Khan Saheb Kamal Haasan's Jamaat/Jeba Koottam/Devasthaanam - Part 8

[mappi]

I have my own interpretation

Please ; I am all ears

[oyivukac]

[aceqoxim]

Moondram Pirai - Romance

While writing that title, I felt that it was not a suitable one, but as the topic in hand revolves around it, I could not find an appropriate one. Its been a while (say few years) that I have watched Moondram Pirai,but the images are still intact and I am just recollecting few points from the notes I had taken while watching the film.

A womanhood is culturally described as multidimensional where she takes up different roles in her life. That was exploited by many film makers. What Balu Mahendra (BM) puts forward is the male version. The 2 main characters share emotions from the male POV where he supports her as a father, brother, friend, teacher & of coarse dreams of his body needs. Here is where BM carefully - in the sense without using any vulgarity - showcases lust. About the other needs, caricatured as Sins are also present in the movie.

Yes, Kamal plays a teacher, but his student is a different one. She is not a kid but an adult. So the angle of 'teacher-student' should be approached with care, as its not that which is highlighted but how Kamal sustains himself before the 'Adult-Kid' whom he met initially with other intentions. He is the teacher of that immature mind and not for the matured body (it goes well age wise too). Add in being single and the symbols that provoke him in the day to day life through magazines and other mediums. The emotional break-down is the point here, where he over comes his body needs. If he was shown manhandling Sridevi, then there is something wrong, but never he does that. Thoughts are those grasses, cut them short and your mind becomes a decorated garden. He keeps her in this decorated garden by mowing down all those unintentional thoughts, which climb up inside any normal human being.

Here is where Silk comes into picture. Silk and Kamal are parallels - Silk living with a 'body' older & Kamal living with a 'body' younger - but both spirit does not know their true potential where the old one thinks he is still capable, and the young one has no clue what its capable. Thus Kamal and Silk form a lusting pair, where Silk has no boundaries, but Kamal has a well defined one. Its for this notion we have the provocative incidents - one such is where silk uses her feet to seduce Kamal but Kamal covered the feet of Sridevi when the saree gets misplaced.

The whole saree dream episode is on the Adult (body) of Sridevi (repeat - the circumstances he meet her, more importance is to the motive). But what he sees is actually the Kid form where the mind overtakes the body, well for both of them. Thus Kamal accepts the reality, his duty, and bundles up all his selfish desires and goes ahead to cure her accepting a rather hypothetical outcome. Here again it shows the cultured man in Kamal where he does his duty by striving forward keeping aside all the hindering and disturbing thoughts seeing only the pointer and not the beautifully carved arrow.

And the climax, Kamal looks for that kid and not the parting adult Sridevi. That's another clue that he has overcome the "romance" and is craving for the "affection". So concluding the togetherness to be romantic means the search was incomplete. Romance is just a charged force which Balu Mahendra uses to sky-rocket a relationship's pure form.

Moondram Pirai - Wandering Mind.

I can't thank you enough for that wonderful write up, Sir. I have never seen Moondram Pirai as the struggle of an intelligent mind who comes to terms with suppressing his primitive needs and provides untainted love to a woman who isn't capable of reciprocating the (then) platonic love he holds for her. I'm going to give the movie a repeat to see it through your eyes. Thank you again.

Pushpak,

Please do share your interpretation, it's always enlightening to hear different ideas and perspectives.

[Adox]

While not as descriptive as Mappi, my take on the relationship aspect goes like this:

Tamil movies prior to 90's maybe '95 differentiated punidhamana kaadhal vs. kaadhal contaminated with kaamam, lust or sexual intent. In case of moondram pirai or guna for eg. it was the former. Love in its purest form. Recall in Guna when he pushes Abirami away as she tries to kiss him in the cave fearing 'kalangam' to the divine relationship. Similarly in Mooram Pirai his love for sridevi was devoid of any lust - he looked upon her as a kid at heart, woman as in physical attributes etc. And she was his only connect with life.

