In the initial scenes Sathyaraj’s ‘loLLu’ style perfectly suits the teasing/ sarcastic style of Periyar! In the second half, Sathyaraj excels in faithfully reproducing the voice, pronunciation and body language of Periyar. To say that he has lived as Periyar in this portion will amount to repeating something already mentioned by many (*kooRiyathu kooRum kuRRam, * as they say in Tamil!!!!).
The depth of the soulful friendship between Periyar and Rajaji has been brought out well in the movie.
Because of her star value and the controversy created about her playing Maniyammai’s role when the shooting of the film started, Khushboo has got larger publicity. Otherwise, in the film, Jyothirmayee who plays Nagammai has a bigger role than Khushboo playing Maniyammai.
Periyar had maintained his anti- Brahmin policies consistently till his demise. This particular aspect has been toned down substantially in the film. One can notice the extra care taken by the director, Mr Gnana Rajasekharan in not offending any sensibilities, especially that of Brahmins and the believers. Kudos to him!
Compared to the strong portrayal of Periyar’s anti- religion, anti- caste and anti- God policies, it can easily be said that his anti- North Indian domination and anti-Hindi policies have not been touched upon at all in the movie.
It is well known that Periyar was in the beautiful habit of addressing even kids as ‘Vaanga! POnga!’ in plural which conveys respect in Tamil. This appreciable aspect of his personality has been recorded well throughout the movie. In the scene where he offers his van to a Brahmin lady when she is suffering from labour pain in a car stranded in rain, his humanism is displayed and in the scene where some people throw sandals toward him when he is traveling in a cycle rickshaw, his sense of humour and his famous thrifty nature are etched on screen { When these people throw one sandal at him and go into hiding, he challenges them by uttering his popular anti-God sentences (kadavuL illai! kadavuL illavE illai!....) from the top of the rickshaw and makes sure that they throw the other sandal *also at him! His logic is “ After all, it’s a new pair of *sandals and what can either of us do with only one sandal each?!!}
Vidyasagar’s music is excellent! Especially the ‘ jameen ezhudhik kodu seemaanE’ song! Because the film is on ‘Periyar’, even glamour girl Ragasiya’s dance scene has been shot in a dignified manner! Shabhash! By stubbornly turning down the offer on a platter to compose music for this film, I would be tempted to think that Isaignani Ilaiyaraja has let go one golden opportunity to compose music for a film like this!
Vairamuthu’s lyrics are simply superb! In particular, in the song ‘KadavuLaa nee Kallaa? ’, *the lines ‘neengaL mattum, neengaL mattum vindhu vizhunthu piRanthavargaL! naangaL mattum, naangaL mattum echchil vizhunthaa piRanthavargaL?*’ ( You people were born out of a drop of sperm while we were born out of a drop of spit, were we?!!) slap the core theme of the film on your face in just one line! In fact, all the Vaikkom agitation scenes shot in Kerala are a visual treat!
Another plus point of the movie is its choice of actors/ actresses! Mahatma Gandhi, Moodharignar *Rajaji, Dr. Ambedkar, *Perunthalaivar Kamaraj, ARignar Anna, MakkaL Thilagam MGR, Puratchik Kavignar Bharathidasan, NadigavEL *MR Radha, Thiru. Vi.Ka, Maniyammaiyar, Thi.Ka. leader K.Veeramani, why, even Rettaimalai Srinivasan, Va.VE.Su. Iyer, Madhiyazhagan, *Naavalar Nedunchezhiyan, and PEraasiriyar Anbazhagan have come out as faithful as Madame Tussaud wax models on the screen!
In 1967, after the historic victory of DMK, ARignar Anna meets Periyar in his house in Trichy and takes a tumbler of coffee offered to him by Maniyammai. This scene, where they meet after 18 years of bitterness, is really touching! The other two scenes that bring tears in the viewers’ eyes are: one where a dead hungry Periyar is denied food on caste considerations at a choultry in Banaras and the other when Nagammai dies at a rather young age, when Periyar is away on one of his public meetings!
However, there’s one jarring element in the film- the lines comparing Sita with the squirrel , believed by Hindus to have the three lines on its back drawn by Lord Rama himself! If this stray line is deleted, the film can not only be viewed with the whole family but even recommended as a lesson in rationalism/ self respect / courage in schools and colleges!
On the whole, ‘Hats off to Gnana Rajasekharan!’ for giving a top class film to the Tamil viewers, who were starving for one classic for a long time now!!!
(Periyar Photo Courtesy: Sulekha.com)