movie has a significance and purpose. 

He then encounters a Mayakam Enna esque realization in the woods. He tries to create a similar magic with his craft on Jimsy and it works. He gets her picture published in the cover of a local magazine. He finds a small, sweet victory and a pat on the back. A little win that we all expect and necessarily want in the dire times of our lives. Jimsy understands his life situation from her friend and sorts out a big conviction between them over a phone and suggests to talk to her on the face if he is okay with her hard truth of being Jimson's sister. All of this quickly over a phone, you see, and not in a dramatic scene built up with tight close-ups and emotional bursts and vigilante promises in a rain backdrop. Mahesh ultimately chose love. The angst to avenge Jimsy's brother still lies within and in a dramatic fight he wins Jimson and wears his favorite slipper back. He goes to hospital meets Jimson and asks for his sister's hand and wins her. All of this happens and we feel nothing here as clichéd. Just like Mahesh we and walk away but we realize and understand that all of this is part of a grand design. Everything happens here for a reason solely based on an outcome of an event or a previous choice by another entity in one's ecosystem. 

Every one of us is Mahesh in our town, own comfort zone, with our little happiness, joy, anger, limitations and worst fears. Even a slight disturbance in this ecology has an impact, creates a story and it changes us for the better or worse. We see the movie not just from Mahesh's axis but also from the other dimensions too. We laugh, feel sad, left puzzled and finally share a win along with Mahesh. For someone who is obsessed with catching up details in every frame of a movie and embrace every character in a film, Maheshinte Prathikaaram is a treat and a visual delight to watch. The blend of realism in a mainstream commercial film is nothing new to some exceptional Indian films especially the Malayalam ones. Even Fahad Fazil's earlier films like North 24 Kaatham and Annayum Rasoolum are a testimony for the same. We need more films like this in Tamil and a Kaaka Muttai and Visaaranai alone cannot satisfy our immense appetite for the art.