Remember Arjun and Meera from Aayitha Ezhuthu? What if their lives did not have to collide with the worlds of Inba and Micheal? If Inba as a character lacked his privileged background or Micheal as a character showed purpose unlike him, Arjun does not exist simply a contrast to these two characters. He is a stand in for a generation of the privileged aimless yuppie youngster. Prior to O Kadhal Kanmani, the portion of Arjun and Meera represent Maniratnam's briefest foray into romantic comedy. "He has beliefs and dreams of his own. So does she. And when they like each other, do their beliefs and dreams come in the way of them jointly subscribing to a romantic ideal?". That's romantic comedy in a nutshell. Over the years and across mediums there is no dearth of romantic comedies, and it is easy to see why the ambitious Tamil film maker is reluctant to go there. Of course, Maniratnam's ambitions in Aayitha Ezhuthu are much higher. He is not content with juxtaposing a romantic comedy against the real world, he also wants to shed light on the young generation. Or may be his hands were tied, because medieval Tamil script betrayed him by not choosing ":" as the Ayitha Ezhuthu.
Ok Kanmani seems to take off from where Aayitha Ezhuthu was rudely interrupted, starting with the flamboyant opening credits oozing with optimism, that makes you forget how Kadal sank into the deep sea. And considering Maniratnam's recent work (I would also say that the first half of Kadal was indeed riveting), Ok Kanmani seems like a drastic scaling down of ambitions. And even the attempts to capture the zest for life a new generation is constrained by the fact that one of the protagonist here (Dulquer Salman as Adithya) is not only a stand in for a crowd, but as character his standing is entirely reliant on him holding to a moral compass which tells him what is cool and what is not. Subscribing to a herd mentality takes a bit of sheen out of his character (Karthik of Alaipayuthey is cool, because he stands apart from the crowd). Either Maniratnam's idea of coolness is somewhat removed from reality, or Dulquer Salman does not slip into this aspect of his character. As a result the scenes involving the yuppie crowd does not jell together with the rest of the film, and the opening scene where Aadhi makes a pitch for a new game idea seems like the best example of this dissonance.
Maniratnam seems to strike a nice balance in the stretches where Thara and Aadhi get to know each other, or the scene how Ganapathy (Prakash Raj) and Bhavani (Leela Samson) recall the interesting details of their courtship. The pacing is leisurely, and after the somewhat patchy start, sets the film on a track by establishing a mood. You see Ganapathy doing domestic chores, Bhavani being a bit clueless, and gradually get to know how Bhavani's medical condition has a role to play in all this, while simultaneously highlighting how normal it feels to be around her. It is somewhat amusing to watch Aadhi and Thara keep playing pranks on each other, and how a foreplay of words land them in bed together. But after they decide to stay together in a live-in relationship, but not forever, the rest of the film reduces to the question of whether they are going to end up together or part ways, and starts becoming too faithful to the rom-com genre. As a result, there is always something going on, but the scenes don't add up. In terms of staging the latter scenes seem to match the earlier ones, but they sort of meander aimlessly. The scene where Aadhi and Thara try to manufacture consent from Ganapathy and Bhavani could be excused, for how hilarious it is. ("You won't marry him? Unakku enna sevvai dhosama?" Leela Samson walks away with the funniest line in the film).
If the attempt was to drift along, like how the couple in Pudhu Pudhu Arthangal do, almost reflecting the protagonists attitude to life, the fact that they are not completely unhinged makes it harder (they seems to be good at their jobs, and are more ambitious than your regular Tamil hero/heroine). The entire stretch were Aadhi goes missing for a while, is entirely redundant given how it actually plays out. It seems to exist to provide Thara, a bit of soul searching about how she would seen as needy, given how they decided to move about with their lives. During the conversation with her friend, Thara tries to calm her nerves saying that she ought to provide Aadhi some space. When this scene actually played out it seemed that the film was taking itself too seriously when taking about the nature of their relationship. But on second thoughts, it is probably the director telling you, "Of course, you don't want to be subjected to the trappings of a marriage. But still a live-in relationship comes with its own trappings". Now here is a room for a Alaipayuthey like introspection, of how getting more intimate with a person makes you more aware of their flaws you were previously oblivious to ("Kadhal parpathu paathi kannil, Kalyanam parpathu naalu kannil, Naama partpathu ondrarai kannil, adiye?"). I don't know why the film does not look at this question. Maniratnam probably does not want to repeat himself here, but labours to justify the rest of the running time by providing an opportunity for Aadhi and Thara to come get over the only reason that is stopping them from being together - getting married and seeming uncool. The justification comes in the form of a poorly staged climax, where the film tries its damnedest to suddenly raise the stakes and force Aadhi to speak his mind out.
