Andha naal — A work of magic
Recently, I had a day off in my work. Nothing to do, I browsed through YouTube. I ended up in a particular video in which Director Mysskin talks about a legendary path breaking film maker.
Being one of Mysskin’s admirers, I like how he never compromises the cinema he learnt for commercial success. This is what driven me into the content of the video. He was full on praise for the legendary film maker and mentions a few shots from a movie “Antha Naal”. He goes an extra mile by saying
“Cinema learn panravangaluku oru padam mattum than. Athu Andha Naal mattum than(There is only one movie to learn cinema and that is Andha Naal only). Don’t watch my and Mani’s(Mani Rathnam) films. It will mislead you.”
Driven by Mr. Mysskin’s speech. I wanted to watch the few shots he mentioned. Needless to say that I ended up watching the full movie. Now re-read my title of this post.
THE FILM
The film opens with a voice over introduction about that day when Chennai was bombed by a Japanese air plane. Then comes the shot of the protagonist fading and falling away from the camera shot by someone. The scene continues to show the shadow of the killer holding the revolver with the smoke. That moment, the way the film opened ties you the rest of the movie.
The plot continues to widen as the police and a CID officer starts investigating the suspects. Each one of suspects has a story to tell about “Andha Naal”(that day the lead character died.) The stories told by the suspects were their own perceptions of what would have happened. The director also gives an analogy for the same, the story of 6 blind men touching and experiencing an elephant for the first time. The analogy was of amazing relevance to the screenplay. The way the screenplay was woven makes you awestruck and the fact that film was made in 1950’s doesn’t help you either.
Apart from the engaging plot and gripping screen story. The director also talks about a lot of social issues and beyond. Special mention to the scenes in which the lead characters of this film, Mr. Sivaji Ganesan and Pandari bai debates about ongoing British colonial rule and the arrest of the national leaders that time and the climax heated exchange of words between the pair. The dialogues of these scenes are an epitome of powerful writing. The director speaks about Politics, Research, French revolution, Ancient Tamil ideologies, Radio communication, Air attack and sub marines. My God, This man was a galaxy of ideas as rightly pointed out by Mysskin.
The work of two other people in this movie apart from the director were as brilliant as that of the director’s. One of them is the co-writer Mr. Javar Seetharaman, who also acted as the CID officer. The writing in this movie is a pure work of unmatched intelligence and knowledge. The writer and co-writer brings in a historically true event, packages it with social problems and gift wraps them with a gripping screen play.
The second of the technicians that I wanted to mention is the cinematographer of this movie Mr. Maruthi Rao. The opening shot of this movie and following sequences were brilliantly shot provided the technical limitations in that period. There is one particular scene in the climax in which Sivaji Ganesan ties down Pandari and speaks to her sitting in a rolling chair. When the camera shows Sivaji Ganesan, he moves from left to right and cuts to show Sivaji’s perspective where Pandari is not even in the frame and the camera moves from left to Right revealing Pandari and moving beyond. A touch of master class. The park scene where Sivaji Ganesan walks into darkness and lights ups a cigarette and many other shots(I have already spoiled enough :D)
All put together, I would declare that this movie is a must watch for all cinema fanatics. A world cinema from our own son of soil Mr. Veena S. Balachander.
Verdict: A sabotage movie with a lot of cult. A must watch. Rather I would say it is a must study .
