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Marudhanayakam to be revived?
IndiaGlitz
Wednesday, May 18, 2005


Every now and then Kamal is asked about his Marudhanayakam.

A film that was started with happy memories but one that has be bitterly stopped midway.

Kamal Haasan began his dream project Marudhanayakam about a few years ago in a grand manner in which Queen Elizabeth of England took part.

A movie set in on pre-Independence era, Marudhanayakam, was Kamal Haasan's cherished movie, which the actor said would win international acclaim.

Unfortunately Marudhanayakam was shelved for it needed more money to go ahead and complete it in a grand manner (the Pokhran nuclear bom blast and the subsequent moratorium from international funding put paid to Kamal's hopes).

Now, after a long gap, talks are on to revive the project.

Kamal Haasan, who took part in a meeting organized by Cosmopolitan Club in Chennai Monday, said, "had I completed Marudhanayakam when I began it few years ago, I would have released it much before Lagaan and Crouching Tiger.

My movie would have won all the acclaim. Any way, I have no regrets. Now with various corporate firms expressing desire to get themselves associated with Marudhanayakam, I am hopeful of reviving the project very soon".

Very soon my Marudhanayakam may go to floors, Kamal said.

Hope springs eternal, as they say.

I think he is pretty much at the end of his "hero" career. When I saw him last , he looked old and over-weight - something that will not work for Maruthunayagam. If its not going to happen ‘now’, then its probably never going to happen ( at least not with Kamal ). What worries me is his "attitude" towards international acclaim, there is no way we can compete with grandeur - the only logical way to win international/critical praise is by making more meaningful and less melodramatic human dramas - alas I fail to see a single director venture in this path

mani ratnam & ramgopal varma films aren't melodramatic! thats what makes them masters of indian cinema. i haven't seen many of mahesh manjrekars films, but astitva was well made!

melodramatic can win international acclaim as well, when done properly, but who cares about international acclaim. I care about local acclaim. satisfy the locals first!

Let me first concur with you - "locals" have to be satisfied first. But local acclaim sucks in India - honestly we are not knowledgeable enough to understand the film medium. Our filmfare awards are a joke and our national awards are politicized, there is really no good benchmark ( at least not that I am aware of ) .

I will have to agree that Mani Ratnam and RGV are giants in Indian cinema. Mani Ratnam films are melodramatic ( Mouna Ragam, Nayagan, Anjali, Thalapathi, Roja, Bombay ) and RGV films are not because they don’t have to be - most of his films are not about "humans" but about the "society" humans create around them( Satya ). Both of them are good film makers from India, but alas calling them great is a stretch ( they have definitely shown sparks of being great ) .

Of course yes , melodrama can win international acclaim if done properly but they need capable hands (in fact Ritwik Ghatak with all his eccentricities always claimed melodrama to be his birth right !) . you need to know when to pull back - that’s something completely lacking in Indian directors. Tamil director Bala is a good example - Sethu, Pithmagan are good films but extremely melodramatic.

In order to win international acclaim we must make films that have an universal appeal. These films should melt away any cultural, social and political boundary and connect with any person who sees it by merely painting an human emotion at 24 fps. e.g.) Ozu's Tokyo Story - it is ozu's most melodramatic film but by Indian standards its 'bland”. I showed the film to my uncle thinking he will loath it . I was pleasantly surprised to see him enjoy the film so much that it is going to remain with him for the rest of his life. Same is the case with me, Tokyo story is a film I can take to my grave. Such is the potential possibilities of the medium that to this date we fail to recognize/understand and comprehend.

The other way to win international acclaim is by "stretching" the medium - taking it to new frontiers. e.g.) French New wave - today’s cinema owe so much to the likes of Goddard and Traffaut. Can we (Indians) do it or are we doing it - hell no. we pretty much don’t know what it means to "create" . I have always maintained that we are a land of "reproducers" and that’s all we do and we do it well in all departments !

Sorry for the Rant – Its just I am so pissed of with Indian cinema. Pretty much all our movies are either rip-offs from other countries or re-hash of old classics with pathetic music and the very few good movies we get turn out to be period movies ! . Even after 100 years of Indian cinema we are pretty much were we started – a bunch of nautankis

Kamal sometimes will say he's not interested in international acclaim or whatever, and then he will say something like "had I completed Marudhanayakam when I began it few years ago, I would have released it much before Lagaan and Crouching Tiger."

I don't think Kamal is any great filmmaker. As a director he's okay, but as a writer his films are usually copied from some foreign film, and they're usually overwritten. Some aspects of his films will be interesting, though. Marudhanayakam could be interesting if a younger hero like Vikram is cast, and if it doesn't turn out to be a desi Braveheart.

I don't think our filmmakers should be aiming specifically for international acclaim, as this doesn't usually produce good films. Did Kurosawa set out to gain worldwide fame with Rashomon? Did Satyajit Ray aim for it with Pather Panchali? Filmmakers should be aiming for quality first. Producing a film specifically with the goal of winning Western appeal will result in, well, Kisna

I've watched Satya and Kannathil Muthamittal with a few of my white friends and they've liked both.



I often feel this way. I mostly follow Indian cinema for the occasional Kannathil Muthammittal or Swades or Pinjar or Bose that is produced. I am pretty selective about the Indian films I watch.

Thats pretty much what i do, though i still average about 50 indian films a year out of which only 3-4 are really any good !