Meiyazhagan
For a long time now, Malayalam filmmakers have made Kerala the object of envy with movie watchers elsewhere by capturing its pristinely beautiful landscape in their films. In Meiyazhagan, cinematographer-director C Prem Kumar shows us that Tamil Nadu cannot be far behind. With aerial shots of inter-village buses cutting through breathtakingly massive green fields in the Thanjavur region, this is a proud moment for the people of Tamil Nadu, especially in the central and southern belt. It is one of the many things that make Meiyazhagan a pleasant watch, and a fine follow-up to the director’s debut ‘96.
Many strands make Meiyazhagan similar to ‘96. Much like that movie, this is a tale of unrequited love. In ‘96, it was Ram and Jaanu, tenth-grade classmates who are forever separated by fate and have to reconcile with that reality 25 years later at a high school reunion. In Meiyazhagan, it is Arulmozhi, one of the film’s two principal characters, who is separated from his “love interest” – his ancestral home – due to a bitter family dispute. The grief is so heavy that he avoids visiting the entire region for more than two decades. It is a fascinating backdrop on which the movie is constructed, one that any adolescent (or older) can relate to. The ancestral home isn’t just a piece of concrete in the movie. It is almost a character, and its relationship with Arulmozhi has a nice arc.
Meeting a first love
And so, during a fateful visit 22 years later (the year now is 2018), the older Arulmozhi (Arvind Swamy) catches a glimpse of the home while visiting the town for his favorite cousin’s wedding. The emotion is so overwhelming that he runs away when an innocuous voice is heard, unable to see the house in full view even momentarily. At a certain level, the scene is reminiscent of how Ram is visibly nervous when facing Jaanu during the reunion and promptly faints on seeing her. Like Ram, Arulmozhi struggles to reconcile with the fact that his first love (the house) is someone else’s.
The reconciliation in Meiyazhagan does happen eventually, thanks to the titular character played by an effulgent Karthi. He spots Arulmozhi at the wedding reception, but the latter can neither recognize him nor recollect his name. To Arulmozhi’s indescribable shock, everyone at the gathering seems to know Meiyazhagan except him, and every attempt to “learn” his name falls flat. To make matters worse, Meiyazhagan attaches to him like glue. When Arulmozhi leaves the wedding reception unceremoniously (he has been avoiding this extended family because of the scars of the past), he ends up spending the night with the mysterious mate. And so, the guessing game continues, only at a different venue.
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A reconciliation
Whether by nature or by the events of the past, Arulmozhi is a man of few words and doesn’t like hanging out with people, especially if they have anything to do with the town he grew up in. Meiyazhagan, on the other hand, is his polar opposite. Capable of endless banter, only a desperate challenge on a meal table can silence him. In ‘96, Ram and Jaanu’s unforgettable night is set up by a relationship that has already been established. In Meiyazhagan, however, given that Arulmozhi has forgotten their past relationship, the extended night and its happenings create a new relationship. Arvind Swamy and Karthi are terrific in bringing out this blossoming bromance between the two lead characters. How this unforgettable night transforms Arulmozhi and helps him get closure with his first love forms the theme of Meiyazhagan.
Like ‘96, Meiyazhagan is a conversational drama that is fairly engaging. It effectively delivers the central message of letting go without being overly preachy; for instance, Meiyazhagan asks Arulmozhi to forgive the extended family that cheated his father of the property, but does that only a couple of times in the movie, never really dwelling on the topic. There is a healthy dose of humor sprinkled alongside the sentimental tone of the movie. Despite the past weighing on Arulmozhi’s mind and the mental repair that he is going through, their interactions are light-hearted and enjoyable for the most part, like the scene where Arulmozhi learns of the existence of a reptile in the backyard.
A conversational drama
But the movie isn’t just about these two male characters. The narrative is filled with relationships that make up several standout scenes in the movie. The scene where Arulmozhi meets his cousin on the reception podium is a beautifully conceived sentimental brother-sister moment; both Arvind Swamy and Swathi Konde (playing the role of Bhuvana) are excellent in the scene. There is also that wordless moment when a lady character brushes her fingertips against a man’s shirt, capturing the desire for a relationship that never materializes.
But, of all the endearing characters in the movie, Meiyazhan’s wife Nandhini (played by Sri Divya) is possibly the most well-written. She has suffered multiple miscarriages but never demonstrated any disappointment in the past. She is finally pregnant, but wouldn’t show excessive joy either. With a radiance that befits a goddess, she appears in front of Arulmozhi at his most cathartic moment in the middle of the night and checks in on his well-being. Despite limited screen time, Nandhini is one of the film’s most unforgettable characters.
Flashbacks that don’t quite work
But if there is something in Meiyazhagan that does not work as well as ‘96, it is the flashback scenes. In ‘96, the younger current characters enjoyed plenty of screen time; their scenes were laid out elaborately in almost real-time. The younger Ram and Jaanu left a lasting impression on us, and our hearts melted while watching the heartbreaking scene involving a mistaken identity. In Meiyazhahan, many of the flashback scenes in the second half of the movie are narrated by the older characters, and hence, don’t quite carry the same emotional quotient.
For example, the scene where the younger Meiyazhagan learns to ride a bicycle could have been a poignant one, had it not been narrated by the older character. Director Prem Kumar scored a near-perfect 10 with ‘96 and set the bar so high that these missteps appear a little magnified, unfortunately. Nevertheless, Meiyazhagan is a fine movie that fills our hearts with nostalgia. It tells us that some relationships always stand the test of time, despite the failings of our temporal lobe.