An improved version of this article was published in Film Companion. . .What is more exciting is that the article was chosen for publication by Baradwaj Rangan, Editor, Film Companion (South), a winner of the Best Film Critic National Award and above all an authority on Mani Ratnam.
O Kadhal Kanmani (Apr, 2015) ended the legendary Mani Ratnam’s 15-year long dry spell in Kollywood. The film maker had touched new lows consistently with back to back creations in the form of Ravanan and Kadal. While Ravanan was pardonable as it was essentially a slice from the classic Ramayanam, Kadal was a mutation that went wrong — a new species that did not know how and why it got created in the first place. The world could have been a better place without that. In short, Kadal was an evolutionary confusion. And it was then, much to our relief, OK Kanmani sprouted from the primordial Mani Ratnam material
What is the most used thing in a Mani Ratnam film? Yes, mirror. What is the next one? Of course, train. In the very first scene of Kanmani we see a train chugging into the Mumbai’s CST; hero Aditya (a refreshingly urban Dulquer Salmaan) arrives; right then through the gaps in the coaches of moving trains he notices the heroine Tara (a bubbly Nithya Menen) almost on the verge of jumping in front of an oncoming train. Tara just had a spat with her boyfriend. It was about their marriage. With P.C.Sreeram joining hands with the director, again after a gap of fifteen years, the beautifully shot scene directly places us inside the Mani Ratnam kingdom. Well yes, the eyes too meet through the gaps in the moving trains.
Who is a cryptologist? While the normal guys are intimidated by the term, Mani Ratnam fans love a cryptologist, who is basically someone like Avind Swamy in Roja. Now it is the turn to introduce another new job position in Kollywood — a video game developer. (Detour: My earliest memory of an on screen video game developer is from 101 Dalmatians, 1996) If Karthik (Alaipayuthey) could be a software engineer in the dotcom times of 2000, Adi should be a video game developer in 2015. Simple. Linear career progression. But it works. And what is the game that he develops? Mumbai 2.0. (Mani 2.0?) Desi game, for desi kids. And the game too starts in a Mumbai local train. By then Kanmani is already an overdose of the familiar Mani Ratnam delicacies. But that is what we had been craving for. Hang on, soon just like in Alaipayuthey, the hero-heroine meeting happens in a wedding. And within moments they talk about their idea of love, marriage, family and life — in a few short sentences.
The first ‘Mani Ratnam Film’ as in ‘a Mani Ratnam Film’ was Mouna Raagam. Released in the year 1986 the film held a mirror to the tradition of arranged or forced marriage that is a common practice even now. The story is about the how a lady who gets pushed into a married life struggles; and how she goes on to find love and meaning in her new role as a wife. Though her husband is a nice guy, she starts off with a divorce notice — but ends up getting transformed into a caring wife. It is about nice people finding the right perspectives and getting nice to each other under one roof. . . Happily ever after! Mouna Raagam was a huge hit, and in fact the film gave us ‘Mani Ratnam’. After successfully venturing out in a variety of subjects like underworld, biopic, patriotic stuff, kids drama and Kollywood masala, in his own trademark style, the film maker got back to his ‘nice people getting nice to each other’ mould with Alaipayuthey. While Mouna Raagam explored the subject of arranged marriage, Alaipayuthey was about love marriages. It showed even love marriages could get screwed up badly if the love and care gets lost down the line. Love marriage or arranged marriage, only love wins. (But the final destination was always a marriage.)
Again venturing out in different genres in Kollywood, mostly without success, the emperor struck back with OK Kanmani. This time too, only love won. But adapting to the times, rather than exploring ‘love’ and how it should be made to work in the tradition of wedlock, Kanmani finds a sweet spot in ‘live-in’ relations. Mani 2.0. Live-in relation was not something new to Tamil cinema. If you think of it, the concept of live-in was embedded in Apoorva Raganagal (1975). Stretching too far? Okay, but no one can deny it was a live-in relation in Karthik Subburaj’s debut Pizza (2012). But with the magical touch of Mani Ratnam the idea of live-in got fancier and more mainstream.
Kanmani is replete with the usual seemingly quirky dialogues and beautiful ‘romance scenes’ that have been the director’s forte. Can’t help but awe that he had maintained his brand over the decades; the golden touch, with regular updates. Just watch the trailer of the film and you will get a hint of what I am talking about. In the lines just after they make out for the first time, the lady asks: Enna pudichirukka..?..illa indha kasa-musa thaana? He says: Kasa-musa pudichiruku.. atha thaandi unnayum konjam. Just konjam! Onnu-aaru rooba pudichirukku.. Can you believe it?
The contour of the screenplay too is set up wisely. Firstly, the basic concept of ‘live-in’ is explained (to Vasudevan played by Prakash Raj, representing the old generation), then a character belonging to the middle age-generation (Saroja, sister-in-law of the hero) opposes the concept, then we have the gen-z (Tara and her friend) discuss the dos-and-don’ts of a live-in and the final part of the screenplay — resolves the complex intersection of love-wedding-individuality without turning preachy.
The film was loaded with the film maker’s trademark elements of strong female characters, beautiful romance, tasteful visuals, wonderful songs and music, bold and enjoyable scenes, two-word dialogues, mirrors, trains and rain, songs that carry the story, dry wit and above all a ‘socially acceptable’ ending. That’s how OK Kanmani, brought us back the Mani Ratnam film we had been longing for since the year 2000. It was more like cherishing the pages of your college slam book or an old photo album — remastered. May be it was Mani Ratnam’s modern day interpretation of his own Alaipayuthey. Plainly, just an intelligent rehash of his own earlier works. But whatever it was — O Kadhal Kanmani was a thorough entertainer. A whiff of fresh air.
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