Silk lusting for kamal is the other extreme where he strongly pushes her back saying 'Naa nandri uLLa naai'

[Adox]

Moondram Pirai - Romance

The whole saree dream episode is on the Adult (body) of Sridevi (repeat - the circumstances he meet her, more importance is to the motive). But what he sees is actually the Kid form where the mind overtakes the body, well for both of them. Thus Kamal accepts the reality, his duty, and bundles up all his selfish desires and goes ahead to cure her accepting a rather hypothetical outcome. Here again it shows the cultured man in Kamal where he does his duty by striving forward keeping aside all the hindering and disturbing thoughts seeing only the pointer and not the beautifully carved arrow.

And the climax, Kamal looks for that kid and not the parting adult Sridevi. That's another clue that he has overcome the "romance" and is craving for the "affection". So concluding the togetherness to be romantic means the search was incomplete. Romance is just a charged force which Balu Mahendra uses to sky-rocket a relationship's pure form.

Moondram Pirai - Wandering Mind.

Nice! Although I had the gist of what the movie implied, you put it down quite well ... bravo!

[Anban]

yes, this is valid across many movies.. even Kaadhal Kottai had a similar structure..

While not as descriptive as Mappi, my take on the relationship aspect goes like this:

Tamil movies prior to 90's maybe '95 differentiated punidhamana kaadhal vs. kaadhal contaminated with kaamam, lust or sexual intent. In case of moondram pirai or guna for eg. it was the former. Love in its purest form. Recall in Guna when he pushes Abirami away as she tries to kiss him in the cave fearing 'kalangam' to the divine relationship. Similarly in Mooram Pirai his love for sridevi was devoid of any lust - he looked upon her as a kid at heart, woman as in physical attributes etc. And she was his only connect with life.

Silk lusting for kamal is the other extreme where he strongly pushes her back saying 'Naa nandri uLLa naai'

[Arvind Srinivasan]

It is hard to not notice the analogy the movie shares with Balu Mahendra's own life, his relationship with a much younger Shobha, her untimely death and the pain it must have caused him.BM's spoken about this in many an interview. A relationship that is still spoken ill off till date. So there is absolutely no surprise that the movie's been misconstrued for this long.

[venkkiram]

It is hard to not notice the analogy the movie shares with Balu Mahendra's own life, his relationship with a much younger Shobha, her untimely death and the pain it must have caused him.BM's spoken about this in many an interview. A relationship that is still spoken ill off till date. So there is absolutely no surprise that the movie's been misconstrued for this long.

இணையத்துல அங்கங்கே ஷோபாவின் துர்மரணத்திற்கு பாலுதான் பொறுப்பு என கழுவி கழுவி ஊத்துகிறார்கள். இதுல நீங்க "the pain it must have caused him"-ன்னு சாதாரணமா சொல்லிட்டு போறது வேடிக்கையா இருக்கு. மலையாளத்தில் வெளிவந்த லேகாயுட மரணம் திரைப்படம் ஷோபா - பாலுவை வைத்துதான் சித்தரிக்கப் பட்டுள்ளது.

[Arvind Srinivasan]

இணையத்துல அங்கங்கே ஷோபாவின் துர்மரணத்திற்கு பாலுதான் பொறுப்பு என கழுவி கழுவி ஊத்துகிறார்கள். இதுல நீங்க "the pain it must have caused him"-ன்னு சாதாரணமா சொல்லிட்டு போறது வேடிக்கையா இருக்கு. மலையாளத்தில் வெளிவந்த லேகாயுட மரணம் திரைப்படம் ஷோபா - பாலுவை வைத்துதான் சித்தரிக்கப் பட்டுள்ளது.

Exactly my point. The cause of her death even after all these years is still being attributed to Balu Mahendra. So its hard to think of the mental trauma he must have gone through at that time.

[thamiz]

Exactly my point. The cause of her death even after all these years is still being attributed to Balu Mahendra. So its hard to think of the mental trauma he must have gone through at that time.

He deserves that!

What's your problem in going thru the pain or wahtever

He was abusing a 15-year old girl sexually! And he admitted that he "LOVED" her. She was a minor when she died. What kind of love is that with a 15-year old girl for a 40-year old man, HUH?