Jojo George ✍️✍️
THANIYAVARTHANAM – A classic movie that you may want to blot out straightaway out of anguish, but will painfully remain and might haunt you forever….
In the current lockdown period, I chose to see once again one of my all-time favorite Malayalam film Thaniyavarthanam, over 30 years afterwards. Directed by Sibi Malayil and penned by the legendary scenarist AK Lohithadas, the topics addressed in this 1987 Malayalam movie undeniably deserves an afterthought.
Technology marches on, but mindsets? Mindsets take time, or never?
When we analyze through the theme of this movie at a glance, certain circumstances or situations will flash through in our mind related to the sociological traits like resistance to change, social stigma, and shackles of superstition that might have come across in our life’s trajectory. Whatever our perceptions on those, these things are pervasive in almost all walks of our daily life in some way or other, whether we would have condemned or condoned, or at the least we might have observed as a mere spectator. But what if those aspects dictate your life itself and you have fallen as a victim causing irrecoverable damages? Precisely that is the base of the story centered on the protagonist Balagopalan aka Balan, a government school teacher played by Mammootty who was leading a nondescript but satisfactory life with his wife and 2 children in a rural joint family mansion. Quite occasionally, their halcyon days are broken from the dingy room atop the house where his mentally challenged uncle is locked up in chains. This is more or less attributed to a strong belief instilled on the elder members of the family that a curse of Goddess is existent in the family as the result of sins committed by the ancestors and passed through the generations. Consequently it is believed that one member of the each generation will succumb to lunacy by the wrath of Goddesses.
When we evaluate the character sketch, Lohithadas has built the story of Balan’s life surrounded by three facets of humanity.
An old generation led by the elder uncle of Balan; the deemed patriarch (meticulously played by the veteran actor Thilakan) who has almost got absolute influence over the family. Then there is his typical orthodox grandma played by Philomena and his dejected mother (Kaviyoor Ponnamma).
The second one is his revolutionary brother Gopi, an unemployed youth played by Mukesh and his meek younger sister whose marriage is held up for long, also in the shadow of the hereditary hypothesis of lunacy.
And the third is of Balan; the victim and his family caught between these two, but is practically servile to his elder generation contingent. There is one scene where subservient Balan divulges to his belligerent brother about not hurting the sentiments of the elders when being questioned to the regular primitive rites and rituals for God’s Forgiveness which could even make a levelheaded person into insanity.
Life was moving as usual for Balan, but the sudden death of the mentally ill uncle causes a trigger, bringing the family into the doldrums. Things got worse when Balan is woken up at the middle of one night by a nightmare which shuddered the entire house and the aghast members of the family swarmed over him. When he confronted the horrified faces gaping at around him followed by a preposterous outcry of the grandma, he vainly tried to brush aside saying it just a bad dream. But the patriarch and grandma had already jumped into the conclusion that the curse of the Goddess is still persistent and now has transpired into Balan, the member of the current generation. A hastened call of the patriarch for the usual rudimentary remedial measures was more than enough to spread the news like a virus in the village that Balan is on to madness as in the track of his predecessors. One could watch only with great anxiety on those associated scenes of how Balan’s mannerisms are misinterpreted by the villagers, in the school, leaving him confused and nervous.
The noted examples are the incidents happened in the village tea shop where Balan had a small scuffle with the regular customers, the interactions with the Head teacher (played by Innocent) and a blunt counter from a frightened student girl alleging Balan is mad.
When the movie heading towards the finale, there are a lot of touching moments stood out to watch agonizingly. There is a scene where Balan comes to home from the hospital and to return like a stranger from a marriage fixing ceremony of his sister because it became evident for him that the family has made a cover up even of his existence in order to get his sister married. Also we could observe with great compassion on to a composed countenance of Balan who is broken both mentally and physically after returning from the hospital and undergoing electrical shock. Balan’s ultimate surrender to the harsh reality is affirmed when he offered his leg to chain as it had been with his mentally challenged uncle. The versatility of Mommootty’s acting prowess is just amazing especially on those sequences and surprised to note that there are no prominent mementos in his register on account of this film!
