Ponniyin Selvan - the Movie

There was a memorable dialog in a recent Tamil movie that otherwise proved unremarkable. An author is asked why he refuses to grant film rights for his novels. His response is “I describe a dark street. I want each of my readers to visualize the dark street themselves, in a way consistent with their experiences. I don’t want a filmmaker to do the visualization for them”.

That argument captures my objections to Ponniyin Selvan being filmed. By anyone. With anyone playing Vandiyathevan, Kundavai, Nandini, Vanathi, or Poonkuzhali. It’s impossible to please folks like me. I have a mental picture of the Kadambur Palace that no art director can match. I have a vivid sequence in mind of the dark murder sequence in volume 4. How dare anyone imply they can match it?

(Art: Aditi Anand Kannan)

  

We are talking about the greatest Tamil novel ever written. An undisputed epic.  A contemporary piece to Lord of the Rings. Tolkien gets credit for visualizing an epic with a richly imagined cast of hobbits, wizards and orks, and the landscape that make them come alive. But Tolkien did not have to worry about anyone proving him wrong on factual terms. Kalki’s work was arguably harder, as it talked about a well documented era of a 1000 year old dynasty.  He used enough of historical facts, and wove fiction and unusual interpretation of documented history. For example, Vallavaraiyan Vadhiyathevan was described as Kundavai’s husband in stone and bronze inscriptions. Vallam is a small town at a stone’s throw from Tanjavur. The easiest interpretation would be to fix his origins there. Kalki chose to portray him as a scion of the Vanar dynasty, originally far away from the Kaveri region. This allowed the character to view the Kaveri delta with unmixed wonder, and introduce the landscape to the reader in the process. It also made his devotion to Kundavi and the Chola royalty more impressive. There lies Kalki’s greatness.

When Ponniyin Selvan came out as a series starting in 1951, Maniyam, the artist sketched the characters in a way that was original, imaginative, and consistent in the three+ years that the series ran. The series had a following that has been unmatched since. Kalki re-ran the series again in 1968 and again in the 1980s, with art by Vinu and Maniyam Selvan (the son of the original artist). Each time, Kalki’s circulation spiked.  I believe I am a typical Ponniyin selvan fan; and I can visualize pretty much any character at will, thanks to the class and consistency of Maniyam and his successors.

Now getting to the main point of the article. I don’t believe anyone has the ability or resources to stay true to those visuals with live actors. It may have been feasible with gifted animation artists who are sworn to value authenticity over artistic license.  I mean good artists - not Soundarya Rajnikanth, the wonder artist who has Kochadaiyan to boast of.

That reminds me that it could all have been much worse. We dodged disaster  multiple times when MGR, Kamal Haasan and then Vijay (shudder!) were rumoured to make the epic into movies.  I’d rather have Donald Trump play Mahatma Gandhi than these gentlemen play Vandiyathevan. MGR’s aura would have demanded changes in the script that would have killed the story. Kamal Hasan’s ego and Vijay’s general inanity would have been insurmountable. MGR demonstrated my point spectacularly in Madhuraiyai Meeta Sundara Pandiyan. And Vijay in all the movies he has made.

A few miscellaneous points.

• With the new venture, there are reasons for optimism. I imagine that Mani Rathnam has sway to get all the actors to force them to swallow their egos and hide behind their characters.
•  I felt a bit of disappointment when I realized that Ilaiyaraaja is not writing the music, but on reflection realized that he may have found it hard to blend into the grander vision. A R Rehman should do better, just by virtue of his lack of ego.
• Aishwarya Rai, pretty as she is, is a very limited actor! Nandini’s character is one of the most complex ones in any novel. Beautiful, pitiable, ruthless, vile and brave all at the same time. I can’t think of any actress today who fits the bill, but Ms. Rai must rank in the bottom quadrant of all candidates. And there is the age thing. I mean, it is going to be hard to summon the outrage over a young girl being married to a 60 year old minor king, but I guess she can play Mandakini well, and there is the modern wonders that are called lighting and make-up. I still find it hard to buy into that one.
• I can’t think of anyone who can pull off Madhuranthakan and Sendan Amudan. Let’s see!
• But Vairamuthu? Really?! (Since I wrote this, there seem to be second thoughts on the film unit’s part). Morals aside, Vairamuthu is a misfit. He is too inconsistent and showy. Kalki was a gifted poet himself. I can’t see the need for new lyrics when the novel has classy pieces like ‘Alai Kadlum Oyndirukka…”.
• Mani Rathnam will need to curb his staccato style to match Kalki’s gift for dialog. News says Jeyamohan has been roped in as the dialog writer. Jeyamohan may have the opposite problem. Can Jeyamohan adapt to the original style and suspend his verbosity? Kalki’s dialog construction is somewhat like P G Wodehouse’s. Only folks who have attempted to write a scene can realize how natural the dialog flow is.  The only way this is going to work for folks to just imitate.
• It’s apparently a series of movies. A wise move. Actually, make that at least three!
• Kudos to Thailand as the location. Much as I think the visuals can't match my mental imagery, I look forward to a visual treat.

All that said, I will probably line up to watch the movie, first show! Such is the magic Kalki has woven.

I am envious of anyone who has not read the novel so far. You have a treat of a lifetime to look forward to. I look at you like the kid who gobbled up his ice cream and sees his sister starting her slow, relishing progress with hers!

I hope the movie is made at least well enough to capture the story's splendor for anyone who can’t read Tamil. (I don’t believe translated books do justice to this either). The other achievement this movie can dream of is to introduce this epic to the new attention-span challenged generation!