'The more spoken Sandiyar and Less Spoken Cult'

The statement -"Grew up watching Mr.Hassan's films" is a cliche', nevertheless it is the undeniable truth. Now time travelling back to high school days, surfing up on Kamal's filmography I came across this catchy, vernacular title-" Virumaandi". Just as the name, the movie has it's own due course of riveting and enigmatic touch. Before Virumaandi had released, a whole bunch of movies were made based on the Madurai-backdrop, but this was all together a mind-blowing narrative. I was in awww of the entire arc, to break it down here were my best picks.

Andha Kandamani Song : 'Cold Shivers everytime'

Power-housed with excellent performances by the leads- Kamal, Pasupathy, Napolean .(Quoting UlagaNayagan from an 2003 interview excerpt: " More than the story, Virumaandi is a Nadippu Thiruvizha"). The plot experimented the non-linear structure with the account being narrated from two persepectives by Viruman and Kothala Thevar respectively. The way the premises were bulit from the very beginning on how the feudal clash between two villages (Chinnakolarpatti Vs Nallamanayakanur) goes on to impact a lot of lifes. The rural aura (Not to forget this iconic Panchayathu scene below ) and the rustic aesthetics gave the rawness a new dimension, a delight to watch !!   

Virumaandi embodied a lot of values based on humanity. It was one of the first movies to openly talk about why death sentences was inhumane in nature and needed to be abolished (infact the opening documentary clippings). In the sub-context, to cite examples there are two peculiar scenes- The one where a drunken Kamal refuses to part away with his late Appatha's land and equates the soil as his "mother's blood" and swears at those who come with an offer to buy it. It was a hard slap on those affluent pocket-filled class who think agricultural land can bought off with might of money and stresses how important is agriculture for our country. The other one is where Naicker walks out of the court after losing in a illicit manner says- "Manusu dhaan da courtu aprom dhaan da idhellam" ( One might escape the loopholes in the judicial system but eventually will fall prey to the karma ). Finally, special mention
the end credits dialogue: Manippu keka therinjaven Manusen, Mannikka therinjaven periyamanusen.

Steered by strong-woman characters, be it Ms. Anjela Mathew (who comes to interview the imprisoned inmates) or Annalakshmi- playing the love interest of Viruman as opposed to the streotypical heriones was a progressive step forward. Ilayaraaja's heart-stabbing eerie background score is nothing short of staying truthful and paying respect to this piece of art. It was unarguably his best album of the decade. Still hooked on to 'Unna Vida' and it's lyrics on my playlist. The Maestro-Nayagan duology always have been promising but this was one notch above imo.

Many current-gen filmakers like Pa. Ranjith, Karthik Naren have spoken about how Virumaandi has been a great source of inspiration for screenplay and the craft as a whole in the landscape of tamil cinema. Ultimately the movie has it's own deep flaws like Caste Glorification but it will forever remain as my favourite Kamal Hassan venture in my world of pop culture. Those of you who haven't watched it has one been of the regulars airing on KTV and hope it makes your eyes stay glued like it did for me.

PS: Forgive me if at all I was an ignorant Casteist Bigot.