Kamal Haasan is one of the few cinema personalities who continue to fascinate me. People might disapprove some of his works, scoff at his views, but his achievement and contribution to Tamil/Indian cinema outweighs his flaws. I don’t concur with all his opinions or a loyal fan. But there’s a warmhearted or nostalgic feeling when thinking about Kamal Hassan, the giant of Indian mainstream cinema. Prolific and prodigiously talented are too small words to describe Kamal’s talent. He acted in his 100th film at the age of 25 (I don’t know any other actor who has done that). From acting, cinematography, direction to make-up, Mr. Kamal possesses profound knowledge about all the departments that gives birth to a cinema. If I just list out only the interesting aspects of Kamal’s cinema journey (after a brief search through google), I can easily write a very long essay. However, this particular post is about one film in the actor’s filmography that has made a huge impression on me -- “Aalavandhan” aka “Abhay” (“Born to Rule”). I could acknowledge a lot of flaws in this film, starting with how it turned out to be vanity or self-indulgent project. But, there’s something magnetic about this film which doesn’t stop me from re-watching it again and again. And we always learn something from a bad Kamal film than from a formulaic Indian film.
The first memory of “Aalavandhan” is the famous poster of
two Kamal Haasans (Vijay & Nandu) curling their biceps, testing the
strength. Then there’s the theme song (‘Kadavul Padhi Mirugam Padhi’), sung by
Kamal in his strident voice, which still gives me goosebumps as it did when I
was a 14 year old (the time when this film released). The hype for
“Aalavandhan” was too high that it had a heavy fall once the screenings started
on Nov. 16, 2001 (on Diwali). I watched the actor’s villainous avatar Nandu
with amazement, although back then I couldn’t follow what’s happening (many
were scratching their heads after the end of first-half). The hallucinatory trip
taken by schizophrenic killer Nandu was too much for the audience who were just
expecting a twin brother masala cinema. “Aalavandhan” is pretty much a
mainstream cinema that’s blended many film sub-genres, starting from stoner/psychopath to romance; to psychological
thriller. Kamal Haasan brilliantly and subtly explored the themes of duality,
the violence and trauma inflicted on an individual (as well as on a nation) in
his magnum opus “Hey Ram!” (2000) [which was also a big commercial disaster].
While his favorite pet theme of duality was present in “Aalavandhan”, the
physical and psychological violence is too personal and a singular experience.
So, it’s a story-line that may easily provoke the viewers but won’t easily make
them connect with the character.
Vijay is a courageous commando with a pregnant girlfriend.
Nandakumar is a criminally insane schizophrenic. He is intelligent, but also
has huge delusions of grandeur. Vijay visits Nandu in the mental asylum with
his girlfriend to confide about his marriage. The visit triggers in Nandu the
repressed memories of the physically abusive step-mother (whom Nandu killed when
he was 12 years old). He thinks Vijay’s girlfriend Tejaswini is the incarnate
of his evil step-mother. Nandu plans to escape from the asylum to save his
brother Vijay (just like he saved him from step-mother). However, to his
schizophrenic eyes the world looks disconcerting that he commits more casual
crimes. Like Nandu’s brawny muscles, the
cinematic form of “Aalavandhan” was too weighty for the audience’s
sensibilities (back then). It was one of a kind psychotic thriller in Indian
cinema. It doesn’t mean that Nandu was a very realistic criminally insane
character ever conceived on-screen, but the pulpy fun he has in his confusing
surroundings was filmed in a unique manner.
“Aalavandhan’s” script was written by Kamal Haasan, based on
his own 1984 novel ‘Dayam’. Films scripted by Kamal Haasan always lose a lot in
the translation. The visuals would either lose the nuance proposed in the
script or the directorial approach would be too simple to carry the weight of
his writing. It could be heavily felt in films like “Aalavandhan”, “Uttama
Villain”. Watching it now, the film becomes less fascinating when it shifts to
the ‘reality’ as the cat-and-mouse game between the brothers starts. Something
seems to have gone missing on Vijay’s bland characterization and the reason
behind why Nandu chooses to kill his own brother (in the last scenes) whom he
wanted to save. Either the director (Suresh Krishna, although Kamal might have
ghost-directed a lot of sequences) has fumbled with the depth of characters or
there was no depth or meaning given to character decisions in the script. Given
the nuances I often find in going through Kamal’s scripts, I believe a
significant chunk of his themes were lost by director and at the editor’s
table. It would be important to note that no other film would have been as
brutally edited by theater owners as this film and “Virumaandi” (reason was:
not suitable for family audience).
