Mazha

After a long time I settled to watch a movie on TV yesterday. I’ve wanted to watch the Malayalam movie ‘Mazha’ for a very long time. So I was very thrilled when it was telecast yesterday.

I’ve always loved the beautiful nuances of commonplace things brought out in Malayalam films. ‘Mazha’ is no exception. The story, based on the novel by Madhavikutty is extremely simple. I guess that makes the movie much different from the run of the mill stuff.The taste and freshness found in most of the Malayalam movies is found lacking in a majority of other regional films.

Movies, in general, are supposed to portray elements of fantasy by giving everything a larger than life image. But when certain unrealistic incidents of everyday living form the main storyline, the plot becomes illogical and tiring. For instance, why should nine out of ten Hindi movies show an elaborate wedding ceremony or ‘sagaai’ or the usual and aggravating ‘Karva Chauth’? Why should most Tamil movies have a ‘Thaali sentiment’? Sometimes, I’m forced to think that the ‘Thaali bearer’ loves the sacred yellow thread more than the poor chap of a husband!

The hero always rescues the heroine materializing out of no where and he always has a coat ready to offer the heroine who is thick enough to wear a skimpy outfit when the weather is teeth-chatteringly cold. Last but not the least, why should ordinary people wander about in designer clothes and wear an inch-thick make up? Even men wear lipstick. I guess that is the last straw! This phenomenon is true not only for films but also for daily soaps where women are either infuriatingly good or exceedingly wicked. They are either full-time wailers or incorrigible plotters.

I do agree that some routine punch dialogues and stereotypical stories are necessary for the ‘success’ of a movie, but not at the cost of quality. So, back to the discussion about ‘Mazha’. The movie begins when a school girl (played by Samyukta Varma) moves to a village in Tamil Nadu from Bangalore with her parents. At first she hates the village but begins to love it by and by after meeting a musically talented shastrigal. She learns the traditional karnatik music from him and ends up falling in love with him. Though the story which follows is in no way extraordinary, the beautiful handling of emotions is simply wonderful. There are no out-of-place duets, or exotic locales or designer clothes, or punch dialogues. Nevertheless, the story creates a deep impression on you. The music by Raveendran is simply awesome with the melodious numbers echoing the depth of each and every emotion of life. Each song perfectly goes with the raagam in which it has been composed be it aashadam portraying the intensity of first love or ‘parayaan ini vayya’ bringing out the transformation of a first crush on a young lady or Vaarmukhile expressing the ‘virah ras’. Not even a single song seems out of place as people enacting them barely look like movie stars as they wear simple street clothes, no make up and do not use any affected language. All of them are quite under the character’s skin and seem super real.

The music that has a lasting quality to it blends perfectly with the movie making one wonder if it had been only a movie.

I think the subtlety of expression and judicious use of melodrama provides classiness to most Malayalam movies. Though not a new movie 'Mazha' has the trick of making you empathize with the lead roles. After all, as somebody truly said that only a genius can write a sad-ending story.