TAJ MAHAL

A movie review by Balaji Balasubramaniam

Long advertised as the result of a collaboration between the 'Dream Team' of Bharathiraja, Manirathnam, A.R.Rehman and Vairamuthu, the result is a rather disappointing effort - a case of the whole being lesser than the sum of its parts. While it can be said that A.R.Rehman and Vairamuthu have done their job well enough, Manirathnam is almost non-existent and Bharathiraja has disappointed by picking up an old story and not giving it any new dimensions.

Thiruppaachi and Sengulam are neighboring villages with a history of enmity between them. Maayan(Manoj) and Machakanni(Riya Sen) meet on the day of her engagement and its love at first sight. Her marriage itself gets called off when the groom and his family insult Machakanni's family and her romance with Maayan continues. But when her brother finds out about him, all hell breaks loose. The turned-down bridegroom is still itching for revenge and figuring out that the only way to extract it is to marry Machakanni, he pleads for forgiveness and succeeds in melting her brother's heart. The marriage is finalised but Maayan's friends swear to unite the star-crossed lovers. There is also a subplot of Maayan's aunt(Radhika) trying to get her daughter married off to Maayan.

Bharitharaja fails to add any new trimmings to the age-old story of lovers from sparring villages trying to unite against the wishes of their families. The only new things in the whole movie were Manoj's costumes! His modern jeans and shirts and shoes stand out awkwardly against the backdrop of the other villagers and their rustic behavior and clothing. Bharathiraja is an old hand at romance and consequently, the initial encounters between Manoj and Riya contain a few interesting moments like her 'slipping' for the second time to fall into the river to see Manoj again and later, telling him about the easiest route to come and visit her at night. But the multiplicity of songs during these sequences slow down the pace of the movie. The first song sequence, Thiruppaachi Aruvaalaa..., is picturised well but the following songs - many of them 'bits' rather than full songs - are unnecessary and seem like fillers.

The movie follows a familiar route once the romance is discovered. The hero gets beaten up, the heroine is warned and shut in, her marriage is fixed with another man, etc. The movie turns increasingly violent from this point onwards and there is quite a bit of bloodshed. The ending is cinematic and worse, since none of the people opposing the romance have any change of heart, it doesn't solve any problems and would in all probability, just lead to increasing violence between the two villages.

Three of Bharathiraja's R introductions, Revathi, Radhika and Ranjitha, are in the movie though its only the first two that scoop up the acting honours. Revathi conveys a mother's love for her son well and her crying in the scene where she sees her son lying in the field is heartbreaking. Radhika has lesser screen time but makes her presence felt in the first scene she is seen. Her role as the sharp-tongued woman in Jeans won her great praise and she basically continues the role here. Her tirade directed against Revathi and Manoj and her turn-around once she sees Manoj deserve an applause. She also earns our sympathy when begging Manivannan to get Manoj to marry her daughter. The solution to this issue is one of the few genuine surprises in the movie though Manivannan's continuing silence in the matter, leading to sad consequences, is unfathomable.

Manoj looks quite at ease in front of the camera, considering its his first movie but he is definitely not hero material as far as looks are concerned. His voice is another big minus and does not go with his build at all. As a result, the love sequences between him and Riya are tough to ingest. Riya is his exact opposite. She is pretty (a smaller, thinner version of Aishwarya Rai actually) but has an inexpressive face. Naturally, it is a mismatched pairing and this hurts in many of the romantic scenes. A.R.Rehman's tunes lack the rustic touch but this is more than made up for by Vairamuthu's lyrics. As a result, most of the songs like Eechi Elumichi..., Kulirudhu Kulirudhu... and Adi Manja Kizhange... are catchy and pleasing to the ear. Photography is frequently breath-taking. Background music, scored by Deva's brothers Sabesh and Murali after A.R.Rehman's procrastination seemed to affect the movie's chances of being released on Diwali, is just a rehash of the tunes from the songs in the movie.