We all know that Manichithathazhu is a classic, and this belief is reinforced after seeing the remakes by P. Vasu and Priyadarshan. To enjoy the original, you have to see it multiple times as there are subtleties, nuances and various clues left all around. Kishore Kumar wrote an article explaining some of the nuances and now here is another one by Ranjith Nair.
Consider this: in ‘Manichithrathazhu’, there is a strong hint that Nakul (Suresh Gopi) is a neglectful husband – sample the scene where Ganga asks Nakul to bed, and he excuses himself citing the excuse that he has work to attend to. In fact, the lovely Varuvanillarumee Vijanamam Ee Vazhiyil number strongly indicates that Nakul might even be impotent ( a fact that is only indicated at in the various remakes by Prabhu’s nuanced performance). Thus there is a strong foundation laid for the possibility that Ganga is neglected, bored out of her wits, and thus particularly vulnerable and empathetic to the legend of Nagavalli. Instead, here we have Shiney Ahuja all the time grinning like an idiot, and happily nuzzling a rather plump Vidya Balan during an incoveniently placed duet.
The music of Manichitrathazhu was very important too, since the the alternate persona was a dancer-singer clearly well-versed with music; she sang and danced at night, after all. The Pazhamthamizh pattu number (conveniently ditched in the remakes, as the timing of the song placement was slightly awry) was not just a song randomly inserted into a scene; it was clearly the the doctor trying to soothe the alternate persona by singing a song in the same raaga as that of the one that the dancer dances to at night (the doctor hears this earlier, and hence he knows the song, so that loophole is closed as well). [Manichithrathazhu: The Unmaking of a Classic]
January 31st, 2008 at 6:10 pm
Ranjith is right about song “pazham thamil..” which many, on first time viewing, thought was a mis-fit for the situation and was inserted only to satisfy Mohanlal fans. When poisoning of Nakulan was busted by Dr.Sunny, Ganga was almost on the verge of a mental breakdown. Dr.Sunny diverts the situation by accusing Sreedevi and locking up her, and starts to sing this song. The song, set in the same tune (& ragam) as that of the Tamil song that Sunny heard from Thekkini, is an abstract poem about a viraha-nayika and Ganga is shown keenly looking at Sunny and empathising with the song. The song was intended to be theraputic for Ganga.
But I don’t agree with the observation that Ganga’s mental disturbances were caused due to lack of sexual satisfaction from Nakulan. Even though its a nice interpretation, the movie makes it clear that it was Ganga’s lonely childhood in the village away from her parents that caused her mental issues. Once she is back in a village setting as an adult(from Calcutta), she is again reminded of her lonely childhood. This, along with the colorful stories about Nagavalli’s spirit, is what is explained as the cause of her multiple personality disorder.
There is no such scene where Nakulan is refusing Ganga’s invitation to bed (atleast not in my DVD). Here is the exact scene :
മാടംബളàµà´³à´¿à´¯à´¿à´²àµ† ആദàµà´¯ രാതàµà´°à´¿à´¯à´¿à´²àµâ€ à´•à´Ÿàµà´Ÿà´¿à´²à´¿à´²àµâ€ à´•à´¿à´Ÿà´¨àµà´¨àµ വായിചàµà´šàµ ഉറകàµà´•à´¤àµà´¤à´¾à´²àµâ€ മിഴികളടയàµà´¨àµà´¨ à´—à´‚à´— ജോലി ചെയàµà´¯àµà´¨àµà´¨ നകàµà´²à´¨àµ‹à´Ÿàµ പറയàµà´¨àµà´¨àµ : “കിടകàµà´•à´¾à´¨àµâ€ നേരതàµà´¤àµŠà´¨àµà´¨àµ വിളിചàµà´šàµ‡à´•àµà´•à´£àµ‡ നകàµà´²àµ‡à´Ÿàµà´Ÿ, എനികàµà´•àµà´±à´•àµà´•à´‚ വരàµà´¨àµà´¨àµâ€. നകàµà´²à´¨àµâ€ “ആയികàµà´•àµ‹à´Ÿàµà´Ÿàµ‡..†എനàµà´¨àµ മറàµà´ªà´Ÿà´¿à´¯àµà´‚ പറയàµà´¨àµà´¨àµ.
To me, this indicates that this couple have an active sex life. There is no other scene in the movie which can be interpreted as Nakulan avoiding Ganga’s advances. The song “Varuvanillarumee Vijanamam Ee Vazhiyil” is more about Ganga reminising her lonely childhood in village, aided by her favorite poet Mahadevan’s poem. Giving it a connotation of sexual dissatisfaction is not what the writer/director intended.
