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.