Kaliveedu - The 1996 Malayalam movie which balances marriage

Sometimes reading comments on a movie video can tell you a lot about the sentiments of the generation. It makes you reflect back to the movie and its message and how relevant it is to the current generation.

A movie which I feel is misunderstood is Kaliveedu. This 1996 movie by one of my favourite directors Sibi Malayil is about marriage, its breakdown and the roles and responsibilities of husband and wife to make a marriage successful. Imagine a SWOT analysis of a product and finding its USP. The movie is somewhere on the lines of such a deep discussion. Malayil in his usual way made or attempted to make a movie which passes on a message. How that message is taken or received by the audience of then and now is up to the people.

Kaliveedu is a 1996 Malayalam family drama film directed by Sibi Malayil. It stars Jayaram, Manju Warrier, Jagadish, Sunitha and Vani Viswanath. The film explores the marital relationship of Mahesh and Mridula and their lives following their divorce.



Personally, I loved the movie. Even if I wouldn't have seen Malayil’s name flashed on the screen before a cheery Jayaram ( love his smile, irrespective of the movie) and a grumpy Jagadeesh open the scene with a usual Malayali trademark banter of sarcasm, playful retorts and giving a possibility of a fun, light hearted movie ahead.


Jayaram plays Mahesh who is an architect/interior designer in his own company. Ulahannan played by Jagadeesh is his friend and neighbour. The characters are minimal and not a rambling household of elders, uncles, aunts and cousins. Malayil probably wanted to focus on just the man women relationship.


The movie starts with a very modern USA returned Yamini insisting on Mahesh’s work for her future house. As they get to know each other, Yamini’s father takes a liking to him. Mahesh is reluctant to move forward with the relationship. And then he narrates his story to Yamini. A past of a broken marriage, of misunderstandings and a house which for him resembled clay.


Mahesh married Mridula, a proposal which was liked and mutually agreed by all. As they start their new life, problems arise because of Mridula’s incompetence and immaturity. But not everything is her fault. Mahesh is strictler for discipline, order and a neat house. He also has specific taste preferences. He refuses to adjust and Mridula stubbornly messes up her role too.


Having known both the actors with an impressive and legendary movie list to their credit you know you would not get a lackadaisical performance. As a husband who loves his wife but also likes order and etiquette in his home, food and in his being, Jayaram portrayed the male semi-patriarchal character very well. But with a hint of mellowness and warmth. Manju as the perky and young wife shows the initial immaturity of Mridula,In the manner that Malayil must have desired.


The character of Yamini brings in the twist that is again a genius of Malayil. We wonder if Mahesh will go ahead with the live-in relationship with her (scandalous for 1996 Kerala) and become a more adjusting husband, Or will Yamini teach him a feminist lesson? Will Mridula find someone else and this becomes a triangle to square based love story?


Malayil though believes in traditional romance. The old fashioned kinds which endeared him to generations of Malayalies. And me too. Mahesh is thus pushed and pulled enough by Yamini’s antics at his sacred home, he rushes to Mridula’s house on hearing that she may get married again. Rest is a story of how they come together by the kindly intervention of several people.


I would have dismissed this movie as regressive and one of those wife-bashing movies which were popular in the 90s. But Vani’s mini speech at the climax and the viewpoint shared about both husbands and wives, the understanding nature of Mridula’s father (played by Innocent) and the quiet support of Ulahannan (Jagadeesh) a friend and neighbour, shows maturity of the director in forming a movie and showing a story of well balanced emotions. Here neither patriarchy nor feminism wins. Rather it is a message of maturity and balance, which applies to all ages and cultures where marriage is still respected. If that is the case, then this movie is a winner. It depends on your viewpoint.

Ente Sooryaputhrikku 1991 - No muscles, only love. A touching mother daughter story.