What makes Ok Kanmani still work are the performances. Restraint is something that you don't often associate with Prakashraj, but here it is a solid performance as a man worn down by the demands of life. Even when the climax plays a manipulative hand, he does not betray much of an emotion. Leela Samson in what is probably her first film role, plays a good foil. Dulquer Salman is limited by the fact that Aadhi is forced to play it too cool. This probably stems from Maniratnam's flawed understanding of his character. In rom-com terms, the resolution is brought about when he begins to show that there is more to him than the coolness, and it is in these stretches Dulquer is convincing as Aadhi.
Unlike Dulquer, Nithya Menon slips effortlessly into Thara's shoes. It is likely that Maniratnam does not need to associate an air of coolness about Thara or her co-workers. The scandalous tone to which her architect friend slips into while questioning Thara about her escapade, could only be out of a Maniratnam movie. Staging helps a lot in keeping the performance very real. Most movies suck up the leads into a world of their own for no apparent reason that can be justified in a theatre production, but not in a cinema(unless you are taking about NEPV, where the fact that they get too caught about themselves adds value to the plot). It is refreshing to see Nithya Menon react, pausing a somewhat serious conversation with Dulquer to quickly exchange a fake smile with an acquaintance who walks past them, and resume that conversation from where she left off. Or when she stares into nothing in particular either in contemplation, or when she dreamily gazes towards Aadhi but not into his eyes, because she is reluctant to break the comfort of his embrace and turn her face to see him. Nithya Menon is required to show up and not act! And she does just that. It seems at times that Thara is pushing Aadhi to the edge, like how she manipulates another man in the early portions. Take the scene at the maternity clinic for example. It is somewhat disappointing that it comes out only as a tease, and wastes Kanika in the process.
From the time Aadhi and Thara move in together, they catch glimpses of the older couple's life through a gap between a mostly closed double door. This is a recurring visual motif, and by the time Aadhi and Thara decide to marry, the audience gets a chance to view them through a similar gap in their door. But at other times, Maniratnam continues to let the cinematographer indulge, and at times the images are far too pretty and far too perfect. This is the best I have heard from Rahman since Ambikapathy, and Ok Kanmani needs those pretty pictures and songs, more than any other recent Maniratnam movie to make it work. It is lacking in finesse compared to Iruvar; lacking in ambition compared to Kadal or Ravanan; lacking as a study of relationships compared to Alaipayuthey. It probably works because of the goodwill that Maniratnam has garnered as a result of those films.
Ok Kanmani seems to take off from where Aayitha Ezhuthu was rudely interrupted, starting with the flamboyant opening credits oozing with optimism, that makes you forget how Kadal sank into the deep sea. And considering Maniratnam's recent work (I would also say that the first half of Kadal was indeed riveting), Ok Kanmani seems like a drastic scaling down of ambitions. And even the attempts to capture the zest for life a new generation is constrained by the fact that one of the protagonist here (Dulquer Salman as Adithya) is not only a stand in for a crowd, but as character his standing is entirely reliant on him holding to a moral compass which tells him what is cool and what is not. Subscribing to a herd mentality takes a bit of sheen out of his character (Karthik of Alaipayuthey is cool, because he stands apart from the crowd). Either Maniratnam's idea of coolness is somewhat removed from reality, or Dulquer Salman does not slip into this aspect of his character. As a result the scenes involving the yuppie crowd does not jell together with the rest of the film, and the opening scene where Aadhi makes a pitch for a new game idea seems like the best example of this dissonance.
Maniratnam seems to strike a nice balance in the stretches where Thara and Aadhi get to know each other, or the scene how Ganapathy (Prakash Raj) and Bhavani (Leela Samson) recall the interesting details of their courtship. The pacing is leisurely, and after the somewhat patchy start, sets the film on a track by establishing a mood. You see Ganapathy doing domestic chores, Bhavani being a bit clueless, and gradually get to know how Bhavani's medical condition has a role to play in all this, while simultaneously highlighting how normal it feels to be around her. It is somewhat amusing to watch Aadhi and Thara keep playing pranks on each other, and how a foreplay of words land them in bed together. But after they decide to stay together in a live-in relationship, but not forever, the rest of the film reduces to the question of whether they are going to end up together or part ways, and starts becoming too faithful to the rom-com genre. As a result, there is always something going on, but the scenes don't add up. In terms of staging the latter scenes seem to match the earlier ones, but they sort of meander aimlessly. The scene where Aadhi and Thara try to manufacture consent from Ganapathy and Bhavani could be excused, for how hilarious it is. ("You won't marry him? Unakku enna sevvai dhosama?" Leela Samson walks away with the funniest line in the film).
