Kannathil Muthamittal ( A peck on the cheek) and theeviravadi( Terrorist ) are the two films that brought the Tamil Eelam war onto celluloid beautifully. The former was directed by our own Master film maker Mani Ratnam and the latter by Mani Ratnam's favourite cinematographer , the master lensman Santosh sivan. Mani Ratnam once quoted saying to a producer that " Why should the cinematographer be changed, can we change the lead actor rajini in the film instead " ? . This happened during the pre-production of Thalapathi which was the start of the Santosh Sivan & Mani Ratnam's association. The Duo later went to work a list of critically acclaimed films like Roja, Iruvar, Dil Se and Raavan.
This post just shows light upon both the films and the way it was made. Both the films are critically acclaimed and got many awards from film festivals world wide. Kannathil Muthamittal is a poignant tale about a young girl's search for her biological mother in the backdrop of the Tamil Eelam/ srilankan Civil war. Mani Ratnam has given us a beautiful tale about love and seperation with a rich palette of characters in the backdrop of a civil war. One wonders how he comes up with such bold, brave themes one after the other. Starting from the Kashmir problem or the satyavan savithri story of Roja, hindi-muslim riots of Bombay , MGR-Kalaignar friendship in Iruvar, Terrorism in Dil se. All the stories are about a tale of friendship and love in the background of war.
Kannathil Muthamittal captured how a family suffers in srilanka to find the Kid's biological mother with the growing tension of war. This is essentially about the J.D. Chakravarthy - Nandita das story in srilanka as well as the Madhavan- Simran story in chennai. The growth of both the couple's life in a time span of 15 Years. There are a few sequences in the movie that will stay in your heart for a long time, Keerthana the lead girl, finding girl's at her age having a pistol at her hands fighting war, The vidai kodu engal naade song sung by MS Vishwanathan sir when the srilankan army literally demolishes the entire village of maankulam, the climax confrontation between the mother and the child, visuals of the Vellai Pookal song sung by the A R Rahman himself, A srilankan tamil speaking guy giving his life by running himself into an army brigade. Its those sequences that shows light on the tamil eelam war and the human's affected by it. Its a strong moral based theme that touches a chord and sparks a tear from your eyes.
The genius of Mani sir lies in his choice of actors and the production of the film. Have you imagined madhavan playing a dad of three children with glasses on? . It is Simran's best performance we all agree. She has given a very subtle performance that deserves credits. The show stealer has been indeed Keerthana, Parthiban's daugther who has got the best debut and acknowledged rightly so with a national award. A few questions arise in the subconscious mind on how both madhavan and simran convinced themselve to tell the child the truth. How come keerthana understands the complexity of the issue and searches for her mother. Its a visual spectacle and stays in our hearts as one of the best we would have seen.
The film was a brave attempt from a director of commercial main stream cinema. It was very much a significant piece of art aesthetically and culturally. The film itself was an inspiration from sujatha's life. Sujatha was played by Madhavan a real life inspiration from Mani sir. It has been rumoured that, the screenplay and story was written by Sujatha. This is a visually brilliant work handled by Ravi K chandran, edited by Sreekar Prasad and composed by A R Rahman. Ravi K chandran, Sreekar Prasad, AR Rahman, Sound designer A S laxmi Narayan, lyricist vairmuthu and Mani Ratnam got six well deserved national awards for their product. Leave alone the national awards. The film was India's offical entry onto the 2004's cannes film fest and won best film at the los angeles film fest, jerusalem film fest.
Coming to the best part, the film's sound track. Its an A R Rahman's master piece for a Mani Ratnam film and the rest is history. This is a hugely diverse album having 7 songs composed by AR Rahman and recorded at his very own panchatan studios. Vellai Pookal one of AR Rahman's best composition and has also introduced our very own chinmayi with this album. She has sung the title track for the movie, oru deivam thanda poove. The album also features vidai kodu engal naade sung by M.S.V sir. Interesting that AR Rahman has used silence effectively in the Background score.
Hats off Mani Sir :)
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