There are also instances which are thrown to pertinent questions related to the sanity of the humanity. When Gopi was skeptical about the normal state of Balan in front of a qualified psychologist to whom he brought for consultation, the Doctor plainly remarked; at times we are also abnormal. There is also one bitterly hilarious statement of Balan’s sister that the only sane person in the family is Balan in response to an anxious question of children whether their father is actually mad
As the movie nears its end, a desperate Gopi finally decided to leave the house forever. He merely told a reason for the hasty execution of his inveterate decision that he does not want to see his elder brother dragged in for the futile rituals in front of the sneering folks. But if we fathom further there is a simmer in him that he doesn’t want to live his life and chase his dreams imposed by those uncivilized patriarchs, matriarchs and thus subsumed into the laughing stock of an uncouth society clouded around them. With that in mind also, there is no count in heeding to a soft apology from the patriarch admitting the deep rooted superstition in him citing virtuous intentions as he has sensed now the dire consequences of his obstinate mindset.
When the movie reaches in its climax portions, the distraught mother in sync with a panic-stricken psyche poisons him with herself to death before ushering him to the makeshift sanctum for the rites and rituals involving the “theyyam” performer. It does not take much time for her to get a nod from the virtually deadened Balan that this is the only way of salvation from the prospective humiliations that he is going to face in rest of his life. The alternating shots of feeding the poison mixed in a meal by the mother with the feeding of a nourishing meal to the Balan as the kid is one of the most brilliantly shot climax sequences in the history of Malayalam cinema. In the final shot, the camera pans and fixes the face of Balan’s nearly five year old son, where he stands in owe as the next victim of the society. And that terror-stricken face with the frightened eyes is still lingering in me even long after the end-credits were rolled on to the dancing idol.
Needless to mention also how the loss of Lohithadas made an irreplaceable vacuum in Malayalam film world, who had created meaningful characters in depth from the milieu of common populace. In my opinion the script of Thaniyavarthanam can be placed one step ahead of Lohithadas’ much acclaimed popular script of Kireedam.
When I wind up this article, a thought is struck across my mind: is the main theme of the film in some way relevant to the times now? Time has changed, people are more educated, the internet and smartphone technology enabled to reach and avail resources anywhere in the world. But the people’s mindset, is it radically changed?
The entire universe is striving hard to curb the onslaught of a nano virus that unleashed a terror eventually creating havoc around the world. The medicos are working round the clock to find a vaccination and remedy, the governments are struggling to control the spread, and health care workers are administering treatments for a multitude of patients risking their own health.
Based on some unfortunate stories heard here and there in the present situation with regard to the potential Corona outbreak:
We may encounter a situation where a veiled prohibition may be in place to those victims who fought and went through a trauma of fright, hopelessness, yet recovered on a mental and physical resilience..
We can expect many amidst us who lost their jobs, savings and to depart in a frantic scramble picking what’s left with them and denied an entry to their homeland..
One can even poised to be mentally tortured by a social embargo from those relatives and folks for whom he spent prolific years with desperation and solitude, yet dreamt of living a cheerful life in a serene village residence..
We only hope that we humans don’t overlook what we have learned from this catastrophe like the attitude of being gentle with the nature; the flora and the fauna.
The social stigma goes on, only altering its structure like a prospective mutation of the pandemic virus which makes it difficult for medical experts to find an effective vaccine. Thus we dearly need an urgent, yet comprehensive vaccine for the virus as well as the society.
I can only hope that, I just may be thinking above the line……………………………
Jojo George
Jojo George, hailing from Thrissur, Kerala has been working as Internal Auditor in Kharafi Real Estate Div for 15 years. He bagged the Best Actor award for his versatile performance in ‘ Vedakku yanthram’, in ‘ Nottam International short film festival’ Kuwait. His areas of interest include traveling, reading, and acting.
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