2024, Tamil, Theatrical, 8.3/10 IMDB, Directed by C. Prem Kumar
Published in National Award winning Movie Critic, Baradwaj Rangan’s blog on 3rd October 2024
Up close and personal with a duo, one who wallows in pain and the other gleefully witty, each taking inspirations from the other, to become a forgiving soul and a better human than what they both already are. Their interpersonal interactions emitting love and goodness, rubs off and prompts virtuousness. The film documents sensory pleasures through gestures, facial expressions, tone and body language, multiplying the dimensions of the undemanding story.
Only a very few have the bandwidth to detach, especially from their houses, even if it is an unpretentious abode. For many, ‘Home’, is the collective ‘tangible soul’ of ancestors, who lived there for generations. Young Arulmozhi played by the charming Saran Shakthi, comforted by the trunk of ‘Baby’ the elephant, is seen bidding farewell. He is parting not just his ‘ancestral house’ in a family partition, but we infer he also parts his nativity, his identity and his happiness. The soulful music stirs the vacuum with equally distressing lyrics referring to ‘going away as a mere skeleton’. I was left to sob silently, wondering if it was the lamenting music, the father who wants to flee before dawn to evade the pitying eyes of relatives and neighbours, the emptiness of the house when the doors are shut, with us audience standing lost inside the darkness of the locked house, or was it the director who had composed it all together to begin the movie’s narration with. Bet it was all of the above.
Arul helps his mom dig the concrete plastering beneath the worn out ‘Ammikal’- mortar and pestle, so it could be shifted to Chennai with them. But, the pain of losing a house in its entirety, makes him numb to ask for his old cycle be thrust in to the van that was already crammed and ready to move. As viewers, we witness the house having a destiny of its own, and now we are hinted, so will the old cycle, and we await the comeback of it, in the later half, thanks to those teasing teasers and prompting promos.
Arvindswamy, the grown Arulmozhi, and his parents in Chennai, are seen the same old ‘self-sympathizing, dwellers of the past’. We audience are left to accompany Arvind on his journey to a village named ‘Needamangalam’, adjacent to his native town Thanjavur, along with his wife Hema, played by the soothing Devadharshini, who stays connected over phone. The director’s surreal characterization leaves us hooked in reminiscence, for each of our lives would have a tale of such a relative who opted living ingonito, an agnathavasam, in my case, my aunt and her family.
Karthi is introduced as an amusing charmer, the native ‘go-to-relative’ who is closely knit with the whole bunch of relatives and their lives. Again, I was left to recollect my cousin, who is my maternal family’s go-to-person, for his relative database, guides us to invite the relatives in person for an event in any of our houses, say a marriage. The point of views of Arvind and Karthi are striking contrasts. While Karthi idolized Arvind, Karthi is a mere ‘motor mouth’ annoyance for Arvind. The movie comes a full circle when Arvind’s opinions are reversed, as he is sent on a soul search through the eyes of the other, while trying to understand who Karthi is. For Karthi, it is thanksgiving but for Arvind it is to find his lost ‘happy’ self.
The screenplay is at is strongest, sans any loose ends like the ‘black ribbon’ on Karthi’s shirt is a prologue for him being an activist. Every prop, dialogue, gesture and character have a purpose, for they are part of this honest narrative. The wives of Karthi and Aravindswamy not accompanying them to the wedding, is the solitude monger, Director C Prem Kumar’s pattern to get into his forte of ‘deep talks’.
As the two men, begin to bond over a couple of earthen pot drink, conversations begin to unveil Karthi’s character and the actor devours the opportunity to own the screen space. Karthi’s characterization is much more complex and the director keeps adding layers of genuinity, gullibility and nativism to arrive at the modern-day warrior, that he is. His empathy, his historic affiliation, political sensibilities- the man is a role model. Those are the exact words of Arvind to his wife on reaching back to Chennai – Karthi is an epitome of good Samaritans and he is no where near Karthi.
The cycle has a comeback in the later half as predicted and it turns Arvind a teen, and Karthi, his mom who had safe-kept the child’s favourite possession, not to surprise him someday, but as a memento, a souvenir, a life changing instrument, a Deity. After a frantic search on the wall hung school photo, trying to remember and identify who Karthi is, Arvind cringes, in comparison, realizing he doesn’t know the name of the ‘being’, who drenches him with love.
The director opts to make Arvind flee Karthi’s house, just like his family did long ago, in the middle of the night. But this time in a different kind of shame. On his mad rush out of the house, he clutches the slippers of Karthi closer to his chest, the ones he wore mistakenly, turns back with tears gushing, and looks longingly into the alley, just to see if Karthi is coming to stop him flee. In the beautifully composed sequence, Arvind proclaims to the world, what his true potentials are.
Karthi’s wife Nandhini played by Sri Divya, stays true to her mythological name, for Nadhini is the daughter of Kamadenu, the bovine goddess who fulfils all the desires. We witness Nandhini fulfilling all possible wishes of Karthi and Karthi duly reciprocating in fulfilling hers. The ace director, beautifully intertwines the sentiments of the two men, by merging in the common denominator – ‘Home’. The self-made person Karthi, says he bought his father-in-law’s house by paying off the shares of Nandhini’s siblings, just to bring back happiness in his wife’s face. The scene stirs the conscience of the audience as we are inevitability left to weigh the lives of Arvind’s and Karthi’s.
The wildlife cinematographer turned director couldn’t refrain from capturing the parallel lives of animals and birds, around us humans. The pandemonium of parrots, the red bulbul building its nest under a cart, the cat stepping out of the cricket helmet, the gigantically grown temple elephant, the Kangeyam Jallikattu bull, the pedicuring ayira kunjugal (spiny loaches fingerlings), the cobra and its supposed hatchlings at the backyard – we have them all fascinatingly co-existing in Meiyazhagan..
Director explores all possible dimensions of love through his characters, for ‘Meiyazhagan’ is an embodiment of love, both literally and figuratively. Cousin sister Bhuvana, rejoices Arvind turning up for the wedding with gifts to treasure. Bus conductor Jaggu, an old student of his father’s, takes liberty to insist Arvind to ignore conflicts with a few, respect the love of the majority and visit home town more frequently. Latha, his cousin regrets marrying an alcoholic instead of marrying Arvind and she forces a second serve of rice with overflowing love.
The wedding caterer insists Arvind taste ‘Ashoga Halwa’. The florist outside the temple says, it is ‘Our God’, and He won’t mind if Arvind hasn’t bathed. The beautiful bond between Kanagarasu, the ‘no-face’ handy boy and Karthi, are such amusing reels, as they poke fun at each other. It is Govind Vasnath’s music that elevates these visuals and like in ‘96’, their combination assists translating the Director’s emotions in the right context, that he had envisioned.
Characterizations with high moral values, elevated in style, makes this noble premise, rise above the ordinary. Love inspires, Love heals, Love transforms people, Love motivates forgiveness and Love conceptualizes and celebrates works like ‘Meiyazhagan’. Oh yeah, ‘Anbe Arutperum Mei’- Love is the divine truth.
https://baradwajrangan.wordpress.com/2024/10/03/readers-write-in-737-meiyazhagan/