| THE
BEST FROM MADRAS PRESIDENCY |
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Madhrasapattinam is garnering appreciation
all over for being a one of its kind attempt
from Kollywood in quite a few years. Everyone
is equivocal in appreciation of its art
work and camera which have brought the
Madras of 1945 alive on screen. But, the
magnificence and scale of all that has
taken the focus away from the script and
narration a bit. The fact is that director
Vijay has woven a neat and tight script
that keeps the viewer engaged throughout
the film. The most difficult part is to
make the love story between a highly placed
British lady and an Indian dhobi look
plausible. He has managed that, making
the romance one of the strongest points
of the movie. Here are some of the best
scenes in the movie which many have been
talking about. Of course, there are a
lot of scenes which left an impression,
but these, one feels, were the top of
the rung.
The policeman’s smile
This scene beautifully represented the
quandary in the mind of an Indian who
had decided to work under the British
government for a livelihood. All movies
based in the pre-independence era have
shown Indians who worked as policemen
for the British. They
suffered from an identity crisis; while
their nationality pulled them towards
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the
rebels, their duty made them side with the British.
But, deep down within themselves, they knew where
they actually belonged. This is brought out well in
the scene where Arya is challenged to a one-on-one
wrestling match by a British officer, to retain their
land. When Arya finally prevails over the officer,
an Indian policeman who is watching on cannot suppress
a grin that automatically appears on his face. He
does not make it obvious to those around, but a look
at his eyes would have given away his joy.
Arya returns the favor
This is typical masala stuff where the hero has the
sharp reply to anything that the antagonist says to
him. Arya has just been taken to the police station
and beaten black and blue by the cops there warning
him not to have anything to do with the British lady
anymore. At the end of it the chief tells ‘this
time, you escape. The next time you won’t’,
which is translated by VMC Haneefa for Arya. The reply
from Arya is a menacing look after which he says that
this is the same thing that he wanted to tell the
officer. Haneefa is nonplussed, not knowing how to
translate this for the officer.
‘Maranduttiya’: Tamil in English
accent
At the beginning of their courtship, both Arya and
Amy are hampered by a lack of communication. So, Arya
starts learning English from a local master. However,
he struggles with the language. Not being able to
remember even the simplest of words like ‘Good
morning’, ‘how are you’ etc. On
one occasion, he is trying to talk to Amy in English
and stops midway trying to recollect what the master
had taught him. While he is busy scratching his head
searching for the right word, he hears someone saying
‘Maranduttiya’, in an odd accent. He takes
a while to realize that it is Amy speaking in Tamil.
Vijay has shot this scene in a beautiful manner and
GV Prakash has added to the beauty with his BGM which
slowly takes off into a song.
Let the flag remain
On the eve of independence when everyone is celebrating,
Arya and Amy are running from the police force of
Madras. All they want to do is survive the night and
live safe and secure in the free India that will be
born tomorrow. They are in the midst of a crowd of
Indians in a joyous mood and there is a man who is
pinning small Indian flags onto everybody’s
chest. In his hurry, he does not realize that he has
also pinned it onto a British lady. Realizing his
mistake, he moves forward to take it back when Amy
stops him and gestures to let the flag remain, close
to her heart |
