'Ore Kadal' was not just any other Malayalam movie to miss. This DVD was on my shelf for more than a year before I decided to watch it. Thanks to my trip to Andhra as I got some fine free time to watch what ever it pleased. This could be the boldest attempt in the history of Malayalam cinema to show an adulterous relationship and the bitter consequences of it , in a serious manner. Story or the way of telling it, never try to glorify the relationship. Remember the way our esteemed director Mani compromised on the script, on showing the relationship between Anandan (a loose portrayal of the real life tamil icon MGR) and Kalpana ( the real life muse of MGR and another big name in the history of tamil nadu , Jayalalitha) in arguably the best movie he ever made, 'IRUVAR'. He had to come up with a foolish idea to glorify the relationship. The idea was, Anandan (who plays an actor) realizes that his new heroine looked exactly the way his passed-away wife Pushpa looked ,and develops an affection towards her. In one scene, you can even see, that Anandan urges his wife Ramani, (played by Gouthami) not to cast kalpana in his new film, despite her proven acting(dancing) skills. On the Contrary 'Ore Kadal' shows how a non-intellectual, moderately educated woman of lower middle class being seduced by the rogue charm of a socially isolated, pure intellectual who is much elder to her. This male chauvinistic protagonist has got a bad habit of denying the existence of anything except him and his ego unless it's academically or physically interesting to him. The Character Nathan or its portrayal by Mammotty never seemed to be convincing though. Even Ramya's character had nothing much to do but her character holds good, being just a female body to relive Nathan of the pressures of his carnal desires. Entire movie is driven by Meera Jasmin's performance, who played the role of the female lead. Meera could easily and successfully emote the moments of unbalanced mental equilibrium in a fine subtle way , shying away from all those stereo typical schizophrenic characters . This change was nice to watch. Another Character which looked realistic was her husbands' role played by Naren. Despite all these mediocre performances and depthless characters, Movie was a still a good experience, probably because of the strong theme and an experienced cast. The way the movie ends deserves a special remark. When the little girl (who happens to be a byproduct of the adulterous relationship)takes the stairs to her biological fathers' home, with that innocent dubious looks and tiny unsure steps, that conveys them all. The Name Ore Kadal, or ’The Same Sea' gets its real meaning there. Was It an imagery showing a small innocent girl child growing up into the abyss of endless suffering of a middle class Indian women Or was it something else, to say, ‘Searching for her Mother’ keeping the psychological meaning of the phrase in tact.
Saturday, March 27, 2010
Ore Kadal
'Ore Kadal' was not just any other Malayalam movie to miss. This DVD was on my shelf for more than a year before I decided to watch it. Thanks to my trip to Andhra as I got some fine free time to watch what ever it pleased. This could be the boldest attempt in the history of Malayalam cinema to show an adulterous relationship and the bitter consequences of it , in a serious manner. Story or the way of telling it, never try to glorify the relationship. Remember the way our esteemed director Mani compromised on the script, on showing the relationship between Anandan (a loose portrayal of the real life tamil icon MGR) and Kalpana ( the real life muse of MGR and another big name in the history of tamil nadu , Jayalalitha) in arguably the best movie he ever made, 'IRUVAR'. He had to come up with a foolish idea to glorify the relationship. The idea was, Anandan (who plays an actor) realizes that his new heroine looked exactly the way his passed-away wife Pushpa looked ,and develops an affection towards her. In one scene, you can even see, that Anandan urges his wife Ramani, (played by Gouthami) not to cast kalpana in his new film, despite her proven acting(dancing) skills. On the Contrary 'Ore Kadal' shows how a non-intellectual, moderately educated woman of lower middle class being seduced by the rogue charm of a socially isolated, pure intellectual who is much elder to her. This male chauvinistic protagonist has got a bad habit of denying the existence of anything except him and his ego unless it's academically or physically interesting to him. The Character Nathan or its portrayal by Mammotty never seemed to be convincing though. Even Ramya's character had nothing much to do but her character holds good, being just a female body to relive Nathan of the pressures of his carnal desires. Entire movie is driven by Meera Jasmin's performance, who played the role of the female lead. Meera could easily and successfully emote the moments of unbalanced mental equilibrium in a fine subtle way , shying away from all those stereo typical schizophrenic characters . This change was nice to watch. Another Character which looked realistic was her husbands' role played by Naren. Despite all these mediocre performances and depthless characters, Movie was a still a good experience, probably because of the strong theme and an experienced cast. The way the movie ends deserves a special remark. When the little girl (who happens to be a byproduct of the adulterous relationship)takes the stairs to her biological fathers' home, with that innocent dubious looks and tiny unsure steps, that conveys them all. The Name Ore Kadal, or ’The Same Sea' gets its real meaning there. Was It an imagery showing a small innocent girl child growing up into the abyss of endless suffering of a middle class Indian women Or was it something else, to say, ‘Searching for her Mother’ keeping the psychological meaning of the phrase in tact.
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