20 Years of Alaipayuthey
Note: The view of the author is personal
*spoiler alert
When the history of Indian Cinema is written, a chapter is surely reserved in gold and silk for Mani Ratnam and his work. Known for widely altering and revolutionizing the dynamics of Indian mainstream cinema, Mani sir is one of the magnetic influences on the last couple of generations. Mani Ratnam is one of the rare film makers who has managed to bend the curve of story telling with the right use of aesthetics, technique and minimalism in the ethos of Indian cinema comatose with masala, hero worship and regressive themes. The later part of 1990s saw intense film-making from Ratnam with works like Iruvar (1997) and Dil Se (1998) which dealt with larger themes like North Eastern terrorism and Dravidian politics, Ratnam shifted gears and moved to his home genre of romance something he does the best with Alaipayuthey. Alaipayuthey which released on 14th April 2000, starring Madhavan and Shalini in lead roles went on to become a cult classic and a timeless romance with crackling chemistry, a lovely soundtrack, terrific visuals and a breezy story of a modern Indian shocked by the dotcom burst. Alaipayuthey completes 20 years today and it still remains fresh and relevant in its idea and its making. As we look back at the beautiful memories given to us by the film, here are 5 beautiful things which made the film it deserved to
The Lead Couple — Karthik and Shakthi
Alaipayuthey undoubtedly belongs to the effervescent couple — Karthik and Shakthi which is played by Madhavan and Shalini in their respective debuts play a young couple who get entangled into a vivacious romance and secretly marry against their parents consensus and get into the turbulent waters of marriage and sail ashore. While Madhavan swept every single young girl watching the movie off her feet without any doubt, Shalini brought in a native and a relatable part to her role as the lower middle class girl Shakti who aspires to be a doctor and wipe off her family woes with her stethoscope. The romance and the love in Alaipayuthey is not dreamy and classy. It is not rich and sweeping . It is neither imaginative nor creative. It is plain and simple. But it is so relatable. It is so empathetic and so real. The train is standing right there in Tambaram station and Karthik walks up to Shakti, pulls up her notebook and tells her name and predicts a possible relationship between them displays the boyish charm written subtly into the character of Madhavan and there is that aching pain when Karthik is waiting for more than two hours at the beach for Shakti post their apparently secret marriage and Shakthi drops in pulling out an ocean of longing with a very mild peck on the freckles. Madhavan plays a Tamil Iyengar well oiled in the streets of possible RA Puram or Mandaiveli while Shakti plays a lower middle class girls from the railway suburb of Tambaram but the couple univocally display vulnerability and an aching longing so real for urban couples today stuck in the societal regressiveness of caste, class, religion and race divide. As we move on, we cannot but not forget the vibrant and bubbly romance stirred up between the couple across the narrative in multiple situations — the couple stealing a glance as they move into the flat, secret phone conversations over landlines where Shakthi is on a public phone in a grocery store, recording their first fight on calendar post marriage and Karthik intimidating Shakthi to tell the magical I Love You over phone when Shakthi is stuck at her hospital shift. It is in these moments, that Ratnam weaves magic into a unique and yet unconventional structure which drives the narrative forward. The romance is surefooted and two-paced. It is immature but passionate. It is deep but practical. The flawed romance between Shakthi and Karthik from a hurried romance to a braving marriage is what constitutes most of today’s youth’s romantic and relationship aspiration and surely did strike a big chord.
The Themes of Alaipayudhey
Most of Mani Ratnam’s films are mere extensions. If Anjali is a possible extension of Divya’s life from Mounaragam after 10 years, Alaipayuthey’s Pachainirame is a potential extension of Dil Se’s Rangi Re . Mani Ratnam’s lens captures bold color frames of yellow, green, red, black and blue in positive sentiments with alluring visuals shot in Himachal. The gaping tension and the rousing energy of the couple is steathily captured in the romantic number with each color depicting a shade of their romance much like how Rangi Re depicting a possible negative and a grey shade of the same. It is in these visuals, Mani Ratnam infuses life into the narrative as each song sits so beautifully into the screenplay and takes the story forward. The romance is so intense and yet it is so gentle. While there are physically choreographed moments which are high on dopamine, there is that beautiful space which is enlivened with the effective use of song and dance.
Another beautiful theme is the Kadhal Sadugudu song which captures moments from the early marriage of Karthik and Shakthi. The song is literally captured and shot in slo-mo reverse so metaphorically reflecting the revolutionary marriage of the couple against the society and the parents. Another notable prop used in the second act is the staging in a under construction apartment which also symbolizes the half finished and budding romance of the couple.
