BEHINDWOODS COLUMN

C S Amudhan’s Thamizh Padam created a fresh wave in Tamil cinema and ushered in the spoof genre which was hitherto not ventured much. The film was a rollicking comedy and brought in a new acting methodology from Shiva who ROFLed the audience with his poker faced utterances of serious stuff resulting in unintentional laughter. Krishnan Jayaraj, coming from the camp of Amudhan, had utilized this quality of Shiva in his first film, the recently released Sonna Puriyaadhu.

Of course there have been pointers about Shiva getting monotonous but all the same his style sure does bring in smile if not peals and peals of laughter for he has seemingly mastered this craft!

Sonna Puriyaadhu may not be a perfectly carved piece of art but there are elements in the film which stand out and mirror the current urban sensibilities. And on the way, Krishnan Jayaraj very casually breaks the stereotypes of Tamil cinema.

To start with, it was really really cool to see an uber smart tech savvy paatty (granny) who can almost be called zeitgeistical with her permanent appendage, an iPad. Either she is in Facebook befriending Siddharth Mallya or sharing some hang over remedies in her blog or scaling high levels in Angry birds. If she is not doing any of these, she is enjoying the latest track of Lady Gaga. She is one granny who does not much endorse marriage and even scoffs at alliances for her grandson if they are not in Facebook!!!

One feature that stood out in her characterization was her marital status – she being a widow but there are absolutely no cinematic physical indicators of this status -like a lightening white saree with a sullen face that is the receptacle of all sorrows- which we have been fed all along in our films since time immemorial. That was epic cool indeed!

If this was not enough, Krishnan Jayaraj throws the thali sentiment out of the groove when Anjali, played by Vasundhara Kashyap tosses her thali very casually upon realizing that she was not even aware of who tied this. And, mind you, there is no thumping BGM or a deafening thunder to indicate an ‘earth shattering’ action.

By the way, when did you last see a hero being obsessed with an inanimate subject and fantasizing it? Sonna Puriyadhu has Shiva thinking about his sedan all the way totally ignoring the advances of a girl. There is no mushiness at all that we see in almost all films eulogizing love and painting it as the only emotion around.

And for all those people who are seething in anger about the stereotyping of Tamilians in Hindi films especially the latest SRK film Chennai Express, here is how Krishnan Jayaraj and Shiva give it to them, a powerful retort. Please hear this dialogue of Shiva which has such profound meaning!

“Aaj kaa mera hai, kal kaa tera hai

Side dish ka pagoda hai, yeh hai life hai”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOaZhEbJ7Ac&feature=youtu.be

Not only this, the song that he croons to keep up the pride of the Tamil brethren in a Hindi night in a bar, which goes something like this- rosa hai, dil main rosa hai, main tera breakfast dosa hai...- which supposedly mesmerizes (!) the Hindi speaking populace who appears to have been caught in a trance. This further gets Shiva a couple of girl friends who accept to being smitten by his Hindi song!!!!

Few jokes may sound ‘mokkai’ or lame to the purists like the one of Singamuthu- photovai photoshopla work panama, electric shopliya work pannuvaanga. But all the same they are comical.

There are times when we don’t increase the magnification of our lens but are simply ready to flow with the tide and enjoy what is being offered on screen. Krishnan Jayaraj’s Sonna Puriyaadhu could offer you those moments.