Sunday, January 27, 2008

To believe or not to believe

Whenever i visit Trivandrum I make it a point to reserve one day just to visit Beemappalli and buy a few Malayalam film cd's/dvd's to add to my existing collection. Rather than going for new movies (except for selected ones) i prefer buying the "Tried and Tested" ones a.k.a award winning, comedies, classics genre of films etc.

This time on my trip I purchased a few of the Mammootty classics. It was a DVD with the films Yathra, Thaniyavarthanam and Nirakoottu. Of these perhaps the one that will immediately strike the chord of not just a Malayalam film viewer but any film viewer would be the film "Thaniyavarthanam".

Before going into the discussion on the movie, I would like to contemplate on the theme of blind-beliefs or what is known in Malayalam as "Anthavishwasam" with respect to Malayalam movies. It is a theme brought about it in a few Malayalam movies through varied degrees of seriousness in the script.

Nagarangalil Chennu Rapaarkam (1989) was a Viji Thampi directed film starring Sreenivasan and Jayaram. Sreenivasan plays the son of Nedumudi Venu in a typical village Tharavadu. The local astrologer predicts that Sreenivasan would die within a few weeks. Then the entire family keeps him virtually in a sort of house arrest providing him with good food and all other facilities. Jayaram , his childhood friend in the village returns from town on a break and meets Sreenivasan at his home. Sreenivasan on hearing the stories about town life coupled with his boredom on being forced to stay within the boundaries of the family house decides to escape with Jayaram to the town. The film then goes through humorous twists and turns before Sreeni finally unites with his father after the prediction of the astrologer proves false. This is a comical satire on blind beliefs that exists in rural Kerala brought about in a light manner.

Based on these themes were the satire like films Sadanandante Samayam (Dileep) and a film (whose name i forgot) in which Sreenivasan is claimed to have "RajaYogam" by an astrologer and thus whoever comes in contact with him will gain enormous luck. The latter was a laugh riot but atypical of Sreeni films delivers a subtle message on the blind beliefs held by society.

Anyway coming back to Thaniyavarthanam, it tells the story of Balan Mash (so brilliantly portrayed by Mammootty) a middle class schoolteacher who falls prey to the blind beliefs held in society. His uncle Sreedharan Maman (played by Babu Namboothiri) becomes mentally retarded after getting separated from his lover (played as a cameo by Parvathi). Thus starts the blind belief in the family that in each generation one male member in the family would get mentally retarded. Unfortunately Mammootty becomes the victim and the sufferings of the protagonist depicted on screen and the climax of the movie were too tragic for me to watch this movie more than once. Unlike the other mentioned movies, this one dwells into the subject in full seriousness and considering that it was Lohitadas's debut script one can also imagine the genius of the scripting prowess of Lohitadas that were seen in his later films like Kireedam. The film shows that these incidents are caused due to the perceptions held by people rather than they exploring the reality. Directed by Sibi Malayil (known for his tragedy films) the film explores the emotions, beliefs and attitude held by people in such a society. Mukesh (playing Gopan, Mammotty's brother) is cast as a rationalist and one who despises such beliefs and who is always seen telling the family members that unless they leave the house no one is going to live a happy life. This film is a must watch not only for fans of Mammootty but also for any film lover.

Now coming to the subject of false-beliefs, one can say that with the advancement in science and the spread of income among middle class and with migration of people from rural to urban areas the stats seem to indicate a decline in such thoughts among people. But along with increase in income and a busy and stressful lifestyle also comes insecurity in life. This has induced even people among the so-called educated class to adopt false beliefs and visit god men. How can this be stopped or will it ever stop? I have no answer for this. As for me i am one who keeps faith in God but I absolutely despise false-beliefs and even get irritated when i meet people with such views. But i guess traditional views passed on by generations cannot be completely removed from minds of old-aged people who believe in them. But at least the present generation should drop such thoughts and create a healthier society in terms of social development. Would love to hear your views on this. Please do drop in your thoughts.

8 comments:

Alameen said...

thaniyaavarthanam was indeed an amazing movie... still remember the scene in which the student asks mammootty whether he is mad.. I used to think what i will answer if some day this happens to me.. that was a long time before when i watched this movie for the first time..

nice review here...

Jiby said...

thaniyavarthanam is a movie that haunted me badly when i watched it as a kid. recently i had the option to watch this movie again, but the thought of watching mammootty begin his downward slide threw me off. when will another lohitadas grace malayalam cinema...i always ask myself.

recently my grandma told me there is a curse on our family...i lost my temper for a moment and asked her to think once again of the mistakes she herself made instead of blaming it all on a curse that she probably thought up, in her ample spare time! a curse...wow... so superstitious yet tantalizing, so close to me...i just can't let go of it though i know it is irrational and stupid...maybe i will write a story on it!!!

Jiby said...

karthik, keep writing regularly...you are doing a good job...i started your youth festival blog...its pretty long...i will come back later and add a lengthy comment with my memories of the event...am now at work!

Karthik said...

@ jiby: Yes..Its too gruesome and tragic (The fate of the chracter Balan Mash) that i also couldnt view it again even though i have the dvd. Gives me the haunting feeling...And you should definitely write a story :-)

And also looking forward to your memories on the Youth Festival. I am sure you will have another long and fascinating list. ;-)

Karthik said...

@ alameemn: Yes..That scene of the student asking Mammootty whether he is mad. Infact every Mammootty fan mentions this to me when i discuss this movie.:-).

I think Mammootty's expressions on being the butt of ridicule of the society at various scenes really makes even the most hard hearted person cringe for a moment.

Anonymous said...

The movie you mention in your blog post with Sreenivasan is called
Bhagyavan (1993). Very Funny Movie.

http://imdb.com/title/tt0353234/

~Abhilash

Deepti said...

Great post ... sometimes its so difficult to argue with elders regarding their beliefs , they consider you as a rebel, its very difficult to get across your point subtlely. One more thing that gets my BP high is the horoscope matching ... i can go on and on about this ...:D good work Karthik...

Marcel said...

i stumbled upon this blog while searching for an appropriate meaning of the term "Anthavishwasam".

i read the whole post. now the funny thing is this line "As for me i am one who keeps faith in God but I absolutely despise false-beliefs"

now i'd like to know what is the big difference between those false-beliefs and your faith in God? that the latter one is supported by more people? more people believing it --> so true?

just a couple of sentences above you write something about the "advancement of science". you mean that same science that proved the existence of your God?

during the birth of christianity it was considered as false-belief, because at that time various roman gods and greek gods were the real ones. but then, a roman ruler made christianity to his state-religion --> and prompt it was an accepted belief (religion).

if you complain about superstition and false-beliefs, then you are missing the point that they are just a variation/alternative of your own irrational "beliefs". get rid of that, then the other one will go as well.

btw, thaniyavarthanam was a good movie, really painful to watch how a person is tortured like that.