Nandu wades into his self-designed la-la land after he
cleverly sets up his own death. In the glitzy city, he is not only out of
medication, but was injected with drugs. The green tint in the visuals indicates
the polarizing realities. In this befuddled world, he encounters animated
trolls that poke at him and seven-foot tall Ronald McDonald. The statue asks
‘what’s the time’ and Nandu wonders ‘What’s happened to the time’. Iconic actor
Ashok Kumar’s performance of the famous ‘Rail Gaadi’ song plays in the
background (from the 1968 Hindi film ‘Aashirwad’). The cartoonish, overly
joyous surrounding insists on Nandu’s undeveloped cognitive functions. He not
believes that the world is revolving around his antics, but also thinks the
grievous dangers are lurking around every corner. The newscaster (Tejaswini)
suddenly turns into the cartoon version of his step-mother and as a man with
cognitive skills of a child, he fights back like the cartoon characters. In the
imaginative session Nandu has with his psychologist, he confides ‘he learned the new
fighting skills by watching cartoons like other kids’. The lethal female
character who kicks him after jumping out from every billboard just makes Nandu
to go back to his familiar world. He wants to call his doctor & brother
Vijay to put him back in the slammer. When he hears the Tejaswini’s gleeful
voice in the voice-mail, the kill-switch in his mind automatically becomes
active. The beast once again takes over the man.
The feeling that Nandu is just a child lost in the sea of
modern world is beautifully conveyed in the hallucination scene. But the
dangers this child brings with him are exhibited through his sudden embrace of
cartoonish, bloody violence. The glimpse of Nandu’s talents is shown through
his poems and the way he explains the grim events in his diaries. But, he is
not a clever serial killer we usually see in movies. Despite heavy, solid
muscle and a very commanding voice, Nandu is limited by his psychotic condition.
A flip of a coin makes him a beast and whip with the belt turns him to a little
boy. As Vijay in an earlier scene tells ‘Memories are the foundation of his
disease’. Killers with no particular rhythm and their murderous instincts
triggered by trivial things (like coin tossing) are more unsettling to see than
the ones with a detailed plan. Most of his social interactions with people end
up with Nandu killing them. He doesn’t know what to do with them and there’s
nothing much he can do when he thinks they are going to kill him.
“Aalavandhan” was talked for its high-budget grudge match
between Nandu and Vijay. The overall verdict from critics during its release
was that it was a mess. Nevertheless, it is the kind of entertaining, watchable
mess which has elevated to its cult status. Watching it now, the completely
bonkers action scenes of the second-half are less fascinating than the
visionary crazy sequences of the first-half. The only juicy element of the
second-half are the harrowing flashback portions, where we learn how one of the
twin brothers turned psychotic (the kids’ performances were excellent). The
theme of step-mother abusing the kids is a very old one. But the way the abuses
and its effects are visualized sends a chill down my spine. In the scene, when
the twin brother’s dad introduces step-mother (Kitu Gidwani) she gives them a
kiss. The kiss seems cloaked with sinister intentions (definitely not
motherly). Such little suggestions infuse a singular, bleak vision. The
eventual killing of step-mother by Nandu and his casual reaction is the stuff
of nightmare. The fact that Kamal Haasan
attaches the ‘reason’ to a simple coin toss adds to the script’s inherent
(energetic) craziness. Compared to many of the high-budget 2016 star vehicles,
the technical prowess witnessed in “Aalavandhan” still looks fresh.
Critic Baradwaj Rangan in his review of “Uttama Villian”
(2015) said, “The best Kamal Haasan movies are probably locked up inside his
head, where they reside in the most perfect possible manner.” That’s the
perfect way to describe “Aalavandhan’s” output too. The rough-edges we
experience on-screen stops some of his films from becoming the masterpiece, it
deserves to be. Anyway, even those rough-edged attempts of Kamal are endlessly
fascinating to watch. Despite some shoddiness, a quality shines through.
Recently, “Aalavandhan” was screened at the Fantastic Fest, the
largest genre film festival in the U.S. (held at Austin, Texas). It made an
impact with American audience and many took to twitter to register their
entertaining experience. One comment said, “the
most fun I’ve had in a movie theater in a while.” It made me remember that I
haven’t watched it this year (and I watched it for umpteenth time).
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