Movie Review- OK Kanmani (2015)

When was the last time I watched a movie concealing an 'inconcealable' sheepish grin that is nothing more than a symptom of pure intoxication throughout its running time ? When Tara tiptoes to rise up to Dulquer feasting his face with her engulfing eyes, and says “Enna Kanmani na koopta?” I was smitten. I frankly want to ask my engaged friends what is the call-out name they have for their sweethearts. Have you ever called them ‘Kanmani’? Doesn’t it sound too old-fashioned ? Doesn’t ‘Kanmani’ sound too incongruous to the exotic plush of the places where you practice love such as Barista, Express Avenue, Pizza Hut? Then how does Tara fall for that 3000 year old word from Adi? Or try calling your love with that word and see how she reacts. I don’t know. This is what a Mani Ratnam or Gautham Menon can do to movies. They hate the so-called, so-much-in-demand trite ‘realism’ and weave worlds of fantasy which becomes instantly relatable to us because they are textured with some kind of a real life sensibility. The real life sensibility is essentially upper-class and rooted in the milieu of the maker. These are niche movies in every sense of the word. If you want realism, download Satyajit Ray and hang yourself from your ceiling.

The reason why I am almost celebrating this movie is because I was responsible for making it work for me more than it would have, even for the film maker. I had a tight schedule for the last three days and nearly forgot that I had booked for this film this weekend. This morning, only when I started for the film I realized that I am going in for a Mani Ratnam movie and what to expect from it. This is in complete contrast to what I did for Shankar’s ‘I’, dreaming about the movie for months together and gathering every piece of information about it like how a hungry hen gleans for its bit of grain when everything is almost over. The film, in short, gave the pleasure of a cancelled plan, the elevating high of an unexpected office holiday, the liberating satiety of a sudden chicken biriyani offered to you when you are being consumed by depression.

A few days back when people were raving about ‘Mental Manadhil’ , I chose to download it and put a testing tongue into it to examine its much-revered taste. I was disappointed frankly. People told me it would improve on subsequent hearings and I could not concur. And when I type this review in the searing heat of my solitary room space, I have to acknowledge that I am stifling my every instinct to break out into an orgiasmic shout of ‘Mana Mana Mana Mental Manadhil’.

Look at the scene when the couple meet for the first time. It happens in a wedding at a church. He spots her distinctly among the crowd and to his surprise, she is already staring at him. They do not go and meet instantly but communicate through charming gesticulations for quite a while. Their world is complete, in just an instant. They keep talking even after they leave the hall and come to the facade of the church. Generally as a convention, scenes like this will show the conversing couple intercut with shots that describe the events that go around them. Here the camera does not leave them for an instant. Their detachment from the external world is total. They have found each other as though they are fulfilling a prophecy. They are unconcerned about their environment as much as we are. The camera leaves them only after they stop talking and rejoin the real world.

People were praising P.C.Sreeram’s cinematography in the movie. By cinematography, they refer to the lighting, the color tone of the film and I don’t know if that is really a talking point in a Mani movie. When you are asked about how well did Dravid play an innings, wouldn’t be superfluous to say that the innings was technically first rate. Isn’t that a taken-for granted aspect? When Dravid swings his bat to play a stunning hook shot that sends the ball to the six and that is something worth noting. When Tara turns to Adi and suggests ‘living’ the rest of the ten days of togetherness to its fullest, I couldn’t prevent myself from wondering at the beauty of the frame. Please look at that shot. ‘How marvelous her motionless face cuts itself out in deep relief against the rippling waters of the calm Arabian sea’.

When I was slowly curling a tuft of my cephalic hair with my fingers to guess how Mani was going to preach the lessons of the old-school morality to the young couple, the scene where they wait in a hospital for a pregnancy test arrived. It was a masterstroke to have Kaniha give tips to Adi on pregnancy issues and childbirth. My heart was sinking and I began prognosticating a climax where a cute, lovable baby unites its parents into a forced marital union.  When Tara, at the end of the scene declares why she actually brought him to the hospital, I was reveling in a relief of amazement.

Performances? Dulquer has nothing to do. Nithya Menon has the upper hand here and a lesser heroine would have fleshed Dulquer’s work out neatly in contrast to others and made it look like a top-notch performance. What a choice Menon is!! She is neither petite nor sexy. Her plumpness teams beautifully with her cherubic face and how effortlessly she nails all men with her irresistible effervescence. I was thankful for keeping the old couple always at bay and hats off to Mani for curbing his instincts to allow the oldies impart life lessons to the fledgling couple.

Let me conclude. Mani Ratnam is back. After a flurry of releases whose mediocrity and loudness was all the more mind-numbing, here is a movie that revived the Tamil film buff from inside me. After five years, I am feeling deeply for the first time that I don’t have a girlfriend. The romantic inside me has been resuscitated after a long coma. I am in love.