If the attempt was to drift along, like how the couple in Pudhu Pudhu Arthangal do, almost reflecting the protagonists attitude to life, the fact that they are not completely unhinged makes it harder (they seems to be good at their jobs, and are more ambitious than your regular Tamil hero/heroine). The entire stretch were Aadhi goes missing for a while, is entirely redundant given how it actually plays out. It seems to exist to provide Thara, a bit of soul searching about how she would seen as needy, given how they decided to move about with their lives. During the conversation with her friend, Thara tries to calm her nerves saying that she ought to provide Aadhi some space. When this scene actually played out it seemed that the film was taking itself too seriously when taking about the nature of their relationship. But on second thoughts, it is probably the director telling you, "Of course, you don't want to be subjected to the trappings of a marriage. But still a live-in relationship comes with its own trappings". Now here is a room for a Alaipayuthey like introspection, of how getting more intimate with a person makes you more aware of their flaws you were previously oblivious to ("Kadhal parpathu paathi kannil, Kalyanam parpathu naalu kannil, Naama partpathu ondrarai kannil, adiye?"). I don't know why the film does not look at this question. Maniratnam probably does not want to repeat himself here, but labours to justify the rest of the running time by providing an opportunity for Aadhi and Thara to come get over the only reason that is stopping them from being together - getting married and seeming uncool. The justification comes in the form of a poorly staged climax, where the film tries its damnedest to suddenly raise the stakes and force Aadhi to speak his mind out.
What makes Ok Kanmani still work are the performances. Restraint is something that you don't often associate with Prakashraj, but here it is a solid performance as a man worn down by the demands of life. Even when the climax plays a manipulative hand, he does not betray much of an emotion. Leela Samson in what is probably her first film role, plays a good foil. Dulquer Salman is limited by the fact that Aadhi is forced to play it too cool. This probably stems from Maniratnam's flawed understanding of his character. In rom-com terms, the resolution is brought about when he begins to show that there is more to him than the coolness, and it is in these stretches Dulquer is convincing as Aadhi.
Unlike Dulquer, Nithya Menon slips effortlessly into Thara's shoes. It is likely that Maniratnam does not need to associate an air of coolness about Thara or her co-workers. The scandalous tone to which her architect friend slips into while questioning Thara about her escapade, could only be out of a Maniratnam movie. Staging helps a lot in keeping the performance very real. Most movies suck up the leads into a world of their own for no apparent reason that can be justified in a theatre production, but not in a cinema(unless you are taking about NEPV, where the fact that they get too caught about themselves adds value to the plot). It is refreshing to see Nithya Menon react, pausing a somewhat serious conversation with Dulquer to quickly exchange a fake smile with an acquaintance who walks past them, and resume that conversation from where she left off. Or when she stares into nothing in particular either in contemplation, or when she dreamily gazes towards Aadhi but not into his eyes, because she is reluctant to break the comfort of his embrace and turn her face to see him. Nithya Menon is required to show up and not act! And she does just that. It seems at times that Thara is pushing Aadhi to the edge, like how she manipulates another man in the early portions. Take the scene at the maternity clinic for example. It is somewhat disappointing that it comes out only as a tease, and wastes Kanika in the process.
From the time Aadhi and Thara move in together, they catch glimpses of the older couple's life through a gap between a mostly closed double door. This is a recurring visual motif, and by the time Aadhi and Thara decide to marry, the audience gets a chance to view them through a similar gap in their door. But at other times, Maniratnam continues to let the cinematographer indulge, and at times the images are far too pretty and far too perfect. This is the best I have heard from Rahman since Ambikapathy, and Ok Kanmani needs those pretty pictures and songs, more than any other recent Maniratnam movie to make it work. It is lacking in finesse compared to Iruvar; lacking in ambition compared to Kadal or Ravanan; lacking as a study of relationships compared to Alaipayuthey. It probably works because of the goodwill that Maniratnam has garnered as a result of those films.
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