A big shout out to the legendary PC Sreeram who has crooned the lens for the film. PC Sreeram’s love for the wide angle lens and the bold color palette reflects strongly in the framing of Alaipayudhey. Unlike the redness of Geethanjali or the rustic frames of Thiruda Thiruda, Alaipayudhey uses a diverse form of colors notably in the song visuals. The ongoing debate that if this is PC Sreeram sir’s best collaboration with Mani Ratnam will surely continue while I surely would not want to influence people’s choice. Another point to note is that the usage of close-ups in the film especially in the second acts where the couples move-in the marriage and how small nuances are captured in the emotions which slip out of the closeup where Shakti is waiting at Karthik’s shoulder waiting for him to get up or the beautiful end credits close-up where the couple snuggle into each other at the hospital bed. The close-ups enhance the heightened emotion of the scene sometimes the fun and sometimes the love.
The Screenplay
Alaipayuthey is a rare collaboration for Ratnam who is known to be a one-man show with his scripts. Ratnam shares his credits with Selvaraj for Alaipayuthey’s screenplay, a refreshingly narrated non-linear format with terrific use of swish pan and jump cuts. Mani Ratnam’s love for Akira Kurasowa can be clearly experienced in the screenplay which swiftly cuts between Karthik searching for Shakti on a working day recalling moments from their romance and marriage at intercuts. There is a brief moment where Karthik goes searching for Shakti at her house and this is cut from the moment when Shakti reveals her secret marriage with Karthik when an alliance comes to see her sister. The jump cut is established with a train when the tension in the relationship is captured with an empty train and then with an empty room at Shakti’s house which beautifully blends into interval. The non-linear format was later used again in Kaatru Veliyidai and Aayutha Ezhuthu/Yuva later by Mani Ratnam but Alaipayuthey remains a well tried sample of the writing.
The Soundtrack
A R Rahman can not be described without his collaboration with his mentor Mani Ratnam. A find of Mani sir himself, AR Rahman is at his brilliant best in this film. The original soundtrack and the background score of the Alaipayuthey departs from the intense beats of Dil Se and the quirky jazz notes of Iruvar into some electronic beats and village folklore drum numbers in Alaipayuthey. One of the notable aspects of the songs in Alaipayuthey is the wide usage of electronic programming and merging a theme of Backstreet Boys (Credits: HMV Music) into the beginning credits of the film. From the fast paced Endrendrum Punnagai (my personal favorite along with Pachainirame) which serves as a titles OST and the exotically programmed Snehitane, AR Rahman serves a diverse platter of tracks into the jukebox. Pleasant, instantly likeable and populist, songs of this film are nice examples to tell you why Rahman numbers are radiolucent and slow poison. Another notable aspect is the terrific use of western percussions into the background scores. There is a melancholic music which is syncing itself into Shakti’s eviction from her house and it swiftly cuts into a fast paced western drumbeat inspired by Endredrum and this is ARR subtle spectacle.
The Real Deal
Alaipayuthey works and works well because it is set in a real world. It is set in a world where there is a father who doesnt hesitate to question his son’s smoking. An aunt believes its her right to get her niece married to her son because she helped the family financially. A friend believes that Karthik is not in love and just overwhelmed by his hormones and Karthik does not hesitate to tell an elderly lady prankfully that he has come to temple as an atheist but to marry a girl secretly. There is a scene where Karthik’s dad and Shakti’s dad get into a verbal argument when they meet over a potential marriage proposal and the conversation ends on a sour note. A few more minutes, Karthik borrows some money from his Mom and boards a bus just to meet Shakti as he is burnt from the longing of missing her. These are real and normal reactions of people when we go through similar circumstances. There is another scene where Karthik and his friends who are running a software company and cracking boyish jokes about how their company is struggling and they are waiting for a client to come onboard. The scene where Shakti’s dad meets Karthik after the marriage and slaps him in the local train station. The scene is rooted in much gravity and Ratnam treats the scene so gently what other filmmakers boil it out with excessive melodrama. It is in these scenes where there is no Utopian world set and no ideal characters but a real world and flawed characters.
Alaipayuthey will remain a very very special film for all that it is — the music, the visuals, the people, the witty dialogue and the work of a legendary man of whom I am a big ardent admirer — Mani Ratnam
You can check out Alaipayuthey on Youtube here
You can check out Sakhi, the Telugu dubbed version here
