Readers Write In #638: Muthal Mariyathai – A movie that has aged well and engages us even after 3 decades

By Radhakrishnan Mahalikudi

Yeraatha Malai song:

Listening to Malaysia Vasudevan’s songs collection the other day brought back old memories. My wife and I started discussing his memorable numbers, range, and emotion. Discussion led to topic of movies where his voice elevated the movie and the first movie that came to our mind was Muthal Mariyathai. So, we decided to watch the movie over the weekend. I had watched the movie first time during my second year of college when it got released. I don’t recollect watching it again end to end after that. Of course, the songs ended up in the favorite list.

I was little apprehensive whether the movie will work after three decades. Will it fit in the current times? I was in for a surprise. After the first few minutes of familiarity, we were fully immersed in the movie universe as if we were watching it for the first time. While I liked the movie when I watched it in 1985, I connected with the movie much better this time. My appreciation for the director Bharathiraja also went up in the second viewing. This could be also because my reading and understanding of cinema as medium has improved over the last three decades. My take is the movie comes across as a timeless classic, stands the test of time.

The plot line is unusual even for that time and current. It is about a relationship between a middle-aged village chief, Malaichami, and a young woman, Kuyil. This is not the usual two good looking young boy and girl falling in love at first sight story. The film opens with the friends and family of Malaichami gathered around him on his deathbed. The story gets into flashbacks through his life. To mention the story in one line, Malaichami unhappily married to the unpleasant, ill-tempered Ponnatha, finds solace in his friendship with Kuyil, which looks socially awkward due to wide age gap, and it leads to complications. Strength of the movie is how the director brings his creativity, style, and narrative techniques to give us the perspective of the relationship. I counted 3 man-woman relationships, no erase that, 5 if we include the two minor ones.

The first one between Malaichami and Ponnatha, dysfunctional and full of hurt. Even though they are married, they do not live a husband-wife relationship. Backstory establishes the reason for the broken relationship, one narrated by Sengodan to Kuyil, and later when Ponnatha in a fit of anger spills the family secrets. The circumstances clearly explain the source of their behavior traits. Suppress the desires and live through a hellish relationship for the sake of family honor in the eyes of the society.

The second one between Malaichamy and Kuyil. The friendship slowly builds. While we get to the see the transition in Malaichamy, in how he views the relationship through series of events, director doesn’t get into the mind of Kuyil on what attracts her to Malaichamy. Of course, we buy in to the relationship, not that it comes across as forced or odd. I do think keeping the source of her attraction unsaid makes it more intriguing.

The third one between Sevuli and Chellakannu. This is 100% pure young adults love. Love that doesn’t think about social barriers like caste or class. A poetry. The challenges these two lovers go through feeds into the mind change of Malaichamy, his perception of social barriers, dignity, and family

The third one between Sevuli and Chellakannu. This is 100% pure young adults love. Love that doesn’t think about social barriers like caste or class. A poetry. The challenges these two lovers go through feeds into the mind change of Malaichamy, his perception of social barriers, dignity, and family honor.

Fourth and fifth one is minor ones between Rasamma and her husband, and Janakaraj and his wife, but they do bring-in additional flavors to the husband-wife relationships. Janakaraj’s is a funny one, his profession reflects his state of mind, kayiru thiriththal (rope making) and being suspicious of his wife by imagining things 😀 Similar to Sevuli and Chellakannu’s love track, these threads too contribute to Malaichamy’s journey of reasoning out on what his relationship with Kuyil means to him.

What makes the movie works are the moments and narrative techniques. Like the sparrow that enters Malaichamy’s house to build a nest, Kuyil starts building a nest in his heart. We see the entry of sparrow and Kuyil in the same scene. There is no place for a nest in Ponnatha’s house. Its rightful place is Kuyil’s home. The movie is the journey of Malaichamy from Ponnatha’s house to Kuyil’s home. We don’t see the love blossoming between Malaichamy and Kuyil at first sight. It slowly builds like a nest. While Kuyil is clear about it, Malaichamy isn’t and has to confront his inner feelings to get there. Bharathiraja’s known for his directorial touches, what gets referred to as symbolic shots. Interestingly they worked for me even now. Shot of a flute going up and coming down post Sevuli’s death is emotional and expressive with Ilayaraja’s score. The prelude shot of the nest breaking up when Malaichamy decides to move to Kuyil’s house. Malaichamy gets his small joys of life outside his house. These are beautifully weaved into the narration. These are moments that don’t directly add to the plot but enrich the characters and elevates the mood. Two moments stand out though. One is the Malaichamy enjoying a fish meal at Kuyil’s house, and the second one is when Kuyil applies balm with peacock feather on Malaichamy’s wounds on his palms. Moments that not only warms the heart of Malaichamy but stirs ours too. Thanks to Sivaji’s performance, you feel the emotions Malaichamy must be going through in his head. This is a great example of how you write and stage moments into the narration and why they are important. Muthal Mariyathai as a story would have worked without these two scenes. But would it have the same emotional impact? I don’t think so. There are multiple moments like this in the movie to talk about.

While Sivaji Ganesan, Vadivukkarasi, and Radha have given their best, it is Sivaji and Vadivukkarasi who steal the show. Hard to describe their performances but let me say it this way, after 10mts into the movie you see only Malaichamy and Ponnatha, the actors playing them disappear, you don’t see the actors. Another person that steals the show is Satyaraj in a guest appearance. It is hard to discuss Muthal Mariyathai without Ilayaraja’s score. Lots have been said about his music and I don’t have anything new to add. All I can say is every song in the album is memorable, soothing, and stands the test of time. Thanks to Bharathiraja, songs are aptly used and picturized, doing justice to the great tunes.

Are there things that didn’t work? It is the same thing from the first time I watched it in 1985, performances and dialogue delivery of Deepan and Ranjani. Not sure whether that is how the director wanted to portray the characters or it is the capability of the actors. In the panchayat scene everyone is shown as not willing to speak up in front of Malaichamy, it comes across as unnatural. There are few others but these are minor nit-picks and doesn’t work against the movie taken as a whole.

Circling back to Malaysia Vasudevan, his voice fits the Malaichamy’s character like a perfect glove. It is to the success of Sivaji and Malaysia that when I listen to Poongatru Thirumbuma it is hard to imagine the song with anyone else.