(The author, Kishore Kumar, is well known in Malayalam cyberspace through his RagaKairali web site. He can be reached @ http://ragakairali.blogspot.com )
Hindi film industry (I love Hollywood but hate the term “Bollywood” ) is eagerly awaiting the release of Priyadarshan’s Bhool-Bhulaiya , a remake of Manichithrathazhu. Priyadarshan, who is already successful at re-making super hit Malayalam movies into Hindi, was also one of the second unit directors of Manichithrathazhu. I wish all financial and artistic success to Bhool-Bhulaiya, which I hope would be a refreshing change from the typical filthy-rich-people/NRI stories and “foren” locations of commercial Hindi movies.
But the question is “Can Manichithrathazhu be effectively remade into any other language outside of its original Kerala context”? The answer is an emphatic “No”. The story does not sit well even when transplanted to our neighboring Tamil Nadu. The character of Nagavalli embodies the spirit of Kannaki, a vengeful heroine of Tamil epic Chilappadikaram. Writer Madhu Muttam has cleverly revealed this inspiration for the character in the Ilankovadikal chilambu nalki…. lines of the movie’s Tamil-Malayalam duet “Oru murai vanthu parthaya…“. This means that the character of Ganga has to speak Malayalam since Nagavalli is her alter-ego and the core of the story is rooted in the duality of these two closely related languages.
The drama in this movie unfolds into its peak when this switching from Malayalam to Tamil happens. It has to be noted that no sub-titles were shown in the movie when Tamil dialogues were spoken. There was no need but still the audience could experience the dramatic impact of the language switching! Can any other pair of Indian languages be able to re-create this magic? Can any other dance form apart from Bharathanatyam be able to express the high voltage pangs of this (Angry and Sad) Khandita-Virahanayika? It is true that financially successful remakes have been made as Apthamithra(Kannada) and Chandramukhi(Tamil/Telugu) but the soul of this movie cannot be uprooted from Kerala–even if the re-maker is its original director Fazil. I can only postulate this because I refuse to watch any re-makes of this movie!
My second question is “Can this role be successfully enacted by anyone other than Shobana?”. And the answer would be another emphatic “No”. Even though Shobana had been acting in Malayalam movies since 1984, I never used to consider her as a top-notch actress. All changed once Manichithrathazhu was released. Audiences were stunned by her performance and mesmerized by the final Bharathanatyam dance number and exorcism scenes. She literally swept best actress award category at all levels - Film-Fare, Film-Critics, Kerala State and National awards, you name it.
The multiple-personality character of Ganga was a role of a lifetime and only an actress who possesses superior acting and classical-dancing skills and the physicality required to project a vindictive, super-natural heroine, could have done full justice to such a role. I just cannot think of any other actress other than Shobana to match this requirement.
Everyone agrees that the two peak moments of Shobana’s performance in the movie are
- The scene where Ganga turns into Nagavalli and then back into Ganga upon Nakulan’s refusal to her shopping plans.
- The final Bharathanatyam dance and exorcism scenes.
But I want to draw everyone’s attention to some of the nuances in Shobana’s characterization of the mild-mannered Ganga which may not be very obvious in first time or casual viewing. If you watch the movie a second time and carefully observe Ganga, you can see that in many of the scenes Shobana has used many subtle eyebrow archings, eye twitches, facial contractions, expressions and mannerisms, accurately portraying the agony and reactions of a repressed of mental patient.
In fact three of such scenes are narrated (and shown again as brief flashbacks) when Dr. Sunny explains Ganga’s multiple-personality disorder to her husband Nakulan. These three scenes are:
- Ganga’s hyper-enthusiasm when she shows Nagavalli’s ornaments to Dr. Sunny and her subsequent anxiety when one of the anklets (”chilanka“) is missing.
- The out-of-control altercation at the temple between Dr. Sunny and Ganga about the anklet.
- Ganga’s reaction when she arrives at the congregation where Dr. Sunny had just busted her plan to kill Nakulan by poisoning his tea.
In all these moments, Ganga is on the verge of a mental breakdown and Dr. Sunny is seen diffusing the tension and switching the discussion by forcefully clapping his hands. The challenge in these situations is to not over-do it since it should not visible at first viewing (which would kill the suspense) but do it with controlled intensity so that someone watching the movie a second time can clearly observe it. The story of this movie is like a puzzle which has enough clues embedded within it to solve itself!
Other similar but more subtle acting moments:
- Scene after the glass pane of the wall-clock is broken during a “ghost” incident at night. Ganga is shown terrified but at the same time there is an expression of relief in her face because no one is suspecting her.
- Scene when Nakulan and Ganga meets Dr. Sunny on the day of his arrival and asks about Sridevi’s diagnosis. Dr. Sunny says that it’s curable since the illness is in its primary stages. On hearing this, Ganga is experiencing eye-twitching and facial contractions.
