There is this climax scene in a classic Malayalam film called Meghamalhar – Two much married couples in their 50’s bump into each other outside a hotel. The guy in one of the couples says a polite “Hello” to the lady in the other couple. She nods back and says hello too. And they move on…
These two, as the film reveals in the reels before the climax, had an affair in their younger days and eventually fate forces them to split. To me, this is one of the best ever meeting scenes between any We-loved-each-other-but-could-not-marry-each-other couples in Indian cinema.
There have been many films that have dealt with triangles and love failures. I was expecting Pranayam to be one such film.
To connoisseurs of Indian cinema, a Blessy movie is an event in itself. As with other Indians world over, Malayalees in particular, yours truly too has been deeply touched and moved by Blessy movies like Kaazhcha and Thanmatra. You probably already know the theme of the movie. The characters played by Anupam Kher and Jayaprada love each other, elope and get married and have a baby. A turn of events makes them separate, legally. She gets married to the character played by Mohan Lal and has a child. He stays single and the child grows up with him.
In the autumn of their lives, the ex-husband-wife duo bump into each other. A friendship is renewed and this also includes the husband of the ex-wife. It is typically a difficult meeting- meeting the husband of an ex-wife/girlfriend/flame- difficult for all the parties I guess. Amongst the best scenes in the movie is when the two men meet each other for the first time- one of them who is recovering from a second heart attack and the other, a semi paralysed man confined to his wheel chair.
The dialogues are superb and the performances are superlative. The background music is apt and the photography and art are superb. This may not be Blessy’s best, but ranks amongst the best Malayalam films I’ve seen in the last couple of years.
Let me highlight to the readers a few scenes that touched me. As with most languages, there are some words that leave an impact only in one particular language. Translation cannot do any justice, for example, Ghalib’s “..Mat pooch ki kya haal hai mera tere peechhe, tu dekh ki kya rang hai tera mere aage…” … No point in writing the dialogues here…
There is this scene… the setting is a small platform on the Arabian sea shores of Kochi… The character played by Anupam Kher throws a stone into the sea and then, another. The second one travels a greater distance than its predecessor. He then compares this as an analogy with second innings in life, about men and women having a second chance to relive certain moments/ situations or just living life anew- again. I guess all of us go through such moments in life when we feel, “…if only I had done that differently…”. That feeling can be quite depressing if not addressed in its budding stages… We often end up wishing if the lord-up-above-the-world-so-high had given us that rewind button… Isn’t it?
What I like best about all the characters is the maturity with which they accept the present and act without malice or grudge.
What I also like is the complete trust between the characters played by Mohan Lal and Jayaprada… the husband and wife have 100% trust…not an iota of distrust. That scene…when Mohan Lal sings “I am your man”…sitting on a wheel chair in a lounge bar is superb…
So is the climax… na I’m not giving you what that is…
I only wish Malayalm films that release in the north release with subtitles. I sincerely wish some of my friends who do not understand Malayalam could see the film.
Blessy begins his film with a rather controversial statement- “One always returns to one’s first love”. I am not sure if that is correct and am certainly not sure if that is good. As I said earlier, Blessy movies are an event and here he certainly does not disappoint. If you have the time, do watch Pranayam.
