Revisiting Madras

A story set in pre-Independence era is surely not new to Tamil Cinema, nor the rich girl-poor man falling in love saga. But what is really special in Madraspattinam is meticulous effort taken by the crew to re-create the city, as how it was 60 years ago.

To film a recent history is a difficult task because many who of them who have seen that period of time is still alive. The flaws can be located in no time. Director Vijay needs to be appreciated for his bold attempt to narrate a story set in the background of pre-Independence era, that too just at the time of India’s Independence.

His crew, the art department, cinematography and editing especially has done a commendable job. Well done seems to be too little a word to praise them.

The story of Madraspattinam is that of Emy Wilkinson, an octogenarian British woman, who comes to Chennai in search of her long lost love, whom she never met after August 15, 1947.

The intelligent narration blended with humour makes the engaging. Cochin Haneefa’s broken English and his translations… his demise is surely a loss to Cinema. Every actor has done justice to their roles. The protagonist, Emy, is simply beautiful. It is unavoidable to re-call Lagaan and Titanic for the resemblance in narration.

Most of the movies based on pre-Independence era had polarized Indians as freedom strugglers or British supporters. But this one has shown another set of people, probably the majority, who are discontented with the British, support the struggle in principle, but are concerned about their livelihood, putting their family first.

Also new is the portrayal of washer men community, as a blend of Tamil and Telugu speaking people. (The dialogue writer could have done more in terms of accent. It just resembles the present day Tamil, with no or little English words.)

The sublime plot in the story seems to be the vast transformation of Chennai in sixty years. The slow death of Cooum is quite an embarrassment to the city. (A Brit refers to Cooum as Thames of Madras!) We have indeed paid heavily for this growth.

There are some trademark tamil film sequences. With a fusion fight of English boxing and Indian wrestling, redeeming an acquired land seems to be so easy! The British speaking in stereotype Tamil, even amongst themselves. An Indian in the other side comes in handy at the need of the hour. It can be waived off since it’s a work of fiction and not a documentary.

But the Tamil cinema clichés? The song sequence where the British protagonist sings in pure Tamil, (It’s a good melody, though) Emy identifying her lover’s friend in no time by just hearing the name, people of various communities joining hands during a song (It would have been a distant reality then!)

The most disappointing is the climax. It appears as though the climax was re-written due to some external pressure or in a hurry to finish off the movie. It plays the spoilsport of such a beautifully-made movie.

Madraspattinam is surely not a classic… but a little more effort could have made it one. It is a wonderful tribute to the three hundred odd year old metropolis.