Re-capping Murali's Iru Malargal Review here.
Iru Malargal - A Black and White poem on celluloid, I would say. Even after 40 years, it attracts you, absorbs you and makes it a compulsive view and I finished it in one go.
It talks about a man caught in between his lady love and his devoted wife and the upheavals in his life due to that forms the basis of this film.
NT and Padmini are studying(!) in the same class and they always have a fight on their hands. But NT is very much in love with Padmini and when they perform in a Dance - Drama competition at Madurai and later move on to Kodaikanal, he expresses the same. Padmini asks him to climb up a peak so that she will consider his love. NT suffers from Agoraphobia (fear of heights) and he feels giddy while climbing up and almost swoons down when Padmini realises the problem and she accepts his love.
Back home, NT has a cousin residing at his house (Murai Penn) played by KRV who takes care of the the entire household works as her parents are no more and NT's mother had also passed away. She is so fond of NT that she would do anything for him. She has a desire to marry him and NT's father (Nagaiah) being her uncle also wants the marriage to take place. But KRV accidentally comes to know of the love between NT - Padmini and changes her mind. Nagaiah asks NT to marry her but he refuses revealing that he is in love with another girl. His father becomes furious and starts looking for another bride groom to marry KRV.
Meanwhile Padmini leaves for her Brother's place. He is the only relative of her and she goes there to obtain his permission. She informs NT that she would be sending a letter on a particular date (Oct 10th). NT waits for her letter. The day comes and letter arrives. Alas! Padmini informs that she is getting married to another person as she could not go against the wishes of her brother. That literally shatters NT who becomes bed ridden.
But what actually happened was Padmini's brother, an Army Major gets killed in a road accident along with his wife and his three children have nobody left to look after other than their aunt Padmini. She decides to renounce her love and take care of the children. So she tells a lie so that NT doesn't come after her.
NT unaware of all these things is very upst and dejected. KRV takes care of him all the time which leads to the unpleasent incident of the bridegroom who comes to see her, accusing her of having a relationship with NT. That makes Nagaiah go wild and when NT realises how much his father and his cousin had suffered because of him decides to marry KRV. Interval
The second half opens and we are told 6 years have passed by. NT is now a big successful businessman settled in Kodai and has a daughter (Roja Ramani) studying in a prestigious school there. Nagesh who was earlier the professor of the College wher NT - Padmini studied is the Principal of the College and Asokan is the Correspondent. Padmini who had put her nephews and niece in a boarding school has now joined in this school as a teacher with the recommendation of Nagesh and she is the class teacher for Roja Ramani. KRV makes her accept to take Private tuition for her daughter and she comes home or taking classes.
Eventually the meet between the old love flames happens and that starts an emotional upheaval in NT and Padmini's lives. The Family life of NT - KRV also takes a beating and the child being a witness to a emotion charged meet between her father and teacher is also physcologically affected. Added to that the correspondent who has an eye on Padmini spells trouble for her by getting her dismissed from service because she has not played ball to him.
Seeing things going out of hand, NT and Padmini decide to meet up and this is overheard by KRV who also decides to leave NT's life as she feels that Padmini should take her rightful place. In a place in the hill where once they expressed their love the old lovers meet up and Padmini asks NT whether he is ready to renounce everything including his wife and daughter and come with her. What NT replies paves the ending of the story. Of course no prizes for guessing. It is within the conventional cultural parmeters but your heart feels for the lead characters.
As for as Sundar character of Iru Malargal is concerned, NT had given out a solid but subdued performance. He portrays two different faces of the character. In the first half he is all agile and brings out a person madly in love with the girl of his liking. Second half shows him as a matured family man and a successful entrepreneur and later when he is torn between the two women, the turmoil he undergoes and how he expresses them!
The slim looking youngster starting of with the majestic Madhavi Pon Mayilal steals your heart. The gait, the pose and the silmisham he indulges in during the song all make you start liking the person. The way he climbs up the hill and his confession of the fear (again he proves he is beyond any hero as for as the image factor is concerned. Remember this was in 1967 when image mattered a lot)
The scene where he meets Padmini in the night at Kodai when he expresses his desire to be with her always, you should see his body language. Again Mannikka Vendukiren brings out the best in him. Cut to Madras, he is the son who is little hesitant to stand before his father and speak. He is a person who is loved by his cousin but she is afraid of him. When his father asks him something he replies and it is not audible to his father. "Enna Sonna-e" , NT " naan enna sonnen " endru varthaiyai mendru muzunguvathakattum, when KRV takes care of everything " Shanthi, en melathan unakku evvallu akkarai" atharkku udane KRV " Athu ungalukku theriyutha Athhan" -nu kettavudan dharmasangadamana oru mugabhavam kattuvar, class!
