Ardent followers of alternative Tamizh cinema (one which is thankfully on the rise), would agree with me on the fact that there's been an inclination towards the sea and stories related to it among movie makers in recent times. There was the hugely anticipated 'Kadal', a Mani Ratnam film that came after a significant gap from the highly revered director. Before that, there was this much appreciated effort called 'Neer Paravai' which further upped the ante on the new strident independent film scene in India. And quite recently, there was 'Maryan', a piece of work from the ace music video director Bharat Bala, who erstwhile gave us pseudo-anthems like A.R.Rahman's 'Vande Mataram' which got hooked onto our TV screens for the better part of a decade or two.
Now having earlier seen 'Kadal' and falling head over heels for the many subtle nuances of it (which to my disappointment, a majority of the cinema audiences and even enthusiasts ignored), I got down to watching 'Maryan' with much curiosity over what this incredible talented director would bring to the table, coupled as he was with A.R.Rahman for the music (more on the album later) and Marc Koninckx (credited for several International projects, Bertolucci's infamous Stealing Beauty being one of them) for the visuals on the project. I must confess, through out the length of 'Maryan', I couldn't help but constantly have the feeling that this was a poorly written script. Now before I get cried foul at, I would say I'm definitely one from the school that believes a movie is more about what it does to a script than about the script itself. And on that ground, this movie scores high. It collaborates immensely with the euphoric soundtrack Rahman gave it on the music videos and the musical interludes scattered all over the film and the cinematography empathizes rightly with the emotions in the scenes, closing up on faces when its needed to, staying back when the atmosphere around the characters needs more attention. There's good potential with the subject too, basing itself on what is a true story. The people who've been through this must have had a terrible time, considering the fact that an ordinary fisherman's life is no less dramatic. However, everything that's happening with the film felt it was put there to just let it happen, not giving time for the characters to actually live through the scene, feel the dialogue and then say it, and sing, dance, make love, or even cry by living through the moment and not because that's what is expected of them to do. This is where the screenplay faltered in my sense, not taking the liberty to explore something real and gritty and just ticking off points on a checklist. There could have been huge 'drama' in the way a guy and a girl fall in love, enjoy courtship, the guy loses a friend, makes harsh decisions with life, gets trapped in a far off world and struggles hard to get back home. And the subtle moments of all of these scenarios have been skipped. Add to this the flimsy editing which just jumps from scene to scene and stackpiles them rather than creating a cherishable pace.
It did get better for me as the story progressed, with the scene with cheetahs (certainly a premonition for Maryan) being a nice touch (but which did feel a bit hurried again) and the one where Panimalar cries and consistently bangs her head against the wall, with her dad sitting next to her, absolutely helpless. The latter one shows true horrific grief, one almost suicidal. That's the kind of scripting prowess that this film demanded in many moments and didnt really get. Dare I say, it does show a certain inexperience on Bharat Bala's part with respect to scripting, screenplays and editing and that a full scale drama requires just more depth added to the audacity of a dazzling music video. (I've not seen his previous films and hence, I'm open to question on this statement though, lest I decree something inordinate). What this film made me, was it kept me going back to the finer details of 'Kadal's screenplay (what with all its flaws carried on by being cut-short) , the way young Thomas meets Father Sam and cries out into the tape recorder, how Sam plays this later to Bea when she meets him for the first time with Thomas, and I could go on listing. It probably only shows just how much more work has been put into that screenplay.
Talking of OSTs, notice how through the thick and thin, 'Maryan''s music sounds to be sort of a more raw-ish and unplugged version of that of 'Kadal''s (reflected boldly in the differences and similarities between 'Nenjukulle' and 'Innum Konjam Neram'.) Ironically, I felt Kadal was more of an unplugged film in its entirety and Maryan having a more 'conventional' feel. I so wish these movies actually released on a Director's cut, with all the left over bits from the editing room, when they come to the DVD stores!
Now having earlier seen 'Kadal' and falling head over heels for the many subtle nuances of it (which to my disappointment, a majority of the cinema audiences and even enthusiasts ignored), I got down to watching 'Maryan' with much curiosity over what this incredible talented director would bring to the table, coupled as he was with A.R.Rahman for the music (more on the album later) and Marc Koninckx (credited for several International projects, Bertolucci's infamous Stealing Beauty being one of them) for the visuals on the project. I must confess, through out the length of 'Maryan', I couldn't help but constantly have the feeling that this was a poorly written script. Now before I get cried foul at, I would say I'm definitely one from the school that believes a movie is more about what it does to a script than about the script itself. And on that ground, this movie scores high. It collaborates immensely with the euphoric soundtrack Rahman gave it on the music videos and the musical interludes scattered all over the film and the cinematography empathizes rightly with the emotions in the scenes, closing up on faces when its needed to, staying back when the atmosphere around the characters needs more attention. There's good potential with the subject too, basing itself on what is a true story. The people who've been through this must have had a terrible time, considering the fact that an ordinary fisherman's life is no less dramatic. However, everything that's happening with the film felt it was put there to just let it happen, not giving time for the characters to actually live through the scene, feel the dialogue and then say it, and sing, dance, make love, or even cry by living through the moment and not because that's what is expected of them to do. This is where the screenplay faltered in my sense, not taking the liberty to explore something real and gritty and just ticking off points on a checklist. There could have been huge 'drama' in the way a guy and a girl fall in love, enjoy courtship, the guy loses a friend, makes harsh decisions with life, gets trapped in a far off world and struggles hard to get back home. And the subtle moments of all of these scenarios have been skipped. Add to this the flimsy editing which just jumps from scene to scene and stackpiles them rather than creating a cherishable pace.
It did get better for me as the story progressed, with the scene with cheetahs (certainly a premonition for Maryan) being a nice touch (but which did feel a bit hurried again) and the one where Panimalar cries and consistently bangs her head against the wall, with her dad sitting next to her, absolutely helpless. The latter one shows true horrific grief, one almost suicidal. That's the kind of scripting prowess that this film demanded in many moments and didnt really get. Dare I say, it does show a certain inexperience on Bharat Bala's part with respect to scripting, screenplays and editing and that a full scale drama requires just more depth added to the audacity of a dazzling music video. (I've not seen his previous films and hence, I'm open to question on this statement though, lest I decree something inordinate). What this film made me, was it kept me going back to the finer details of 'Kadal's screenplay (what with all its flaws carried on by being cut-short) , the way young Thomas meets Father Sam and cries out into the tape recorder, how Sam plays this later to Bea when she meets him for the first time with Thomas, and I could go on listing. It probably only shows just how much more work has been put into that screenplay.
Talking of OSTs, notice how through the thick and thin, 'Maryan''s music sounds to be sort of a more raw-ish and unplugged version of that of 'Kadal''s (reflected boldly in the differences and similarities between 'Nenjukulle' and 'Innum Konjam Neram'.) Ironically, I felt Kadal was more of an unplugged film in its entirety and Maryan having a more 'conventional' feel. I so wish these movies actually released on a Director's cut, with all the left over bits from the editing room, when they come to the DVD stores!
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