Two Years On

A humid day in the summer of 2003.Everyone has been raving about this new movie called Kadhal something . Even Neha who does not watch too much of Tamil movies has seen it. I am super enthu about checking out what it is all about.Kari and I decide to go watch this movie.We get out of an auto rickshaw, enter Woodlands theatre, just about manage to get the tickets and reach the door to the auditorium. /En per Vinod/ …I am Vinod. As we enter the hall the choir background music and the above-mentioned line at once grip me (the first line of the movie). Seems like a Charles Dickens kind of setting-poor boy at an orphanage serving food to several other poor boys. /Nan inge rombe sandoshama irrukeren/ …I am content where I am presently. We take our seats. Boy(referred to as Vinod from now) fights for a pant with another boy as the Father(priest)calls him to inform him that he has to go to the city to study, against his wishes. /Na yenga pokudathunu nanaceno angaye vandu sendeten/ …I have been thrust into the very place I feared the most. The change in the environment is portrayed through a satirical song showing the excesses of the urban youth. You are almost made to feel the same discomfort with the glaring change in milieu that Vinod feels. As he is discriminated and mocked at in college and branded a loser the audience gets angry and your heart goes out for him.The audience whistles in jubilation.Why?Vinod is caught napping by a professor, gets yelled at and challenged to solve a math problem on the board(which the professor is sure Vinod cannot solve).Vinod solves it(which his classmates observe in stupefied silence)walks back to his bench and starts napping again. I clap my hands almost as a reflex action. Kari sitting next to me is amused. As Vinod befriends Divya you sense inevitable doom. Wow, the canteen scene. What body language. Vinod’s innocent and wild ecstasy as he enters Divya’s room which is like paradise to him. Again you wonder what body language. /Divya En Devi/ …I have found my friend Devi again! Vinod has a nightmare during his sleepover at Divya’s house. This is the first time the director hints that Vinod has had a traumatic past. As Vinod falls in love with Divya again you see that word all over the place-doom. This is moving like a Greek tragedy. Adi and Divya fall in love and Vinod sits between them forced to act cupid. As Vinod’s heartbreaks I find tears streaming out of my eyes. /Intermission/ …Intermission Can’t wait for the second half to start. By the way I suddenly remember Kari is with me. We rush back into the hall after grabbing the snack and cool drink (Kari has no choice!). Divya travels (kidnapped?)with Vinod to a ruined house in the hills, after he claims to unite her with Adi(Divya’s father opposes their love).Flashback-We peek at Vinod’s childhood at a horrible factory where children are treated like dogs. As you see the dingy inhuman place the Sivakasi brand of child labour becomes a harsh reality that is thrust into your conscience. Vinod befriends Devi.When Devi and Vinod’s sexual abuse at the hands of the men at the factory is revealed the audience start fidgeting in their seats in discomfort. As the children’s revolution takes place,when the sadists and abusers at the sweatshop are killed and the children walk out,the audience roars in approval. Vinod has murdered a bar dancer who tries to seduce him (as revealed earlier). Now you understand scarred by abuse in childhood Vinod is petrified of sex. Also the realization dawns that Vinod sees Divya as his childhood friend Devi (whose love he acquired) hence the title Kadhal Konden(meaning I acquired love).Vinod not understanding the platonic beauty of his friendship with Divya confuses her as Devi and that finally leads to the tragic end. /Kadhal Konden! Kadhal konden!/ …I acquired love! As Vinod wails what has become one of Tamil celluloid ‘s most immortal lines , you realize Vinod is too scarred to recover. As Vinod dies you realize that death is his only catharsis from his anguish. Despite of his blunders we see Vinod as a victim, someone who has been cheated by life. I don’t remember much of the journey back home from the theatre (except that I was desperately trying to control my tears).Kari must have been wondering what the hell about that movie was so great(he didn’t seem too impressed by it).I have lost count of the number of times I have seen this wonderful film. Whenever I think of Vinod I am reminded of what Don Mclean sang about Vincent Van Gogh,”this world was never meant for someone as beautiful as you”.Two years after it hit the screens Kadhal Konden is still immensely relevant socially and continues to haunt our collective conscience. It is truly a fascinating creation of a beautiful mind. Selvaraghavan’s mind.