- Scene when Kunjamma (KPAC Lalitha) explains to Ganga about Sridevi’s divorce and subsequent depression. Watch for Ganga’s walking posture, facial contractions and expressions.
- Scene when Dr. Sunny jovially sings “Oru muria vanthu parayo…” when Ganga was giving him a guided tour of the forbidden Thekkini. Her smile slowly transforms into an angry, irritated expression. In fact all the scenes when Ganga and Sunny are in the Thekkini are sprinkled with great acting moments by both these legends.
- Scene of Ganga watching the Kathakali performance at the temple. Ganga sits distant from her family members and the expression on her face is that of complete self-identification with the love-torn characters of the Kathakali unfolding in front of her eyes.
These subtle acting moments are very difficult to perform and the actress in Shobana should be celebrated for doing an accurate and convincing job at this. Director Fazil also made the climax dance sequence very interesting by showing the real Nagavalli dancing as a courtesan inside Ganga’s split mental space. This gave ample opportunity in this dance sequence to explore most of the navarasas (nine facial expressions) used in Indian classical dances. And Shobana performed this dance sequence beyond perfection. It reveals an artist who is in complete control of her facial expressions and fully aware of how a cinematographer’s camera will project them onto silver screen.
Another important aspect of this movie is that it is a repository of some of the gems in Indian classical music and dance. I can write an entire article analyzing the appropriateness of the ragas of the songs chosen by composer M.G. Radhakrishnan. Or, analyzing the adavus and abhinaya in the Bharathanatyam number choreographed and performed by Shobana (joined at the end by Sridhar). Hey, may be one day I may even write a book about this greatest psycho-thriller movie ever made!
See Also: Manichitrathazhu Review
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October 9th, 2007 at 3:46 pm
A very comprehensive analysis. The author has observed and analysed minutest nuances. Feels like seeing the movie again.
October 9th, 2007 at 3:47 pm
The film based on multiple personality was the first of its kind in malayalam. In the article it is stated it is rooted from chilappadikaram and kannaki. It only portrays a state of mind. In english there is a novel by sidney sheldon “tell me your dreams”. “sybil” by rita and “when the rabbit howls” by truddy chase. If in manichithrathazhu it is only one person character entering into the protagonist. But in “sybil” it is a real story-it is more than 50 personalities-a real multiple personality case. The film became a success because of the flawless depiction and the roaring performance given by shobhana. I can still remember the goosebumps it gave me. Whew!!!!!!
October 9th, 2007 at 3:52 pm
And I appreciate your intention of writing a book. The thought itself deserve a big hand. My good wishes kishore.
October 9th, 2007 at 7:30 pm
shobhana athra valiya aana aayirunnu ennonnum thoonniyirunnilla. pakshe DR. SUNNY was way too good. Shobhana did that role perfectly with a HUGEEEE support from the dubbing artist. The dubbing artist was a better actress than Shobhana. It was an insult to real movie lovers when national award was given to Shobhana. An actor and actress is not complete without their own dubbing.
October 9th, 2007 at 8:08 pm
True. Bhagyalakshmi’s dubbing was too good.
Incidentally, what language does Vidya Balan speak in the Hindi version, she becomes the Nagavalli in Hindi?
October 9th, 2007 at 10:16 pm
Fantastic article. I hope you will write another article about the music of the movie. With that two chapters of your book are ready.
October 10th, 2007 at 5:36 am
To see how well Shobhana did this role, just watch chandraMukhi. Voice is just a part of emoting, not the whole thing, if that was so then we would not need actors, we’ll just need people with good voice control. Shobhana’s award was well deserved.
October 10th, 2007 at 6:26 am
There’s one important thing missing in this review, and that is Fazil’s conception of the character. I think too much credit is being given to Shobhana for portraying Nagavalli so well. Shobhana herself said in an interview that it was Fazil who showed her how to act and all she had to do was mimic him. Shobhana is obviously a class artist, because she was willing to give credit where it was due.
October 10th, 2007 at 11:08 am
Regarding Dr.Sunny’s role, anyone could have done that role, including Dileep. Or even if the roles were switched roles between Suresh Gopi and Mohanlal and the movie would have still run.
October 10th, 2007 at 5:16 pm
I think all the main supporting artists (Mohanlal, Vinaya Prasad and Suresh Gopi) did a great job. But I agree with the following sentence from VC’s original review - “The script by Madhu Muttom is the hero and Shobhana is the heroine”. And to really appreciate the intricasies of Shobana’s performance, one has to carefully watch the movie a 2nd (or n-th!) time. The viewing experince is entirely different once you already know the suspense in the story. I did not note any of the things that I mentioned in my article when I first saw it in theatre. Iam sure Shobana got ample acting tips from Fazil - they probably also consulted with a real psychiatrist.
