Uyarntha Manithan (உயர்ந்த மனிதன், The Man in High Esteem, Tamil; 1968)
My friend once described this Sivaji's movie as the one where he gave his performance. So I thought I would give it go for it. It turned out to be another masala with loads of melodrama, poetic justice and a little bit of humiliation and thoughts of various social classes.
Rather than looking at the story line which was quite predictable, I was keen to see the hidden messages, lessons in life, dynamics of an Indian family value in play here.
At a time when the elite were kings, Sivaji's father expects the working to be always a step lower than the bosses. The workers are not even allowed to wear footwear in their presence. Sivaji, the newer breed, does not subscribe to this idea. In fact, he falls in love and marries a village girl on the sly. His father, on discovering the truth, goes the full nine yards to quash the union. He sets her hut on fire right in front of Sivaji's view with his pregnant wife and father still inside (of course, so they think).
Back in his family home, Sivaji is blackmailed by his father pointing a pistol at his own temple, to get him married to a rich family friend's daughter, Sowkar Janaki. I guess it gives a new meaning to the phrase 'shot gun wedding'.
Feeling guilty for not being able his loved pregnant wife from the fire but at the same time, being a filial son, agrees to remarry.
19 years on, as fate has it, Sivaji is childless with his second wife. He is successful but carries the cloud of hopelessness with him. His comrade (S A Asokan), a doctor by profession, who was in partner in crime during his first marriage and was also interested in the same girl before sacrificing in the name of friendship, is a constant reminder to Sivaji of his past folly.
By twist of fate and twist of story written to satisfy the Tamil movie buffs, the son (Sivakumar) starts working in Sivaji's household as a butler. His mother had died but not before passing him a framed photograph of herself.
The story hovers on to show the unhappy marital life that Sivaji leads, Sivaji lamenting on the hardship of adulthood, Sivaji dragging on with life to maintain status quo with order and finally meeting up with his long lost son to wash away all his misdeeds.
A predictable overacting masala with beautiful music and incisive dialogue on facts of life....
My friend once described this Sivaji's movie as the one where he gave his performance. So I thought I would give it go for it. It turned out to be another masala with loads of melodrama, poetic justice and a little bit of humiliation and thoughts of various social classes.Rather than looking at the story line which was quite predictable, I was keen to see the hidden messages, lessons in life, dynamics of an Indian family value in play here.
At a time when the elite were kings, Sivaji's father expects the working to be always a step lower than the bosses. The workers are not even allowed to wear footwear in their presence. Sivaji, the newer breed, does not subscribe to this idea. In fact, he falls in love and marries a village girl on the sly. His father, on discovering the truth, goes the full nine yards to quash the union. He sets her hut on fire right in front of Sivaji's view with his pregnant wife and father still inside (of course, so they think).
Back in his family home, Sivaji is blackmailed by his father pointing a pistol at his own temple, to get him married to a rich family friend's daughter, Sowkar Janaki. I guess it gives a new meaning to the phrase 'shot gun wedding'.Feeling guilty for not being able his loved pregnant wife from the fire but at the same time, being a filial son, agrees to remarry.
19 years on, as fate has it, Sivaji is childless with his second wife. He is successful but carries the cloud of hopelessness with him. His comrade (S A Asokan), a doctor by profession, who was in partner in crime during his first marriage and was also interested in the same girl before sacrificing in the name of friendship, is a constant reminder to Sivaji of his past folly.
By twist of fate and twist of story written to satisfy the Tamil movie buffs, the son (Sivakumar) starts working in Sivaji's household as a butler. His mother had died but not before passing him a framed photograph of herself.The story hovers on to show the unhappy marital life that Sivaji leads, Sivaji lamenting on the hardship of adulthood, Sivaji dragging on with life to maintain status quo with order and finally meeting up with his long lost son to wash away all his misdeeds.
A predictable overacting masala with beautiful music and incisive dialogue on facts of life....
A sample of overacting by Asokan who deviates from his role of villain
Son with mum photo frame..... did not burn while his house catch fire LOL...
ReplyDeleteif not photo, then it would be birthmark!
Delete