After refusing to marry KRV, later NT would ask her " en mela unakku viruppama"? She would reply" Enakku viruppam than" . Not expecting an answer like this, he would fumble for words, would not face her and try to say something. Seeing his embarrassment, KRV would say " Neega ennoduiya Mama pillai engiradhanale naan ungalai kaadhalikkanum, kalyanam pannikkanum-nu kattayam illaye". On hearing this his face would change and the happiness would return. Again a class act.
Waiting for the letter on the D-day, NT room-kkum balcony-kkumaga nadappar. Postman varuvathai ethirparthu alaipayum ullathai avar velipaduthum vitham abaram. Letter kaiyil kidaithathum mugathil sirippum santhosamum thandavamada avasara avasaramai letter-i kizhithu padikka arambippar. Dialogue-a illammal andha face konjam konjamaga maaruvathai avar velipaduthuvai paarka vendume,wow! Since what is written is not registering in,he will ask KRV " Indha letter! letter! konjam padi". She would start reading loud and now his reaction , Great!
In the second half presiding over the school function, he would ask KRV to speak and when she delivers a neat speech, the astonishment and wonder that you can see on his face would be so natural. The Maharaja song would bring out the child in him. Once he meets Padmini his body language would undergo a complete change. Especially the scene where he goes to Padmini's house along with Roja Ramani where he would literally hurt her with his outpour is a treat to watch. His face would suddenly undergo a change when he realises his daughter had been watching him and how well he hides it and try to look calm.
Same sort of scene when again he confronts Padmini in the hills and this time Asokan interferes. Incensed by the teasing reamark made by Asokan, he loses his cool and slaps him. Again you can watch a range of expressions criss crossing his face.
Finally thinking that he is talking to KRV, he opens out his heart in his bedroom only to realise that he had been talking to Padmini instead and when she leaves informing him to meet her next day, he finds to his dismay that indeed KRV also had listened to their dialogue and again caught in between, the face again speaks.
To make it short, NT is at his best. Padmini carries out her role well but KRV as the all loving cousin initially and dedicated wife later surprises you with her performance without resorting to her customary melodramatic presentation which later came to be associated with her. Nagesh and Manorama provide the comic relief with Asokan making a brief appearance doing well (After Karnan, Asokan did only 3 films with NT. Kandhan Karunai, Iru Malargal and Uyarnndha Manidhan).
ACT (responsible for the story also), his second film with NT had done a good job. Surprisingly he steers clear of customary cliches. When NT agrees to marry KRV, the scene ends with a nadaswara melam and that's it. Same way when Roja Ramani is introduced, at the end of the scene, NT tells her "Thatha-kku Good night sollittu po", Roja Ramani wishes good night to the photo of grand father hanging on the wall with a garland. Same way in the scene before climax, KRV having asked Padmini to wait in the bedroom goes in to fetch the letter. Meanwhile NT comes in and he opens up thinking he is speaking to KRV. When Padmini runs away, NT finds the old letter written by Padmini and a cup of coffee on the table thus by indicating that KRV had overheard all the conversation. Good work ACT ! When talking about him, I always admire his courage to face competition. Knowing well that this is going to be released along with Ooty Varai Uravu, a rollicking entertainer, he went ahead and released and was rewarded with a 100 days run. (Of course ACT again repeated later this act twice when he again released Engirundho Vandhal [though a Balajee film] along with Sorgam and then released Bharatha Vilas just one week ahead of Raja Raja Chozhan and remember he met with success every time). Another scene where he again stuck to what the story demanded was the scene where NT slaps Asokan. Though anybody would have loved to include a fight there, he clearly avoided. (I remember when I watched it as an elementary school kid during it's first release, I was a bit dissapointed that there was no fight in this scene).
Last but not the least the combo of MSV - Vaalee. Amazing stuff. I am not a well versed in music to go into the nuances of the songs but they are all ever green hits. Again the art of Ventriquilosim had been used in 1967 itself in the song Maharaja oru Maharani song before it was used on a larger scale in Avargal 10 years later. Another interesting info about this song is Shoba Neelakantan who later became Shoba Chandrasekar (Yes, mother of Vijay) had sung for Roja Ramani. Ella paadalkalum then kinnathil thoithu eduthavai.
Madhavi Pon Mayilal
Mannikka Vendukiren
Velli Mani Osaiyile
Maharaja oru Maharani
Kaduval thandha Iru Malargal
Annamitta Kaigalukku (See the writing of Saradha about this song in Vaalee's thread)
It was a pleasure watching this movie and writing about it here.