January 31st, 2008 at 8:00 pm
Kishor – You are right about the song and Ganga not being depraved. As is revealed in the story, she was a lonely girl in her childhood and was under lot of mental duress (the scene where she runs in school throwing the text books, on eve of her exam). Later she identified herself with Nagavalli and transformed into Nagavalli.
Also isnt that poem “Varuvanil”, a copy of a song from ‘Chillu ‘?
Speaking of Chandramukhi, Vinaya Prasad who was Sridevi in M’thaazhu, played one of the ‘aunties’.Chandramukhi also had a lot of double meaning dialogues. And it had scenes liberally copied from Aaram Thampuran (the Harimuraliravam song where Manju runs up the steps listening to the song – here Nayan does the same when rajni sings) and Minnaram (the interactions between Vadivelu & Suvarna Mathew, on impotency etc).
January 31st, 2008 at 10:52 pm
Kishor,
Great to discuss this marvelous movie out here. And VC, thanks a bunch for linking to me!
WRT the relationship between Nakul and Ganga, I had not interpreted the song that way either. However, there was an interview of Madhu Muttam on a Malayalam publication where he did mention that he had a sitting with the lyricist to insert elements of Nakul’s purported impotency. And I’d beg to disagree with you regarding the lyrics – the first stanza clearly indicates that Ganga wishes for a ‘friend’ / companion, despite having no hope for this happening. Their relationship, while not THE reason for Ganga’s later pschiatric problems, might have played a factor in making her susceptible, I guess (no expert on this stuff!).
After noticing and accepting this aspect, I also noticed (and I might definitely be attributing here) an akwardness between Nakul and Ganga in the final scene, where Sunny tells them to ’start a new life’.
Truly, its all these layers to the movie that makes it a classic.
February 3rd, 2008 at 5:09 am
Krishnan, “Varuvanilla” is definitely not a copy of “Oruvattam kootiyen(Chillue)”. There is no tune-by-tune similarity. The songs have some similarities but thats possible when 2 songs are set in the same raga. One need to clearly distinguish between bland plagiarising and similarity due to same raga-base.
Ranjit, You are not the first one who has implied about Ganga’s mental desease being caused partly due to sexual dis-satisfaction. If you think about it, Nagavally is the worst nightmare for any married man. Not only is she openely having an affair, but she also wants to kill her husband! So, we are dealing with some very primitive male fears here. And viewers (depending on who they are) may rationalize this situation by giving different interpretations that will pacify them. The visuals shown during “varuvanilla” shows flashbacks of Ganga as a child watching the gate, expecting her parents arriving from Calcutta. The word “priyamulla” can be used in Malayalam in a non-romantic way.
But any great art form is open to different interpretations. And I would even add that some of the interpretations might not even be intended by its creator! Once created, art gets a life of its own. Infact, I have read a research paper which analyzes the interactions between Dr.Sunny and Chandu(Sudheesh) and draws some bizzare conclusions.
June 14th, 2008 at 8:32 am
can anyone tell me the name of hte actor who played the role of mahadevan/ramanathan in the movie manichitrathazhu??
September 11th, 2009 at 5:02 am
Name of the actor is Sridhar who one time was a hero in Kannada movie industry. He used to do meaningful roles in 90s. Now out of the race, does appear in small screen. He and his wife are trained Bharatanatyam dancers and present themselves in stage shows.
September 12th, 2009 at 11:15 pm
Manichithrathazhu was made solely for the box office, not that there is anything wrong with doing so, except that it loses all claim to a good proper movie. To credit it as a classic would be a gross overstatement, and an injustice to several moviemakers who have made much better attempts at making good films. The plot is too ugly and manipulated for a proper movie, and belongs in the dustbin. Any psychiatrist who does like Sunny does in the movie gets jailed in real life and would get his license cancelled forever. The attestation to Sunny’s proficiency by Thilakan’s character must have made any doctor laugh, even if he or she had not waited for the gross misdiagnosis that is blurted out towards the end.
For some reason the director/screenplaywright also seems to think that the movie needs Sunny’s bizzare heroics and strange behaviour of the first half to keep the audience engaged… which only means that the director/screenplaywright is trying to cover up for his inability to present a story properly.
I could go on and on and on…, except that it is not worthwhile.
The remakes need to be exterminated from the face of this planet straightaway.