I guess only Malayalam dialogues of Ganga were dubbed by Bhagyalakshmi, which were pretty much the usual stuff. The real contribution in terms of dialogue delivery came from the artist who did the Tamil dialogues, especially in the exorcism scenes. It looks like Fazil used a real Tamil speaking artist for that (or was it Shobana herself?). Keep in mind that a dubbing artist can only embellish upon what was originally spoken & recorded during the actual shooting. And if dubbing is to be considered as a disqualification for awards, Kerala will have to return 4 out of 5 best actress national awards won so far — only Meera Jasmine will get to keep hers!
October 11th, 2007 at 11:25 pm
Very good article. I think you will write an article to appreciate Fazil for his work, as cinema is the art of director.
October 13th, 2007 at 6:38 pm
Fazil’s direction is flawless. So is his casting choices for various actors. But the credit for the character conception has to go to writer Madhu Muttom, who I hear was not financially rewarded for all the money-spinner remakes in other languages.
By the way, I put a link to this article in my blog and a lot of very interesting discussions and interpretations of the story are happening there in Malayalam. Check out:
http://ente-katha.blogspot.com.....st_09.html
October 13th, 2007 at 11:34 pm
Vidya Balan speaks Bengali in the Hindi version and the palace is set in UP. And you know what happens in the climax, she still dances Bharat Natyam to MG Sreekumar’s ragams !
Also Priyadarsan could not build the climax like the Malayalam version in Hindi. Although Vidya Balan is talented, Shobhana was exceptional.
Also lets not forget the dumb Hindi audience! Some so called reviewers have questioned the need for the climax song !
Enda cheyya!
October 14th, 2007 at 6:06 am
Jayesh, thanks for commenting on the Hindi version. I have a very important question for you.
Did they show English or Hindi sub-titiles when Bengali dialogues were spoken? Similarly did they sub-title Telugu dialogues in Tamil version?
This “other language” is an important aspect of the story and its adaptability in other languages.
October 14th, 2007 at 10:16 pm
After all the hype surrounding bhool bhulaiya, it turned out to be a damp squib. Some review’s titled it as “Bhoolja Bhulaiya”. Guess Priyadarshan should stick to malayalam cinema or come up with more original scripts for bollywood.
October 14th, 2007 at 11:58 pm
As far as the reviews are concerned the hindi version would be the biggest blockbuster of this year in bollywood.But the film is released only in one centre in kerala.
October 15th, 2007 at 4:29 am
Hindi version of Bhool Bhulaiya is a hit
February 26th, 2008 at 7:09 am
Dear Kishore,
An excellent review of an all-time classic, i should say.
In fact i myself had pondered 4 of those 5 scenes which you review here. Actually back in 1993 when the film was released and became a big hit, Shobhana was asked about how her background as a dancer had helped in detailing this character in a DoorDarsan interview. I sat up to hear her talk about these subtle acting moments. But to my disappointment, she completely disagreed with the interviewer and said she had a very hard time suppressing the dancer in her while portraying Ganga !!
Then i felt my viewpoint might have been a matter of simple chance. But now when i read your post, i feel i wasn’t the only one who had noticed these nuances.
Thanks for a great read!
suraj
July 30th, 2008 at 11:55 pm
Manichithrathazhu scene comparison with Bhool Bhulaiya & Chandramukhi.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85WsesfO9vg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fU2LWKnavy8
December 11th, 2008 at 2:44 am
The film manichithrathazhu is a hit.Tamil and Hindi are not hit compared to malayalam.if malayalam is not there then……………….
December 11th, 2008 at 4:57 pm
“With a good script, a good director can produce a masterpiece. With the same script, a mediocre director can produce a passable film.”
That’s what Kurosawa said.
I consider Fazil to be just average. Besides, many other
directors equally worked on that film: Siddique, Lal,
Priyadarshan, Sibi Malayil.
I’m pretty sure Siddique and Lal did the beginning scenes
with Innocent, and other scenes involving Innocent.
In the duo’s film “In Harihar Nagar” when Mukesh’s
and Jagadish’s character climb up to see the girl
next door taking a shower, they climb through the
window next to the grandmother (Philomina). At that
moment a horror type music is played. That same music
is given prominence several times in “Manichitrathazhu”
December 23rd, 2008 at 1:11 am
Just a point regarding the dubbing for Shobhana in the movie : voices for both the tamil and the malayalam dialogues were given by Bhagyalakshmi.
I think both she(thru voice) and Shobhana(thru expressions) made the character what it turned out to be.I find it very hard to choose one over the other.Both were out of this world!