Kollywood Movie Reviews #ept

Alaipayuthey [Waves are Flowing] (2000)

Date: December 25, 2015

Director: Mani Ratnam

Writer: Mani Ratnam (dialogue)

Producers:
Mani Ratnam
G. Srinivasan

Starring:
R. Madhavan as Karthik Varadarajan
Shalini as Shakthi Selvaraj

Scene of the Review

When Karthik realizes that he feels a little something for Shakthi (he had a connection with Shakthi when they happened to gaze at each other on the train), he puts all of his efforts in finding out ways he could meet Shakthi again (the first time he met Shakthi was at his friend's wedding). His efforts are not rendered fruitless as he finally catches up with Shakthi before her train leaves the station. It is through this encounter that Karthik finds out Shakthi's name.

This scene was rather funny. It is obvious that Karthik is beginning to fall in love with Shakthi, but Shakthi tries to ignore his feelings. She tries to ignore them to the point that she wants to believe that she does not have any wavering feelings for Karthik. Nonetheless, her efforts to ignore these feelings are rendered fruitless when she asks Karthik to marry her against her parents' wishes.

General Comments

I watched the Bollywood remake of this movie Saathiya (Companion) before this movie. Saathiya was great. I found myself smiling the entire time. When I realized that Saathiya happened to be a remake of the movie Alaipayuthey, I was not happy. I wanted to believe that Saathiya was an original story. When I read the story for Alaipayuthey, I noticed how much Saathiya copied the scenes of this movie. I was rather livid. I decided to watch this movie for myself and I felt that Saathiya was a carbon copy of Alaipayuthey. Alaipayuthey is gold compared to Saathiya. I felt the emotions in this movie. I felt myself driven to tears by these two talented actors. My heart broke to see Shakthi in the hospital [Shakthi ends up in the hospital after she ends up in a car accident; Indian traffic is no joke!] (this was quite a gruesome scene in my eyes) I loved this version a lot more than Saathiya. Heck, it is the original version. The original version is the best compared to remakes. Nowadays, I cannot stomach remakes. When I watch remakes, I always imagine the actors in the original.

The music composition of this movie was done by A.R. Rahman. I loved his compositions in Saathiya. In fact, my mother even listens to the opening song "Oh Humdum Suniyo Re" after all these years. As much as I loved the songs in Saathiya, I did not like any of the songs in this movie. I could not deal with "September Madham". The music video was not that great. The song was too strange for words. In other words, this soundtrack will probably be one of those soundtracks that I forget about. Notice how I did not even have a favourite song in this movie?

Karthik Varadarajan (R. Madhavan)

Karthik is a romantic by heart. Maddy (I call him this with affection mind you) was a perfect choice for this role. I think R. Madhavan is a natural romantic so when he played his role as Karthik, I was immediately drawn to him. I found this acting enthralling. When I saw Maddy acting as Farhan in "3 Idiots", I noticed a connection between the two roles. In this movie, he chased after his love. In "3 Idiots", he encouraged Rancho (Aamir Khan) to chase after his lady love. However, that was just a connection. It has nothing to do with this movie, so I will continue my commentary for this movie. As for this movie, I found myself laughing at his antics. Sometimes I wish I could find someone as sweet as Karthik. There is a reason why this is a movie. Such guys only exist in movies.

As far as his role goes in the movie, I felt that Karthik was the only one who was putting 100% into their relationship. Even though he fell for Shakthi at first sight, he took his emotions seriously. He even went as far as chasing her to Kerela (Shakthi went to a medical camp there). What guy would do that? I felt that he did change after marriage however. Who does not change after marriage? I did not like how Karthik danced with some other woman in "September Madham". It is no wonder that Shakthi would think that Karthik has moved on from her! However, it is not like he totally ignored her and started dancing with someone else. He freaking asked her for a dance, but she rejected his offer. If she rejected his offer, he could not just sit still. He did come to the party to have fun right? It is no fun to just stay put for the entire time given that Shakthi and Karthik are not on speaking terms. Despite the fact that the two do not talk to each other, he cares for Shakthi a lot. After all, he did take it upon himself to play matchmaker between Poorni (Shakthi's sister) and Raghu, Poorni's would-have-been fiance (Poorni's engagement broke after the boy's family found out that Shakthi was already married when they tried to fix an alliance between Raghu's younger brother Shyam and Shakthi). When Shakthi was nowhere to be found, he searched all over the city for her. He even went as far as assaulting a police officer after the officer makes a rude comment about Shakthi. It is clear that he loves Shakthi at the end of the day even if he does dance with some other girl!

How interesting was it that Karthik did not take after his father regarding his career! Karthik is a software engineering graduate. He opens his own business. He prospers with his business. Karthik's father is a well-renowned lawyer. As he is a lawyer, he crafts his words in such a way that Shakthi's father takes offense at his remakes. This is the reason why Shakthi's parents and Karthik's parents reject the alliance. Nonetheless, the youngsters find a way to get married against their parents wishes. That's what friends are for!

Shakthi Selvaraj (Shalini)

Shakthi is a medical student. She takes pride in this as her father spent the majority of his savings behind her education. Knowing that her family put her through medical school, she feels indebted to her family. She is so proud of this that she tries to outright reject Karthik's advances. She tries to deny any of her feelings for him. When her parents and Karthik's parents reject the alliance, she tries to maintain a distance from Karthik. Although she wanted to keep a distance from Karthik, she ends up faltering in her own endeavours to forget him. When Karthik comes to find her in Kerela, she cannot keep up with the ruse anymore. She gives in to her feelings. Whoever came up with the phrase "love conquers all" deserves a pat on the back. Seriously! That phrase played so well in that part of the movie.

I felt that Shakthi changed after she fell in love with Karthik. She became more daring. She was such an obedient girl before she fell fore Karthik. She went to medical school and came home shortly after class. That was her life. After she started to have feelings for Karthik, she changed for the better. She became more courageous. I guess that is one of the things about love. It gives you courage. It gives you the power to embark on certain missions. She was the one who proposed marriage after she saw Karthik in Kerela. She was the one who was willing to keep it a secret from her family. That is the thing about secrets. Nothing good comes from hiding the truth. The truth will always manage to turn up somehow. She wanted to avoid the immediate consequences. By trying to avoid the immediate consequences, she could not avoid a long-term consequence-breaking her sister's engagement.

As much as she became daring, she also became more insecure. She became worried that her marriage would break given Karthik's flirtatious behaviour. Her insecurity was one of the reasons why her marriage was falling apart. She did not trust Karthik from the beginning. That is one thing about a successful marriage. A successful marriage is based on love and trust. Shakthi fell in love with Karthik. That is why she wanted to get married to Karthik. The problem in their marriage was the lack of trust. Shakthi did not trust Karthik. She regrets acting on her whim regarding marriage after her father passes away. She starts to second guess her decision on marriage. Even though it seems as if she is blaming Karthik for her dilemma, she feels helpless. She feels guilty for her father's death. This remorse is what is tearing a marriage that was already on the rocks.  On the other hand, Karthik did trust Shakthi. Heck, he was willing to leave his entire family for her.

A/N

This movie has got to be one of the oldest Kollywood movies that I have ever seen. All jokes aside, thanks for so many reads guys. I cannot believe that this book got ranked #473 in General Fiction. Truth be told, when I first started this book, I was not hoping for any ranks. All this book for me was a place for me to talk about Kollywood movies. Sort of a rant if you will. You know write what I thought about each character? I am so elated to know that this book has turned into much more. Thank you so much for giving my book a chance. Keep reading to find out about more Kollywood movies! I assure you that you will not be disappointed.