Ente Sooryaputhrikku

In Fazil sir’s own admission, 'I have often had bold, independent women in my films, be it Girly of Nokketha Doorathu Kannum Nattu, Tintumol of Ente Mamattukkuttiyammakku, Ganga of Manichitrathazhu or Maya of Ente Sooryaputhrikku.’ Which is completely true when you see a bubbly but not childish Maya winking at the attendant in the hospital to bend the rules of visiting hours. Later in the movie when the same Maya sheds the playful cloak and adorns the yearning for her mother, you know a Fazil movie will always do justice to a woman’s heart, mind and personality in an intelligent way. Maybe that is why Girly, Tintumol, Ganga and Maya are sometimes our sister, mother, aunt, friend and that girl whom we would have liked to be our best friend.

The period between 1985 and 95 was a time of change in Malayalam cinema. Movies like Ente Ammu Ninte Thulasi Avarude Chakki (1985), Ozhivukaalam (1985) Anubandham (1985), Nandini Oppol (1994), Mazhavil Kavadi (1989), Kadinjool Kalyanam (1991) and Manichitrathazhu (1993) and so many more movies showed women characters as not an exhibition puppet or a mere Mona Lisa. Directors took liberty, broke out of societal restraints to show that women could be gentle as Leonardo da Vinci’s Lady with an Ermine, volatile as Judith Slaying Holofernes by Artemisia Gentileschi or stylish as Portrait of Madame X by John Singer Sargent.


Portrait of Madame X

 Lady with an Ermine   

                              

 Judith Slaying Holofernes

Ente Sooryaputhrikku is a 1991 Indian Malayalam-language film directed by Fazil and starring Amala, Srividya, and Suresh Gopi. It is a story of the separation and meeting of a mother and her daughter. 

Srividya plays the mother who is a famous classic singer and who takes the decision to give up her baby due to her fear, inability, cowardice and growing career. But the mother is not shamed in the movie. The decision comes from a mature place of knowing that she will not be able to live in her upper class society. A decision she weeps over for years though she does it behind a tough facade.

 

Maya (played by Amala Akkineni) is a spoiled child who loves to create issues in her hostel as well as in college. She has a mini fan following among her friends and her charm and beauty works on all. Even with the nuns (shown as grumpy and frumpy - really why are religious people shown as such? I know a lot of happy priests and nuns too!)

One day along with her friends, she comes across the prim and proper Dr. Srinivas (played by Suresh Gopi). The mischievous Maya is seemingly attracted to him,though she just doesn't know it or admits it.

She decides to make fun of him, resulting in some light moments and which will be a treasure trove for college students in hostels. Soon the handsome Srinivas rebutts her practical joke and insults her saying that she is a fatherless child. Shocked Maya attempts suicide, but the same doctor saves her. They fall in love and she gets back to normal, but she is curious to find out who her father is.


She discovers that her father had adopted her when she was baby and her biological mother is K. S Vasundhara Devi (played by Srividya), famous singer. She tries every bit to make her mom accept her - crashing in concerts, some childish and over the top actions to notice her. etc. Finally her mother accepts Maya, but before she announces this to the public, Vasundhara Devi is murdered by her greedy manager for her wealth. Maya kills her mother's killers and she is sent to jail. Srinivas marries Maya while she serves her sentence.


Suresh Gopi sans the muscles and the grim expressions come out as the supportive partner that Fazil had in mind for Maya. No expression is too hard and no muscles were displayed in this gently, human relations focussed movie. Ente Sooryaputhrikku is all Amala. It is just about a parent and child, it cannot be called even a romantic flick. Colourful, pickled with ideas, spring in her step and light in her eyes.

  

Srividya is an enigma as always. Sad and melancholy when the mother starts to realise her daughter’s love and need and fierce in her care and pampering when the two unite. I don't think I have seen any movie of Srividya's where she gives a lackadaisical performance. Top notch and with the right eyebrow raise, parted lips, frown, blink and even the right amount of tears and vocal capability. She is truly an art on screen.


Ente Sooryaputhrikku was simultaneously shot in Tamil as Karpoora Mullai with Raja playing Suresh Gopi.