Opening the delightful Kaakka Muttai

I initially wanted to title this post as Cracking open the kaaka muttai. But later felt it was aggressive and a movie as gentle and as subtle as this one deserved better. So even though the present title doesn’t fully express the idea I had in mind, I guess this should do. In more ways than one this is the first tribute to the masterful movie that KM is. I am unable to perfectly translate my view of this movie into a simple few words. So imagine how amazingly talented the director Mr. Manigandan must be, for having translated a concept as novel as KM into a movie so delectable and neat that one cannot help but be awed!

This post is not a movie review. It is merely a fledgling attempt at a tribute to the movie; a narrative of the beautiful experience that watching this movie gave me. Movies to me are an escape from my everyday life. I love mine yes, but the possibility of being transported into another world where things are bigger and seemingly better is hard to pass up. I went to KM expecting entertainment and some light hearted humor. But what it gave was an unbelievable experience. KM surprised me, moved me, made me happier and sometimes slapped me hard!

Perhaps the most unbelievable aspect of the movie was the subtlety prevalent throughout. Even the deepest and most profound messages of the movie pass by almost unnoticed only to come back and haunt your sleep long after you leave the theater. The movie never feeds you the rights and wrongs of the society. It merely plays you by showing what happens around us from a neutral, yet an extremely engaging standpoint. Be it the way the kids say they won’t be allowed inside the shopping mall, to the way that money makes even friends lie to each other, to the way the mom exclaims it is the fault of the so called upper class for making the lower rungs of society yearn for a better life… Every sequence is crafted with elegance, care, love and with amazing focus. The director has walked a thin line; one slip in the dialogues could have made the scenes preachy, and one percent less subtle would have made it appear biased. But no, this is dealt all too well and with amazing dexterity.

What really jolted me was how programmed my mind had become. The father of the kids is in jail and the mother is struggling alone. She is young, dark, earthy, vulnerable and absolutely attractive. Her everyday life is surrounded by a clutch of men. The cable TV guy, the lawyer, the petty thieves, the MLA and his cohorts, the Pizza parlor workers… After a while I started watching the movie with some trepidation. I was worried that one of the aforementioned men would make sexual advances to her and that would make the entire movie a lot less valuable. But the director steered cleanly away from all that cheap sequences. What’s more, it wasn’t as if she didn’t interact with any of these people, she does. Yet, every character stays true to their objectives and not even once was there any slip. When the movie was over, it jolted me that I even worried about such a sequence. My mind was so conditioned to experiencing that bad taste from past movie experiences that, half the time I was praying it shouldn’t happen here. Thankfully and to the movie’s credit it didn’t even touch that nerve.

KM’s biggest achievement though, is the way it takes us all in the direction it travels without any of us questioning it. Generally when a section of the society is frowned upon, they take offence and the movie loses that circle of the society. But even though KM lays bare the glaring divide among the sections of our society it never makes the audience question or argue. We become one with the kids. We journey with them as kids. They never complain about their status in the society, they never grumble against the injustice met to them, they never remember the bad that happens around them, they are seldom bogged down by failures and most importantly never do they ever give up on their self respect. They refrain from stealing, from eating a free bit. The prospect of taking a short cut never once appeals to them… To say that I was influenced and inspired by them on so many occasions during the movie would be an understatement!

How I wish I could be like those kids. Spirited, unfailing, confident, smiling and sportive…  Now that life would be a real golden egg wouldn’t it?

KM to me was an unbelievable experience. At various stages of the movie I felt various emotions and most of it were involuntarily pulled out from the heart. Every scene was delightfully crafted. Every sequence was written with amazing focus and simplicity. The kids sparkle in every frame and the humor makes everything a lot more fun and spirited. To me this is a once in a generation movie. I don’t remember the last time I walked out of a movie with such fondness and glee. To this and everything else I take my hats off! To the director, the kids, the crew and the spirit of KM I bow down! Thank you for everything!