Hitting the Right Notes...

K Balachander is the kind of director who has given us movies that we will cherish for years together and "Sindhu Bhairavi" is one of the most prominent among them. My earliest memory of the movie is watching it in a moving bus while I was traveling from Bangalore to Kochi along with my parents and that was sometime in 1986, a good old 23 years back. I had the good fortune to watch it once again sometime during the late 80's/ early 90's when DD Thiruvananthapuram telecasted the movie on a Saturday morning. I did not understand much of the movie except the mesmerising sound track that has stayed with me ever since.

I have been hunting for the VCD/ DVD of this movie for quite sometime and finally managed to grab a copy 2 weeks back. And here I was sitting in front of my television screen after popping the VCD of this much acclaimed movie into my DVD player!

There is no point writing about the story line of a film released more than 2 decades ago and which is very well considered a classic by lovers of genuine cinema. Watching a movie 25 odd years later definitely makes you think in a different direction than what you would have when you saw it for the first time. That is precisely what happened with me this morning.

Though Sindhu Bhairavi deals with the story of a Padmashree awarded renowned singer J K Balaganapathy (Sivakumar, probably the only time he has attempted some acting in his decades long career), the characters of J K B, Sindhu (Suhasini in her first and only National Award winning role till date) and Bhairavi (Sulakshana playing one of the very few characters that clearly exhibits her immense talent) are real people with real emotions; strengths and weaknesses that you would normally associate with human beings compared to the protagonists of modern day cinema who are so good and puritan that you feel they are less human and more celestial.

The few important sequences which I feel raised this film to the level of a classic are:

• The idea of naming the leading ladies as Sindhu and Bhairavi- 2 prominent raagas of Carnatic Music and when they merge together, they form Sindhu Bhairavi- a 3rd raaga. It is highly imaginative of KB to have named his women so since both the ladies have to come together to recreate music in JKB's life
• The characerization of Sindhu and Bhairavi- how they play perfect foil to each other. Bhairavi is the docile, conventional, pious housewife as opposed to the bold, strong, educated, outspoken and highly intelligent Sindhu. It is also interesting to see how Bhairavi's character graph progresses throughout the movie. Her strong opposition to Sindhu when she learns that Sindhu is JKB's mistress and her helplessness while she approaches Sindhu to help her out with reforming JKB and finally her selfless love for JKB that comes to the fore when she herself arranges for her husband's wedding with Sindhu. KB's women have always been strong but Sindhu and Bhairavi take this another step forward
• Mesmerizing supporting cast comprising of Manimala, Delhi Ganesh, Veeraraghavan, Janakaraj and Kavithalayaa Krishnan. Manimala brings to life the crisis that she goes through when she learns that Sindhu is her own daughter born out of wedlock. Delhi Ganesh is superb in almost all scenes that he features in- especially when he plays the mridangam outside JKB's home when JKB asks him to leave the concert as he comes drunk and also when he puts up a drunkard act in front of JKB to persuade him to stop meeting Sindhu. Veeraraghavan provides the most humurous sequence in the movie when he explains to Sindhu how he will provide different music to the same lyrics when it is filmed on different actors. Janakaraj as the compulsive liar is the vidooshaka of the whole drama. The arguement that Kavithalayaa Krishnan has with Veeraraghavan over Aarabhi and Devagandhaari is interesting
• The sheer poetry that flows out through Vairamuthu's pen- Paadariyen Padippariyean, Kalaivaaniye and Naanoru Sindhu are lessons for aspiring lyric writers. Vairamuthu's astounding ability to bring to life the thoughts of his characters through his words is clearly evident here
• The brilliance and genius of that gifted singer K S Chithra- this was probably the first time she was singing Tamil songs and just give an ear to the clarity with which she pronounces the profound words. It is no wonder that 3 of her 6 National Awards have been for Tamil songs and not for songs in her mother tongue
• K J Yesudas is at his best. His deep knowledge of Carnatic Music has been put to abundant use by Ilaiyaraaja
• Ilaiyaraaja in his National Award winning avtaar as the Music Director. The Maestro's deep knowledge of music is evident in the way Paadariyen has been cleverly merged with Mari Mari Ninne. "Manathil Uruthi Vendum" is another deft composition where the beauty of Bharathi's words have been enhanced by the simple orchestration. And did you know that "Mahaganapathim" sounds better without the Mrudangam?
• K Balachander's supreme directorial skills- watch out for how he undresses the Tampura and the Mrudangam to depict the physicality in JKB's relationship with Sindhu; or how he explains days passing by through shots of Newspapers and periodicals being delivered at Sindhu's door; or how he uses that song sequence of "Un Dayavu Illaiya" to depict JKB falling hopelessly in love with Sindhu. Probably the only weak link in the script is the characterization of Prathap Pothan who has his one way love affair going with Sindhu. The script never bothers to explain what happens of that character and it remains an angle the movie could have done without. I personally did not approve of the sequence where JKB breaks his Tampura when he learns that his friends had asked Sindhu to leave the city. The arguement might be that it was necessary to show the human side of the great singer but breaking the Tampura was making it a tad too cinematic!
• And finally for the whole idea that KB and Ilaiyaraaja put forth through Sindhu- that of rendering Nattu Pattu in Sangeetha Sabhas. I can imagine the kind of hue and cry purists would have made 25 years back for even mentioning such an idea. And look at how things have changed in the past 5 years or so- Bombay Jayashree, Mahathi, Unnikrishnan and Sudha Raghunathan have no qualms singing for hardcore commerical masala movies along with their regular renditions at the Sabhas and the audience is not complaining either. Talk about being ahead of one's times and I don't think there has been anyone like KB in Indian Cinema who has really done that!

To all those who have not seen the classic yet, all I can tell you is you don't know what you are missing!