The
film is told in flashback about the life of Balu,
an eccentric dancer turned critic. Balu had been
an aspiring dancer with dreams of creating a unified
classical dance form. He is forever in search
of a guru to teach him the nuances of the art.
His friend, Sarathbabu, stands like a pillar of
support to him.
A
chance meeting with Archana, a rich and lonely
girl, kindles friendship between the two. Archana
is very caring towards Balu and makes quiet efforts
to help his career. She even arranges for his
performance at an all India dance festival.
Through all these heady events, their friendship
blossoms into love. Just
when Balu proposes to Archana unaware of her
sad past, it revisits her to prevent her from
saying yes. Just before Balu leaves for the
festival, his mother also dies. The twin tragedies
wreck Balu and he is never in control of his
life anymore. He hits the bottle and lives like
a vagabond. Fate brings him close to Archana
again. He writes a scathing review of Shailaja’s
dance performance without knowing that she is
none other than Archana’s daughter. This
time Archana does not reveal her presence but
tries to make Balu comfortable.
The film showcased the excellent dancing abilities
of Kamal Hassan. Although he is not a trained
dancer, his performance had grace and majesty.
The scene where he points out the mistakes in
Shailaja’s dance is memorable. Jayapradha
matched him step for step and their dance duet
was simply superb. Jayapradha’s quiet portrayal
of a tormented woman was such a relief from the
weeping and wailing sentiment often seen in our
movies. Sarathbabu’s role of a true friend
was also etched well.
The
central theme of the film is that classical dance
always remains pure and free from corrupting influences.
A true artist pursues art for its own sake and
never hankers for money. Balu took his artistic
journey very seriously and that is why he could
not make compromises. In the end, his true artistry
remains unsung.
K.
Viswanath is a noted director and his excellent
screenplay portrays subtle and underplayed emotions.
Every aspect, whether romance, sentiment or comedy
has a genteel quality. Even the portrayal of crass
commercialism in film dance has a touch of humor.
Ilayaraja’s music has some fantastic songs
and his background score is matched with the different
moods of the film.
Salangai oli is a film which is to be seen when
one wants to reconnect to the inward looking values
of artistic pursuit.
