Kannathil Muthamittal (2002)

Director:

Mani Ratnam

Writers:

Mani Ratnam (screenplay)
Mani Ratnam (story)

Release Date:

14 February 2002 (India)

Genre:

Drama | War

Plot:

Dhileepan and Shyama are Tamil-speaking residents of Mankulam, Sri Lanka, who get married with the blessings of their respective families...

Plot Keywords:

Sri Lanka | Snorricam | Adopted Daughter | Civil War | Kamalahasan

Awards:

9 wins

Cast

Madhavan	...	G. Thiruchelvan 'Indra'
Simran	...	T. Indra
J.D. Chakravarthi	...	Dhileepan
Prakash Raj	...	Dr. Herold Vikramsinghe (as Prakashraj)
Nandita Das	...	M. D. Shyama
P.S. Keerthana	...	T. Amudha
Delhi Kumar	...	D. Ganesan
Master Suraj	...	T. Vinayan
Master Kethan	...	T. Akhilan

Also Known As:

A Peck on the Cheek (USA) (literal English title)
Amritha (India: Telugu title) (dubbed version)

Runtime:

Canada:123 min (Toronto International Film Festival)

Country:

India

Language:

Tamil | Sinhala

Color:

Black and White | Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | DTS-Stereo

Certification:

India:U | Switzerland:12 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:12 (canton of Vaud)

Filming Locations:

Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India

Company:

Madras Talkies

Trivia:

The movie is inspired by a Time magazine article about an American couple who took their daughter to Philippines to meet her biological mother.

Refreshingly different from the normal Indian fare pumped out into our multiplexes but a tad overdone and in need of just an extra kick in the script

Separated from her new husband by the war, Shyama flees Shi Lanka with other refugees despite being pregnant with their child. Alone, young and with no real hope for a future Shyama puts her girl up for adoption. Years later and the girl (T. Amudha) is living with her mother and father (Indra and Thiruchelvan) happily. Despite her still being quite young, Indra and Thiuchelvan take the decision to tell Amudha that she is adopted – causing her a certain amount of distress and making her run away fro a short time. Back home and forgiven, Thiruchelvan tells Amudha the story of how she inspired his writing and how she caused the marriage between him and Indra.

Inspired by real stories of adopted children from this area, I was attracted to this film because it appeared to be different from some other Indian films I had seen (specifically not a three hour romance with an album full of songs in it). Although I am aware of the situation in Sri Lanka, I had never learnt enough to appreciate the impact on the populace in terms of refugees etc and this film did shed light on that to a certain extent. The plot focuses on the impact on Amudha – born out of her country and into an adopted family. For no other reason than to kick-start the story, her adopted parents decide to tell her that she is adopted and seem genuinely surprised when she is upset and then wants to find her mother! This sort of thing happened a couple of times and, although it got the film moving into wider issues, it was a problem that it was written in such an unconvincing fashion and not attached to reality. This also takes away from the emotional impact because you might find the characters hard to believe in. Despite this the film is still worth seeing and just about manages to get away with the sudden sea change between small story to conflict zone footage and moralising.

Of course it is still a bit moving and is generally quite interesting while avoiding the terrible clichés of all the Bollywood films that tend to make it to the UK cinemas. Those films are usually overblown affairs about a boy and girl in love (but with an obstacle to happiness) and loads of songs. Here the film still tends to overdo things but it is a smaller story based in reality and was more interesting and accessible to me. The script is a bit problem and the sudden move to depicting the civil war in Sri Lanka is a big step that would have been a problem had I not been interesting in it already. A big part of it working is a natural and convincing performance from first timer Keerthana. She is very good and I found myself easily caring about Amudha because of her work. Madhavan wasd a lot less convincing and was too stiff and unrealistic in his character – maybe this sort of performance is OK in crowd-pleasing fairy tales but it was just poor for the most part in this film. Simran was pretty good but the real maternal emotion comes from Das in a small but key role in the film. With all the adults doing OK it is left to Keerthana to lead the film and she does very well apart from a few moment where you can she her giggling behind her hands when she shouldn't be.

Overall this is an OK film but not as smooth and as effective as many others have said. Unlike many Indian films, the songs are restrained numbers that support the story rather than dominate it and the direction is good – again quite restrained and good at drawing the beauty out of the surrounding as well as staging large action sequences. The acting is a bit mixed but Keerthana is impressive with a natural, convincing and likable performance.

The material is a problem though as some plot turns lack any sense of reality or logic while the jump from domestic drama to social commentary and moralising is a pretty bit one and is also a jump too far.