OK Kanmani: Mani Ratnam – The Genius

A stroke of genius! This scene from “O Kadhal Kanmani” is a stroke of genius from master filmmaker Mani Ratnam. To even think about how it would have been conceptualized and picturized is spell bounding. Spell bounding is what happened to me.

Many out there, like me, might have mixed opinions about OKK, yet I have no hesitancy in terming this scene as a master piece. It’s golden. Literally, the entire sequence has a golden tint — from the golden rays of the sun illuminating the faces, to the golden tinge of light that reflects from the lamp illuminating Tara’s room.

Tara, coyly asks Aadhi to marry her. Until this we were very sure about what Tara and Aadhi don’t want in their relationship. But where is it actually moving towards? What do they actually want out of it? Aadhi wants to answe these “chinnanchiru aasaigal” of his.

“என்ன எங்க கூட்டிட்டு போற?” Tara asks, as they enter the electric train. Aadhi wants to take her back to her hostel before he changes his mind. “Changes his mind from what” we are intrigued, and so is Tara.

“கட்டிபிடிச்சிப்பேன்”, he replies. Now we can guess what might come next. Rahman understands that too, and so “Naane varugiraen” starts at the background. Tara teases him back. “பிடிச்சிட்டா?” she asks.

“விடமாட்டேன்” Aadhi assures. Tara doesn’t bow down from her teases. ஆசைகளுக்கு பொய் சொல்ல தெரியாது.

“அப்றம்?” she asks.

“அழுத்தி முத்தம் குடுப்பேன்” Aadhi says as “கேளாமல் தருகிறேன்” goes in the background.

But oh dear, she’s teases him more.

I will become a monster, he warns, with his eyes fixed on her lips. The uncontrollable lust emitting between then and in the crevices of their heart.

“துகில் உரிப்பியா?” She asks. Strip tease?

The camera shifts its angle, instantly, and now we can see get a glimpse of outside the train

“ஆமா ஆமா ஆமா” Aadhi hits back. There’s lust all over the air in that train. Another train goes past them, a metaphor of the gush of feelings lurking inside this lustful beast.

But she hasn’t yet seen what the beast can do isn’t it? One final tease, and they share a smile.

“கண்தீண்டி உரைகிறேன். கைத்தீண்டி கரைகிறேன்”

As they reach the hostel room, Aadhi says that he might request her to be with him till she goes out to Paris or UK. His hands seem to have a mind on their own.

She leans back at the door as Aadhi closes in. “Oh! you’re requesting me? Go on”

“நீ அப்டியே உருகி, என்ன ஆசையா பாத்து…..”

“பாத்து?”

“உன் கைய புடிச்சி உள்ள இழுத்து…”

“இழுத்து?” Her fingers linger around his shirt button.

“கதவ தாப்பா போட்டு…”

“போட்டு?”

” போட்டு எனக்கு தெரியாது… நீ தான் சொல்லனும்”

“கடிச்சி தின்னுருவேன்”, and they rush inside the room. The tempo of the song ascends, in tune with their heatbeats

“Chinnanchiru ragasiyame” plays at the background.

P.C. Sreeram shows us a mirror shot of them making love and then something unusual happens. The camera pans around in a wave-like motion and it seems to point at some objects the room. The shot covers a time clock, a lamp, an architectural diagram, of Tara’s of course, a fish tank, and ends with a shot over an urban area. Why should it be like this? Why can’t it be of a shot of sky or a shot of two flowers? Is he conveying something through this? Of course. Pulling back the audience from a dizzy fantasy ride into the plot and explaining them the predicament of the characters through a 30-second shot over objects which signify something. That’s a smart, classy and an interesting creative decision that only a filmmaker like Mani Ratnam can do.

Both Tara and Aadhi will have to part ways soon, to focus on their respective careers. Unlike love, time isn’t in abundance. They want to make use of it and hence their actions are justified, once again, by time (The clock), and the golden light seems to fall over their wishes as they embrace each other’s deepest fantasies (The lamp and “சின்னஞ்சிறு ஆசைகளே, சின்னஞ்சிறு ரகசியமே”). Tara has to move on and pursue her passion, and so there’s an architectural diagram They are trapped, like a fish in a bowl, and a landscape picture of a city is seen next. But after this point, there’s no going back. Or is there? Could they have prevented this from happening? The song answers us through—” சின்னஞ்சிறு ஆசைக்கு பொய் சொல்ல தெரியாதே”

A brilliant shot, isn’t it?

Tara, from the bed, asks him if he likes her. He replies that he loves her so much, but the hostel room seems to be uncomfortable for him. Intense wishes are too difficult to satisfy is it?

“Do you love me? Or the sex?” She asks. Of course, Aadhi isn’t the kind who would lie for such a question. “I love the sex. But above all, I love you too…. A bit more at least” he says.

“A bit more is enough. Too much love can lead to trouble” she says.

She’s curious enough to ask “காதல், காமம், இதெல்லாம் பரவாலய?”.

“பெரிய பாவம். ஆனா எனக்கு பாவதெல்லாம் திரும்பி திரும்பி செஞ்சா தான் எல்லாம் தீருமாம்” he says as he gets on top of her. I was right when I told that such intense wishes are too difficult to satisfy, isn’t it?

The spell has been cast and you’re already falling in love with Mani Ratnam’s masterful visual storytelling.