Vanaprastham - Malayalam Video Review

Starring: Mohanlal, Mattannur Sankarankutty, Suhasini, Kuku Parameshwaran, Bindhu Panicker

Directed by: Shaji N. Karun

Three films... all of them getting a screening at Cannes. The film-maker who has achieved this rare distinction is none other than Shaji N. Karun, and this is his third film, following Piravi and Swaham.

An Indo-French co-production, Vanaprastham, also provides the vehicle for Mohan Lal's remarkable performance as Kunhikuttan, a Kathakali exponent of distinction, and the mental and moral crises that he undergoes. It's an astounding performance – one that won him his third National Award for Best Actor.

By being co-producer of this film, Mohan Lal, provides adequate testimony to his commitment to good cinema.

Shaji pursues many issues that surround this classical art of Kerala – the mythic content of the characters that these great artistes portray as opposed to the virtual poverty of their daily existence.

The identity crisis in the actor who has to get under the skin of various personas and in dealing with the whims and fancies of fans and public opinion.

Kunhikuttan himself is a good example. An illegitimate child born to a low caste woman, he seethes inside because of the fact that his landowner father never acknowledged his existence. The frustration makes him turn to drink, further sowing the seeds of strife in his married life.

As a classical actor, he grows from strength to strength, graduating from female characters to male characters, and earning critical acclaim from the masses and the classes.

His life changes dramatically when he plays the mythical character of Arjun, the archer prince extraordinary, in an episode from The Mahabharat. At the palace he meets one of his great fans, the beautiful Subhadra (Suhasini), the niece of the Diwan, who is married into a highly placed family.

She herself writes poetry and greatly adores Arjun, the character that Kunhikuttan portrays. She is fascinated by Kunhikuttan's role as the supreme manifestation of manhood.

She writes a play based on the episode of Subhadraharanam and requests him to enact it one day. For the first time, Kunhikuttan feels elated that he could conquer someone's mind through his art, and the relationship turns physical. But Subhadra would not allow Kunhikuttan to have any access to his son, born out of their relationship.

The whole concept of fatherhood turns topsy-turvy for him. At the end of his tether, Kunhikuttan is unable to bear the burden of this double torture.

He undertakes a pilgrimage to rid these personal dilemmas and to seek inner peace. After coming back home, he chooses to enact the play that Subhadra had written – himself playing Arjuna for the last time and the role of Subhadra goes to his own teenage daughter Sharada in her debut performance.

Subhadra comes to see the performance but lacks the moral courage to watch the entire sequence.

Shaji's subtle art of piling up the psychological detail is awesome and can only be compared to that of Satyajit Ray. What goes on in the margins is as important as what is in focus in the foreground. The camera work by Reneto Berto and Santosh Sivan, music by Ustad Zakir Hussain and art direction by Prakash Moorty – these elements are integral to this cinematic masterpiece.

Suhasini as Subhadra sparkles with rare luminescence. But Mohan Lal towers over everyone else with remarkable ease as Kunhikuttan, an individual and artist whose struggles with his inner self make compelling viewing.

Video courtesy: Thomsun Video