Mundasupatti(The village of Turbans), Tamil Film: The perfect idiot, just got better

One helping the Sunday before last was not enough, and the second helping today seemed to have only increased my appetite for Mundasupatti.

The epitome of a perfect idiot has always been Kali N Ratnam, in Sabapathy, the 1941 flick, produced and directed by AV Meyyapan(AVM). Mr. Ratnam effortlessly deep dived into moronic activities punctuated by eye popping stares which sent  us into a tizzy. The record for the perfect idiot which stood in the name of Kali N Ratnam, for a period of 73 years at last has been broken by Ramdas, who enacts and emotes the moron MunishKanth, with aplomb. The perfect idiot just got better. Munishkanth will be remembered for a long time to come, not that we will be able to forget the senior Mr. Ratnam.

Not that others are left behind.  In almost equal measure, Kali, the hero’s side kick, manages to steal the thunder from Munishkanth with his wisecracks and whispering  one liners. They do come fast and furious. Munishkanth gets the edge over Kali simply because we are familiar with characters like Kali.

Oh! Yes, Vishnu sends your heart into a flutter, and charms you with his smile, dimple, a wig that fits him like a glove and seems to float around the screen as if he were on moon. And yes, he does resemble, Akshay Kumar while he smiles. He is a joy to behold.

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Nanditha, is a recreation of Bhagyaraj heroine of 1980s, and reminds you of Sulakshana in Thooral Ninnu Pochu.  Her eyes, does all the talking. It is wonderful to see the half saree adding to so much of feminine grace. Don’t you think the death sentence given to the half sarees by the ladies in TamilNadu should be reconsidered?

Remember a few years ago, “Azhagar samiying Kuthirai” pulled the carpet under Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara to win the best picture for popular entertainment. Mundasupatti is clever morph of Azhagar samiying Kuthirai.

And to the man who makes your rap all the way through a most enjoyable dirge, probably a first of sorts, music director, Sean Roland, is a man to watch out. Sean was brilliant in “VaayaI Moodi Pesavum”. He does one better.

One more short got made into a full length feature film and Ram Kumar, is one more first film director who makes a mark. The seriousness of film making lies in the small details. In one of the sequences a few days after Nanditha's marriage has been called off, is a sequence where half her palms are exposed to the camera and you would not have probably paid attention if she had the mehndi or not. But Nanditha’s palms gets exposed to the camera for a fleeting second, Nanditha’s Mehndi is fresh.

Over the last four years, we have seen a quiet revolution, Content and Quality, alone seem to be the driving factors, first film directors, first film music directors, unknown and less known heroes and heroines continue to be accepted in droves by the audience. Producers like CV Kumar need to be appreciated for encouraging this activity.

In land where hero worship ruled the tinsel land for almost sixty years, the technicians in Tamil Cinema are indeed calling the shots. This is revolution. And hopefully this permeates in other spheres of life.