Official movie trailer:
Since the movie never got a release in Bangalore, had to wait for it to show up in a streaming site. So, the delayed writeup – it showed up on Netflix, I guess beginning of this year. Considering the payoff, it is worth the wait. This is one of the best movies of 2018, along with Pariyerum Perumal these two movies stand way ahead of all other movies that came out of last year. As a pure cinema though, Merku Thodarchi Malai (MTM) is something we haven’t seen in Kollywood so far. Watching this movie is like reading a novel about the life of people, a novel like Oru Puliamarathin Kathai. Director Lenin Bharathi shows the life of landless laborers from the Western Ghats, border areas of Tamilnadu and Kerala. Once the movie is over, you have nothing but appreciation for great amount of work that has gone in from Lenin and team. You get the feel they have lived the life. He explores the life of landless laborers but never exploits it similar to other commercial movies where they use the farmers’ cause as a vehicle to sell the superstars. He doesn’t give any escapist solution, there are no vigilante justice, no clenched fists, no punch dialogues, no monologues, no talking to the audience on why farming is important or farmers are gods. Lenin doesn’t pass any judgment. He just shows and leaves the interpretation to us. Screenplay is tight, there is nothing more or nothing less. There is no indulging, no melodrama, no excesses, no overacting. Things are kept to a bare minimum. While one can guess the period of the happenings from movie posters and currency notes, it doesn’t matter since the movie can be transposed to any time period and it will work as long as there are landless laborers.
First 45mts of the movie is pure cinema similar to first 20mts of 2001: Space Odyssey. We witness a day in the life of Rangasamy from Kombai. He gets up at 4am in the morning, gets tea for him and his mother, reminds her about land registration next day, and cycles to Pannapuram to meet his boss. He picks up his friend Kethara on the way and as the day progresses, the life of people from that region unfolds visually in front of our eyes, their torturous climb to hill-top passing through various villages, vast distance they cover daily, multiple trips they make up and down the slopes carrying cardamom load, beliefs, nature worship, how people stick together, trust, sharing, and friendly banter. Multiple financial transactions get made but nowhere you get to see the currency, hear the amount, or counting of notes. By the time we get to the beautifully staged pull away drone shot at about 40th minute, we know about old lady, why she went insane, Vanakali, the aged laborer who still carries the load on his back, Mookaiah and his donkeys, Chacko, the labor activist, Bakkiam, who runs a tea shop, and Kangani, the supervisor. As the camera slowly pulls away from laborers carrying cardamom load going down the mountain slopes, the men vanish first and we see rows of sacks going down the slope, then the sacks also vanish and we see only the greenery with the fading voice of Vanakali narrating about a heavy rainy day during a monsoon from his youth days. While we take in the grandeur of the Ghats, we also get a feel for the life of landless laborers. Pace is kept deliberately slow for us to absorb and get a sense of place and people. This whole stretch is an introduction shot to life of people from that region that will be etched in our memory for time to come.
While main thread is about Rangasamy’s ambition to buy a piece of land, movie covers a big canvas about how progress impacts the life of landless laborers. How they don’t have a voice. How a development like road impacts their livelihood. How Chacko is let down by his communist party colleagues. Since the director’s focus is on life of people, he doesn’t dwell on individual events and deals with them quickly. No emotional close-ups or drama when Rangasamy’s land deals fall through. In one song, we get to see events in life of Rangu flyby, marriage, birth of child, and the boy growing up. Rise of Logu from a smalltime middleman to owner of a resort and multiple corporates, and the way he takes away the land from Rangasamy are shown just as passing scenes. Thanks to Lenin Bharathi, so happy to see a director who respects the intelligence of the audience.
Cinematography by Theni Easwar stands out. This is one of those movies where we will keep talking about cinematography, recollecting memorable drone shots, long sequences, and beautifully done night scenes that feel like Art Work. There is an interesting stretch where we see a laborer climbing down a tree in a rope, vanishes in to greenery, emerges on the other end to meet with Chacko and goes in to greenery again. Need to see and relish it, can’t put it in words. While the movie’s strength is Cinematography, it scores high in other departments too. Dialogues are minimal and natural. So natural that cusswords don’t stick out in their friendly teasing. Credit goes to Ilayaraja for keeping the BGM to minimal. This is the kind of movie that doesn’t need a BGM.
Casting needs a special mention. It is hard to believe except few all others are first time actors. People from those areas. They don’t seem to be acting. They have lived the roles.
Movie ends with another drone shot. Except this time as the camera pulls away from the face of Rangasamy to the vast landscape of windmills, we end up with a knife in our gut. While he doesn’t have to bear the weight of cardamom load anymore, we are left with heavy burden in our hearts. And with some tough questions. We don’t have an answer. Or is it that we don’t want to know the answer, since it may also requires us to introspect?