Director Mahendran & IR movies - mullum malarum

[thilak4life]

Terrific combo:

Udhiripookal: The best JM work to date. The Children's theme is emotionally charged (and is a focal point to the film), Raaja's bgm when Vijayan* asks for Charuhaasan's* second daughter - Raaja plays violin with the camera zooming on Charuhaasan's, we get to experience the first reprehensible action of the character, Sundar's theme (Raaja goes for a playful track, thus help JM render the characterization of the new teacher), the final third of the film is tour-de-force (from Vijayan stripping scene to the denouement)!
(*I can't recollect the character names)

Mullum malarum, There are many sequences to choose from: Valli cleans the fish (her entry), Engineer dismisses Kaali (Towards the end of this sequence), lorry runs over Kaali's arm, Kaali's loses his arm, kaali's poignant exchange with the engineer, Valli consoles Kaali, Valli-Kumaran love blossoms, Kaali orders Murugesan to marry Valli followed by Kaali beating up Manga, the whole of the final Kaali-Valli moment. Valli's theme is innocence personified. Kaali's varies from poignance to boorishness!

Though IMO, MM, and UP were somwhat minimalist works from Raaja compared to Johnny.

Johnny, he stops to record the peasant's folklore, he's alerted by the radio, he cooly spray paints it in red, the opening credits follow - No dialogues whatsoever but we gather he loves his music, he has flicked the car, and we've just met Johnny! JM is truly the first real pioneer of such narrative for Tamil cinema, he takes his pace, and most importantly stays out of crass rushes (or irritating metaphors)! The director is in full control of sight(with DOP) and sound (the film composer). This equanimity would later inspire the likes of Balu mahendra and Mani ratnam. Raaja's genius to aid the master is on full display here. Johnny cons the Jewel shop, Johnny meets his father (montage of snapshots as Johnny narrates), Vidyasagar's intro (from egg gobble to counting the roses), Johnny meets Archana, Johnny's first encounter of Vidyasagar in the barber shop, Johnny meets vidyasagar (Actually all of them are variations of the main motif track for Johnny), the veena music (Johnny deja-vus his mother playing), Vidyasagar-Bama, Vidyasagar kills Bama and her lover (IR's music with the freeze frames renders Vidyasagar's action "cold"), Police chase the duo for murder, wonderful synth work with techno-ish sounds (a bass chorus too) for the chase sequence. Who can forget the classic Johnny-Archana romantic leitmotiv (piano accentuation is one, the other with the woodwinds, the final one played in the chords in the end credits is sublime, piano-guitar-violin making way for the woodwind). As you could see, I could name every event of the film. Raaja fully explores the double identity, and their parallel narratives, their encounters, he mixes it up for the swapping! Raaja's score contrasts the psyche of the characters. Vidyasagar is possessive, and ends up being explosive. Johnny for all his vilely (and calculative) actions, is committed. Archana and Bama are contrasting characters (defied the "then" conventions of rich/poor women) The change of Vidyasagar is the key point, and Raaja's memorable score aided with Rajni's subtle expressions paints the picture. A truly classic ensemble work from Raja IMO