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At one level, it is one 'mystic' or 'vagabond'
from Kasi who is thrust into this banal
existence of humanity in a village in Tamil
Nadu. Just like the director's earlier film
'Pithamahan', where life of an 'undertaker
and loner' Chithan is contrasted with a
'street smart petty thief' Sakthi, the director
aims to contrast the 'life' of the hermit
with 'beggars'.
Obvious question is why 'beggars' and why
not 'college students' or 'factory workers'
or usual 'agraharam'? An 'aghori' despite
his robust physical health does not attach
himself to anything and believes that he
is not dependent on anyone, for he is none
but GOD himself. Beggars on the other hand
are incapacitated due to health or genetic
reasons or accidents in life, most of which
are 'man-made' causes, seek alms to fill
their stomach.
There is a usual refrain that beggars are
very healthy and it is just because of laziness
that they resort to begging. Do beggars
have no option but to lead the life that
they are leading? What can a person rendered
immobile due to malnutrition or impaired
vision , apart from other social factors,
do to lead a 'honorable' life? And more
importantly, what if they cant?
Much of the film is symbolic that these
'marginalia' beg near the abode of God,
ie the temple and how they are made to dance
to the tune of 'lesser' mortals. It is hard
to miss the point of a 'mentally retarded'
Krishna, 'disfigured' Parvathi, 'senile'
Shiva or the eunuch cry out calls of 'Amma'
to fill their stomach. It is ironical that
a blind girl goes and sermonises the apathetic
hermit about the virtues of maternal love
and that he should SEE his mother. These
'marginalia' are also humans, maybe better
than humans and have their moments of laughter,
bonding, affection and sacrifice for the
cause of their brethren. It is irony that
'mainstream' mortals exploit the marginalia
to feed themselves. The aghori unable to
join the mainstream finally executes the
orders from above and returns to his abode.
Yes, as usual, we have the bogey of 'violence'
in this film as well. It need not be reminded
that violence in real life is more violent
than what is shown on screen, bombings that
happen throughout the world for no sane
reasons. The director has infact handled
the scenes very maturely without explicitly
showing anything graphically on screen.
It can be debated whether the boon of death
is really a grant of God or an escapism
theory. It would be much worthwhile discussing/debating
this rather than questioning whether the
censor board was sleeping, whether cannibalism
could be justified etc.
Of course, we should not forget to congratulate
the entire team of Naan Kadavul for their
hard work and execution. Arya, Pooja have
worked wonders and all the expectations
of National award are fully justified. It
would be childish to praise Maestro Ilayaraja
for his work and so we can just observe
that he has reiterated why he is the 'Maestro'.
As for Bala, he has been doing what he is
convinced of and not looking at what people
'like'. So it is no surprise that he has
said 'I am Him' (Naan Kadavul).
By
Raghuraman R.
raghuraman@acm.org
*
Think. *
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