Like a gentle smile...

Kuttram Kadithal has been awarded the National Award for Best Movie - Tamil, this year (2014). Awards, especially before the release of a movie, are quite dangerous. It is the equivalent of too much marketing which brings in hyped up expectancy. From my view point, it is a movie that certainly and thankfully deserves the honour it has been bestowed with. The movie has been released online (in legal online forums like HeroTalkies and TentKotta) along with the normal theatrical release - I am really glad for the producers' decision. I just hope that it can become a norm and not a rarity.

This isn't the kind of movie where the unexpected happens, but I would suggest watching it without knowing the storyline or even the actors. I am not an authority to talk about the technical aspect of any movie, but the cinematography of this movie is something to behold.

The narrative just sucks you in. Even when you know and can guess the storyline and even the reaction of the people involved, it keeps you going to see what exactly they do: this is mainly because, these people actually do what normal people do. It is infact, a blasphemy to call them characters. There are some movies where the normalcy of the character is mounted and made to stand center stage, here they just are.

I cannot remember the last movie, which wasn't directed by Mani Ratnam, where the characters actually do normal place things while they are delivering dialogs:

• The daughter packs her lunch box and doesn't forget to take some pickle for her curd rice, even while she is pleading with her mother over phone to stop fighting with her.
• Something unusual and disturbing has occured, but the wife who comes back home doesn't forget to grind the soaked rice for next morning's idli. And this is not shown to us with pointers, but by simply making her walk with her batter soaked hand to open the door for her husband. She tells him to not to worry and in the same breath asks him to have his dinner and not to forget to take his pills. You know that the man is diabetic because of this and the fact that in a previous scene they both were out for their regular morning walks. And the beauty of  it is, neither the batter nor the Diabetes is actually relevant to the context of the movie, but it is relevant to the character themselves.
• A man goes to a mother's place to find out about the whereabouts of her offspring. She is running a prayer meeting, he waits. He decides to have a smoke and then stops, he might or might not be atheistic, but that doesn't mean he is going to 'disrespect' her faith. Wow!
• An inspector is conducting a case, she is making some calls from her home. Amidst her calls, she eats Maggi. It is only after seeing the Maggi that I remembered her asking her son in a previous scene, about what he wants for dinner. When was the last time a movie showed us that normal people make plain, no vegetables Maggi for dinner?

There are many, many more of such little gems. They are never on your face and never distract you from what is actually happening, but these little things tell you that all these people have existed before this and will continue to do so after the movie is going to be done.

Bharathiyar's Chinnanjiru Killiye, which runs as a background song to the amazingly done visuals, is probably when I gave my heart to this movie. The scenes corelating to his Kannathil Muthamittal and Un kannil neer vazhindhaal part of the song actually brought a lump to my throat. The last movie that I actually cried for is Mahanadhi, and that was over a decade ago.

This is probably the only movie ever made where the women are normal. Yes, really. A mother, who lives alone, actually has a life that doesn't require her grown up daughter's presence. She drives a two wheeler and has an agenda for everyday. An inspector beautifully juggles her job and her house. A mother, one half of a couple who lost their child, is actually the stronger one. She hasn't lost her compassion, but she has hardened her heart better than her husband. Another mother, who is a widow and frail looking, is anything but. She actually drives an auto for her living, this isn't to make a statement, but it is her humble livelihood, she has her son to take care of.

In complete contrast to these women, it is the heroine who is actually frail. I call her heroine for the lack of a better word. The movie isn't about her, but she is the one who drives a bigger chunk of the story. She has married outside her religion and she herself isn't very sure about that. She loves her husband, but is confused about embracing his religion or not; it is amusing, because her husband is not a religious man. It is she who gets confused about whether or not to hide her thaali, it is she who insists that he has to put the sacred vermilion on her forehead and in the next breath insists that they need to go to the church next day. He doesn't give a damn either way, he says as much: edhukku idhelaam? He doesn't tell her to wear any religious signatures, but she wants to. And then when something untoward happens, she is convinced that it is because she has betrayed her religion. This layer in her character is quite beautiful: it doesn't judge her, but just shows that she is confused.

So, with all this obvious beauty of this movie, I was quite jarred to see a caricatured Tam-Bram character. I mean, this is a movie that doesn't vilify any religion, which is pretty much an impossible feat, because the whole movie has the Christian imagery running. (Er, ok, I am not a Christian, so maybe my feelings on this subject doesn't count.) It doesn't even vilify any characters, no one is judged or punished, and then this. But, it wasn't quite distracting as I feared, the said character doesn't have many scenes, so all is well.

Oh yes, let me not forget. The circus which is shown as the media! The media has been portrayed as very on the face and downright annoying, but in the current context of the things, I am not very sure whether this was right or wrong.

Altogether, an amazing, amazing movie.

Notes:

Bharathiyar - An epic poet of pre-independence era. His song 'Chinnanjiru Killiye' is an ode to a daughter by a parent, mostly a father.

Kannathil muthamitaal - If (I) kiss (your) cheek...

Un kannil neer vazhindhaal - If tears fall from your eyes...

Thaali - Mangalsutra. Tamil films of a certain era are known for their 'thaali sentiment' scenes.

Edhukku idhelaam - This is unnecessary.