"My NunBun"

Mani Ratnam’s Thalapathy was aired on Vasantham yesterday, and no matter how many times I watch it, it never fails to create the “wallaow dei POWER lah foo!” effect in me every single time. It’s for me what Nayagan is for many of my friends. I actually prefer Thalapathy to Nayagan because of Rajni. He has this charisma that escapes definition.

Anyway, watching it again made me appreciate more nuances I didn’t really notice when watching it as a teenager. Santosh Sivan’s (the dude who made Ashoka with Shah Rukh!) camera work gave the visual oomph to every shot, being able to impart power dimensions and emotions with his masterful use of strategic lighting and darkness (nevermind the totally off white-balancing for some shots – maybe the reel’s old).

My favourite scenes are easily:

• Jaishankar flanked by Rajni and Sri Vidya on either side of a temple pillar turning towards the sound of a train’s hoot and turning back - their unforgettable expressions

• Rajni’s reaction to being told by Jaishankar that his mother exists
  

• All scenes with Rajni saying “theriyathu, theriyathu, theriyathu!” to questions of who his parents are.

And of course, watching Thalapthy reminded me of many of the themes in Mani’s ventures to date. Step-brotherhood tensions between Rajni and Aravind Swamy (Agni Natchathiram); Rajni killing a bad man not realizing he has a wife and kid (Nayagan); the whole underworld of illegal activities used to help naalu paeru (Nayagan); abandoning the kid at infancy and later reuniting with difficult questions posed later to the mother (Kannathil Muthamittal); Rajni’s wardrobe (Prashant’s wardrobe in Thiruda Thiruda); spousal awkardness and tension between Rajni and Banu Priya (she’s a heck of a babe lah) (Mouna Raagam). And loads of friendship (“Nee yen nunbun.”)

And then there’s Ilaiyaraaja’s haunting “impending dastardly acts of doom” sound effects and background score. Nowadays, Mani goes the way of ARR’s vision of a pop masala mafia (Dol Dol in Ayitha Ezhuthu) when doing it for bald rogues like Maddy.

Speaking of films: Pilot ‘n Jo feature an interview with Juan Foo, the producer of Perth, the apparently very good local movie which I missed and am slapping myself for it. In the interview, Juan gives his views on the compact local movie industry and the stresses involved in being in it.