After watching Raavanan I had to see an actual Mani Ratnam movie to remind myself how great his movies are. And I decided to watch Kannathil Muthamittal.
It’s a story of a young girl, Amudha (P.S. Keerthana) who on her ninth birthday learns that she is an adopted daughter. She was adopted by a popular Tamil writer Thiruchelvan (R. Madhavan) and Indira (Simran). For a child that shatters her entire sense of security, her identity and her world view. She feels herself alienated from the family and tries to run away from home to try and find her birth mother. Finally her father promises that he will help her find her birth mother.
Amudha was born to Shyama (Nandita Das) and Dileepan. While pregnant, due to the strife torn state of Sri Lanka, Shyama came to Rameshwaram to give birth to Amudha. After the baby is born Shyama however chose to go back. Thiruchelvan writes a story fictionalizing the inner turmoil of Shyama who left her new born to go back to a devastated homeland. While writing the story he sees the baby and wants to adopt her. However the law does not permit a single man to adopt and he asks his neighbor, Indira who also likes him to marry him and adopt Amudha.
Meanwhile Amudha runs away to Rameshwaram where she learns that that her mother was from Sri Lanka. Keeping his promise, her parents take her to Sri Lanka where Dr. Herold Vikramsinghe (Prakash Raj) helps them. Throughout this while Amudha refuses to listen to Indira, dreaming about her real mother. Mani Ratnam has beautifully depicted the chaos and pathos of the war torn Sri Lanka. The rest of the story moves with Amudha and her parent trying to get to the Tamil heartland to find Shyama.
A beautiful and poignant story exploring various facets of human relationships against the backdrop of war and strife… All aspects of the film are very sensitively handled. A child’s dilemma and resulting stubbornness, a mother’s helplessness and love, a father willing to go to any length for his child, a writer trying to make sense out of the world around him…the movie takes you on a journey and you identify in one way or the other with each character. The best thing about the movie is the way Mani Ratnam builds up the character so much so that the act of Thiru taking his wife and daughter to a place where war can erupt any minute seems natural. You know that this is his philosophy of life; to do what he believes is right. The honesty with which all characters are portrayed is what makes this movie a treat.
As far as performances go, every one of them is outstanding. Amudha tugs at your heart every time she comes on screen. You cry with Indira and her love for her child is palpable. Madhavan has outdone himself in his portrayal of the father and the writer. I loved the songs and the music especially the title track. Ravi Chandran’s cinematography is breathtaking and the editing of the movie is very crisp yet the movie flows.
(Must Watch)
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