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Fast Facts about 'Kannathil Muthamittal' :
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It's been two years now since Manirathnam's 'Alaipaayuthey' was released
(the reason for this long gap was his involvement with Madras Talkies
Production's 'Dum Dum Dum'). 'Kannathil Muthamittal' happens to be a
film that was made within a short period of time. We arrived at Udhayam theatre to watch this movie. Even as we entered the complex, we could see fast moving black tickets. The theatre was crowded with teens, teens and more teens. There were women too (Madhavan?) With the usual 'threatening' messages and work formulates, the film began. In one of the Tamil occupied areas of Srilanka, Chakravarthy marries Nandita Das. Then, he rushes off to the war. Nandita Das becomes a refugee and steps into India. In one of the refugee camps, she delivers a baby, abandons it and goes back to Srilanka, to help her fighting husband. The leaps from here to '9 years later'. Keerthana's (actor Parthiban's daughter) pranks welcomes the audiences to that era.  Her ninth
birthday. Plus, turning points.Her adopted parents, Madhavan (a writer) and Simran, choose that day to tell her the truth. The child starts insisting upon seeing her mother. Questions arise. Flashback time: The story of adoption continues. Madhavan - Simran's matured love story - Madhavan declares his love for the engaged-to-be-married Simran and when she speaks her mind, he embraces her. That is it. He nets the fish! His elder sister arrives there. Unmindful, the embrace continues. All the 'spice loving' fans, who had looked gloomy till then, come alive and the theatre sparkles. Just when Madhavan promises to show his daughter who the real mother is, intermission strikes. Intense discussions breakout at the canteens. There is a predominant air of disappointment. Audience doesn't easily accept such radically different plots. And, since this is a movie revolving around a kid, involvement is lot lesser, obviously. Thank God, after the break, Manirathnam keeps them bound to their chairs with a thick rope, his years of experience making it happen. Prakash raj's appearance makes people wonder if he really is a Srilankan by birth. He helps the writer (Madhavan) who comes to Srilanka. With him is his wife & daughter, Simran & Keerthana. You would be really surprised if you realize how much of 'Srilanka' was actually the art wonders of Sabu Cyril (The apartment blocks in 'Anjali' and all those flakes of snow in 'Roja's 'pudhu vellai mazhai' were all cardboards and cottons!) With so many writers, here in Tamilnadu who speak beautiful Tamil, it's an irritation to watch Madhavan speak his style of Tamil in Srilanka. Should this happen in a Manirathnam - 'Sujatha' movie?  Till Keerthana
sees her mother, the audience witnesses onscreen, Srilankan battles of
the kind that were never before shown on an Indian movie screen. The
Tamil evacuating their houses, bombs showering on the hill terrains and
on these houses, they make our hearts bleed. The stark inequalities,
between us here who are luxuriating with the Internet, pizza houses,
Lifestyle, web cams & more and our brothers who don't even have a
foothold on their own land, stands glaringly revealed.There is more intensity in the terrorism shown in 'Kannathil Muthamittal' than what was depicted in 'Roja', 'Bombay' or 'Uyire'. Kids walking around the guns and the kind of trainings that are given to them are scenes that should shock our docile women kind. In those jungle-training camps, Nandita das gets the news about her daughter. She refuses to go to the fixed place, initially, but later, she turns up there to see her child. The heart of a mother. The climax has the same excitement that and IndoPak meet in the current scenario would - nail biting. Mother and child meet. What direction! What a scene! Everything that Manirathnam has, comes out in these few scenes - his supreme craftsmanship. When Keerthana anguishes that her mother hadn't even cradled her in her arms, one could see each and every feature of hers act. Don't be surprised if the living room of Parthiban's household acquires its third National Award soon (the first 2 belonged to the father 'Pudhiya Paadhai' & 'Houseful') The extremely gifted and lucky girl, Keerthana's life and career is bound to go places with 'Kannathil Muthamittal' When Simran says, 'At least now you could lift her'. Nandita das, with emotions flooding, gathers her daughter in her arms. This scene is greeted by whistles and cheers in the hall. There is a slight patch of moisture in the comers of our eyes.  Nandita das
tells her daughter, "I'll comeback to you when the fight
ends", and walks away towards the battle field and the training
camps. With that, the story ends. The movie loving audience leave their
seats with the satisfaction of having watched a good poetically
beautiful film.There are some 'worth mentioning' percentage of audience who exclusively enjoy those Mumtaj numbers. They were not able to enjoy this film as much as they wanted to. Their shouts and noises were a great hindrance to the rest of the crowd. Theatres should adopt the ambience of a place of worship, when it comes to some movies. But this segment doesn't allow that to happen. It's upsetting to see the story go by without actually creating the feeling that Madhavan is a writer. Simran, makeup-less, has with her voice, rendered her dialogues, flawlessly. Their love sequences have the same quality of youthfulness that 'Alaipayuthey' did. Without an elder person's guidance, Keethana and her younger brother go to Rameshwaram, to find out the truth about her birth. She is given a very smart answer by the sister. Duty conscious lady! May be this scene could have been dealt with differently. And, there are some scenes, some camera points of views and some blurredness that could have been avoided. 'Look, the child in pointing towards Srilanka!', and other such 'punch' filled dialogues that characterize the 'Sujatha' style are many, song sequences that are interwoven with the dialogues and scenes is a new strategy. Ravi.K.Chandran's Cinematography has the neatness of a mirror surface - there are still some locations that haven't yet been portrayed onscreen, and he has managed to show some of them hue, taking this film to new heights. These are some good aspects of this film. Had Manirathnam wanted, he could have simply made another 'Alaipayuthey'. He could have had Madhavan & Simran dance to another 'Humma Humma' & Keerthana do another 'Mottaimaadi'. Instead, he chose to push himself to his creative limits to portray a child's yearning for her mother. Good job, Manirathnam! Good job indeed! For people who would like to watch a good, artistic movie, 'Kannathil Muthamittal' is the right choice.
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