Director: Maniratnam
Cast: Madhavan, Shalini, Jayasudha, Swarnamalya, Vivek, Arvind Swamy, Kushbhu.
The story centres round a young couple, Shakti and Karthik. He is a computer engineer and she a medical student. After a few encounters in a suburban train the duo fall in love. Her father not being enthusiastic about the whole thing, the couple enter into a secret marriage. An alliance comes for the girl's elder sister (Swarnamalya) and the girl 's family wants their younger son to marry the younger sister. And then Shakti comes out with the truth, about her secret marriage to Karthik. The sister's alliance breaks off and Shakti's father throws her out of the house. Shakti and Karthik move into a makeshift home. And then the tiffs start. Karthik's professional life looks up when a foreign firm ties up with him. He manages to bring in a reconciliation between Shakti's elder sister and her intended bridegroom. But meanwhile the couple have a tiff and Shakti, hurt by his harsh words, leaves home in a huff for college. She does learn of his good act, and rushes home to thank him, forgetting their earlier exchange of harsh words. But a passing car hits her and she is taken to hospital, and is in coma. Karthik waits for her at the suburban station but she never turns up. And when he finally finds her, she is fighting for her life. A simple story line, but sensitively told.
The small nuances and touches that Maniratnam gives to his screenplay reminds one of his earlier films 'Geetanjali' and Mouna Ragam'. When his canvas was not so large, and when all the technical gloss added had not yet overpowered the narration and content, the filmmaker was more of a fascinating storyteller keeping his audience spell bound. Rather than a clever magician with his gimmicks that the audience saw through at times! The flaws are here too. Mainly the scenes at the hospital - where the I.A.S. officer (Arvind Swamy) owns up to the accident that his wife (Kushbhu) had committed. And where he retorts to a lie, albeit to see that the doctors attend on Shakti promptly. He claims to be her husband and puts in his signature for an operation, when his influential position itself would have taken care of the matter. The flaws are there, but pardonable ones.
The dialogues are in the clipped Maniratnam fashion. Some slick editing (Sreekar Prasad) and catchy numbers from Rehman are some of the highlights of the film. But what was a sizzler like 'September Matham…" doing in a film of this genre? P.C. Sriram's camerawork is exemplary. His camera is extremely mobile, rarely static, bringing in realism to the ambience of a middle class family and setting. At times, the softly-lit screen gives a 'dreamy' look to the frames. The song sequences are a delight to watch. Shalini has never looked so good nor performed with so much sensitivity before. Madhavan has the youthful zest and spontaneity required for the role. Arvind Swamy and Kushbhu play the understanding couple. Poor Vivek, used to talking dime a dozen, is made to shut up here. The character is shy, stutters, so there is nothing much he can do about it. Swarnamalya the chubby, vivacious compere/actress of the small screen, plays the role of a simple, shy, traditional girl here. Maniratnam has this habit of giving his artistes a look quite in contrast to their image. Remember Heera in 'Thiruda Thiruda' and the glamorous Madhubala in 'Roja'? With 'Alai Payudhe' Maniratnam seems to have come a full circle. It's an eminently watchable film!
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Malini Mannath
