There are only few Tamil movies that deal with emotional complexity of relationship in depth. One such movie is Nenjathai Killathey by Mahendaran which was released in 1981. The movie has a terrific set of actors- Sarath Babu, Suhashini, Mohan, and Pratap Pothen.
SarathBabu is an upper middle class man who has a miserable married life, yet he handles his demonic wife with maturity. Suhashinii s his sister. Disturbed by her sis-in-law’s early morning nuisances and in order to avoid her, she goes jogging. That’s where she bumps into Mohan, a mechanic and they fall in love. Prathap Pothan is a photographer whom she befriends. Suhashini’s harmless mischievous turns into a serious one when she adds curry powder into her sister-in-law’s bath water. The vengeful sis-in-law passes rumors toMohan’s parents that Suhashini had an abortion. When Mohan believes it to be true and confronts her, she calls their relationship quits. Due to family pressure she marries Pratap heavy-heartedly and causes her marriage life towreck. In the end, Pratap decides to leave Suhashini to give her mental freedom. Mohan who comes to know about this, confronts Suhashini and tells herthat he’s married a disabled person as a redemption for his mistakes towards Suhashini. Upon listening this,Suhashini changes her mind and gets back to Pratap.
Director Mahendran brings out the subtle genuine emotions from his actors. After the movie ends, it is difficult for us to show hatred to any of the characters except the sister-in-law. Be it Sarath Babu’s practicality towards marriage,Suhashini’s reactions when her chastity was questioned, Mohan’s response to clarify his girl’s double standard life, and Pratap Pothen’s understanding and tolerance towards his wife who married him against her wish. All of theirbehaviors seem justified.
Pratap Pothen, who normally acts as an abnormal person, has done a splendid job in carrying out a non-cliché middleclass husband’s role. It was a uniqueexperience watching the now pro-feminist Suhashini in a simple homemaker role back then.
Background music by Illayaraja, particularly in the second half is simply mind-blowing.
Alhough movies like Mouna Ragam and Andha 7 Natkal share similar story line,this movie arguably stands out in correlating all the characters neatly.
2 comments:
In my opinion, mahendran is one director who was extremely under-rated. i loved his styling way of direction - something which only very few were doing it those days.
Should watch the movie again.. the only thing I remember about it is the jogging song. :-(
tt_giant,
I've not watched any of his other movies. I skipped the songs :)
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