Online Galatta - Mazha - Classical Rain

Page 1
Page 2

Page 1
Page 2

Page 1

It is a simple tale of a +2 student Subhadra, shortly known as Bhadra, a talented girl, born and brought up in Bangalore comes to her ancestoral village Shivapuram somewhere in Tamilnadu. She gets a chance to meet Ramanujam Iyer (Biju Menon) under whom she learns music. He too happens to be of same literary taste but bit cynical about life. There blossoms a beautiful relationship that treads the middle path between love and friendship. Bhadra's father unapproving this relationship moves her to another city. After years Bhadra becomes a doctor and gets married to Chandran (Lal). Theirs is a typical love & hate marriage life and one fine day Chandran also passes away. Bhadra visits Shivapuram with a hope atleast Ramanujam is happy.

{mosimage}The movie has a lyrical quality which eventually carries an undercurrent of slight pathos all over. Every character is happy doing their own thing but beneath underlies a feeling of letdown that things didn't happen actually the way they loved to be. Hey... this doesn't mean that the movie is dark and brooding but simply practical. Infact the movie is enlightening throughout. Every character moves ahead accepting the way things happen. Eg. When Bhadra's father transports to new place once he comes to know the relationship between Ramanujam and her, Bhadra accepts this and instead of choosing any self destructive mechanisms, she becomes a doctor.

Screenplay of the movie was neat and when I viewed for the first time, I was wondering how can they make any script without any sudden twists and turns. But when I accepted that the movie was just to portray the journey of the girl, I found it simply amazing. I think since we got used to all gimmicks in Tamil & Hindi movies we find it difficult watching malayalam movies. I remember the interview of Lenin Rajendran after getting best film award, saying "Many people called me at nights after seeing it in video to say that it distubed them a lot. Why can't they watch in theatres when it was released and patronise good movies rather than making it a cult classic but commercial flop?". I think this is the bane of good attempts on the celluloid screen.

There are many scenes in the movie that command your attention and savour for times. Especially the Shivapuram sequences and the unadultrated romantic sort of scenes that shows the sweet things brewing between Bhadra & Ramanujam. Besides these the scenes Bhadra tries to pick pieces and put up to save her marriage hitting the rocks were worth watching. Bhadra does it with style without losing her self respect. When her husband questions about her "Krishnan" she replies that she was in love with somebody at her tender age and she was happy that she was a virgin when she was married to Chandran, but was not for being so when her loyalty towards the marriage was doubted. A hard hitting answer that will drive any chauvanist to death.

Page 2

Bhadra's characterisation was simply mindblowing that any actress would give a right hand to do it. The role was not only challenging but down-to-earth also. She was very practical enough to accept the realities yet stand up rather than succumbing to it. Even though she was undergoing through "marital rapes", that doesn't deter her from loving her husband. Yet she doesn't pick up things lying low, and does what she feels right. Her persistence pays and when Chandran realises his chauvanism, Bhadra emerges as winner.

{mosimage}It was a Samyukta Varma's show out & out. No wonder this performence got her the coveted Filmfare award for best actress. She was convincingly as a teenager as well as a middle aged doctor. Towards the end you'll wonder whether it is the same Samyukta you saw in the start of the movie. The journey of an innocent girl toughened by the time yet retaining that vulnerability was safe in the hands of Samyukta Varma. I could go on writing instances and instances about the nuances of her subtle acting skills in this review, but if I do it might spoil actual viewing. Her smile wide with that grins, even though reminding of Revathy sometimes, was wonderful. Those small eyes... they are really complementing in mirroring the emotions Bhadra undergoes. It sparkles with joy, radiates beams of exuberence as well as hauntedness. If you noticed those eyes oozing romance, don't think that she was acting best, because those feelings were real. Biju Menon & Samyukta fell in love while making this movie and got married after their trilogy with "Madhuranombara Kaatru" & "Meghamalhar".

The supporting cast was well chosen. Sindhu who played as Gnanam, wife of Ramanujam was competent and convincing 100% as a Tamil Brahmin girl. Urmila Unni, who was the aunt of Samyuka Varma in real life, played Bhadra's mother role to perfect. Biju Menon, Jagathi, Lal were good.

{mosimage}As told that this is a musical, amply supported by late. Raveendran, the genius who propelled semi-classical numbers in malayalam cinema. The characters talk a lot about music, that if you are not inclined towards music you might find this flick alien. There was an overflow of Carnatic music on the movie in ever frame of Shivapuram scenes. The Neelambari based hummings, songs on Amirtavarshini & other ragas are exhilirating. My favourite pick are Yesudsas & Arundathi sung "Himashila soundaryamai", "Gheyam Harinamadheyam" & Chitra Solo "Vaarmukile...". Most of my non-malayalee friends fell in love with this Chitra's number. This is one of the best works of Late. Raveendran.

Another best aspect of this movie is S.Kumar's cinematography. His way of lightings were very different. May be he realised that this is a heroine oriented movie, he portrayed Samyukta like a Goddess on screen. He rightly captured the essence of her adoloscence during Shivapuram episode and that maturity after marriage in Cochin scenes. His frame compositions were not only beautiful, but also didn't override the emotional content in the process of stamping in his trademark. The perfect mixture of light and darkness in shooting the temple scenes, and proper use of steadycam and trolley shows his astuteness about his skill. Infact I learnt a lot about frame composition from this movie. Most of the frames were with natural lights and perfectly co-ordinated colour schemes. I had become a big fan of Kumar from this movie only even though I had seen his previous works.

In short this movie is worth watching many times and I bought a VCD for my library simply because it is a classic. You can watch this movie in a relaxed manner along with your family and above all end with a satisfaction of reading a good novel. I wanted to take it to next generation of my cousins and kids to show that good cinema existed. I hope they too will like it.