Karthik and Shakti don’t have the courage to face each other with each one consumed by guilt of their own. Though Karthik speaks freely with his house owner and tells him the mistake that he had done by not taking her to meet her dad, he doesn’t say that to Shakti. Had he told her that in the right manner, wouldn’t the strain in their relationship have got eased out?
But, what he does is tell her, ‘Nee azhumboadhellaam ippadi senjuttiyedannu solraa madhiri irukku!’ (Everytime you cry, I feel as if you are telling me that I have done all this!) The way something is said makes a lot of difference to the other person, doesn’t it? After a series of heated exchange of dialogues with Shakti telling, it is she who had ‘killed’ her father by leaving everyone and running away from home and Karthik shouting at her, the situation seems to cool down when Karthik comes and apologizes to her. But, again ego comes into play! ‘Appa illaama irukku mudiyunnaa nee illaamayum irukka mudiyum!’ (If I can live without my dad, then I can live without you also!) tells Shakti.
What happens here is both of them had expressed their feelings of guilt to each other completely, but, the way it had been done had made all the difference and further strained their relationship! The way Mani Ratnam delves deep into the human feelings and emotions and brings it out! Brilliant!
Burdened by guilt on the one hand and a wife who is not willing to understand him (as if he acts understanding of her feelings!) on the other hand, Karthik sets out to re-unite his sister-in-law, Poorni, with her fiancé. This does help him free himself of some of the guilt and gives him the satisfaction of having done something for the woman who played a major part in helping him marrying his lover. It is another fact that the kind of person Karthik is shown to be, he would have done the same thing, if there was any need for it, had his father-in-law been alive too.
Karthik and Shakti’s relationship is tested again and again what with Karthik being forced by Poorni not to tell Shakti about her re-union with her fiancé till things get finalized (after all if things don’t materialize, along with her, her sister would also have to suffer seeing her sister’s life getting shattered once again) and Shakti ending up doubting her very own sister and her husband. This is one part of the movie that never fails to get me thinking. Would someone doubt that her very own sister is having an affair with her husband just because she saw them both hugging each other? But, taking the circumstances into consideration, one cannot blame Shakti for doubting her husband? Or can she be blamed?
Just when life seemed to have become a total mess for Shakti, she comes to know that it was her husband who had played a major role in bringing back the lost happiness in her sister’s life and feels embarrassed for doubting her husband. From the expressions on her face, you could very well have expected her to run and happily hug her husband forgetting all about the state in which their relationship was in!
Exactly at that point of time, Karthik achieves an important milestone in his career and rushes to share his joy with his wife.
But, that’s when the harsh reality of life strikes with Shakti meeting with an accident. Had she not met with an accident, wouldn’t their lives and the movie too, have ended with everyone happily living ever-after?
Whether the movie ended on a ‘they-lived-happily-ever-after’ note or not, this post has come to an end. 🙂 But, I am not done with writing about Alaipayuthey yet! Will be back with the next post soon!
No where in the movie, we know that it was Shalini who met with an accident. Mani is great in connecting these things and surprise the viewer time and again. Very good post, and nice choice of pictures 😉
A great eye for details! And once again, a good deep analysis, Aparna!
Sathej
🙂 pesama neeinga manirathanuthu screen-play assitant aa join pannalam. priya, perumal ellam director aayitainga.. he needs good screen-play person. enna recommend panntuma??
Hey Danks for those Maddy pics 😛
You planning on remaking alaipayuthey ? These analyses remind me of “Madhan” ‘s analyses on TV 😀
This is a good second serious perpespective of the movie. The growing guiltiness in shakti and karthick and the way the handled that. excellent! Your analysis is good. I’m also expecting a light perspectives of the movie also.
hey awesome post!!!
naa ivlo laam indha padatha pathi yosichadhey kadaiyaadhu..
maybe my way of watching the movie will change after this.. 😀
keep them coming…
Ferrari,
Yes!
Thank you.
Sathej,
Thanks!
Adiya,
Enna Mani Ratnam unga friendaa neenga recommend paNNina accept paNNikka? 😛
On a serious note, screenplay writing ezhudhara aLavukkulaam naan oNNum inga ezhudhala
Nithya,
You planning on watching it if I remake it? 😛
Sivaraman,
Thank you. Next post or the post after next one will be looking at the movie from a lighter perspective.
Mathangi,
Thank you!
Wouldn’t mind 😀
Is it ok if I let out a pirated version of your movie and make a few bucks outta that 😉
Nithya,
If I take a movie, that is the only way in which it will make money 😉
Nice one again Aparna. Good pics too.
I like Poorni’s maturity as a sister, her character is very nicely portrayed, and probably this acting won Swarnamalya her role in Mozhi as well.
Shakti – suspecting her husband and sister…it was such a sensitive thing and very intense observation by Mani for having included this in the movie, he could’ve well got done with just Shakti getting angry with Karthik for secretly keeping in touch with Poorni but @ that moment she’s so pre-occupied with her marital problems and what Shakti sees is just Karthik and Poorni and not the other guy standing besides her and then the train just passes by complicating her thoughts even more! what a scene! Good write up by you as well.
Ending of the movie – its finally plain realization, unlike ‘they lived happily ever after’ kind of an unrealistic scene.
Should I say, waiting for your next post? 😉
Aparna,
This movie created a trend. As it starts with climax, and narrates the entire story .
Good work..
Chiroti,
Thank you!
Yup the ending is as you aptly call it, plain realization.
Rukesh,
Thank you
Hi aparna, brilliant series of posts. this is a film i that i am a huge fan of. but i have an issue with one of your observations.
i am not a native speaker of tamil, so i might have misunderstood it. but when shalini sees maddy and her sister hugging, i thought that all that she saw was her husband hugging a girl. after all, her sister’s back was towards shalini. though one could argue how it is possible one wouldn’t recognize her sister even if seen from the back, i think that’s what happened here. if shalini had known it was her siter whom maddy was hugging, i don’t think there would have been any misunderstanding. neither the mad rush of happiness on learning that maddy had helped her sister (that’s when she connects that it was her sister that she had seen with maddy), and the subsequent accident.
please correct me if my impression of the scene is wrong.
Daneel,
Welcome to my blog!
Thank you! 🙂
Your impression of the scene is wrong. First of all, Poorni’s back wasn’t towards Shakti. (Though I was pretty sure about it, I still checked it once before replying to your comment) Shakti clearly sees both of them.
Now, some scenes and dialogues that support this:
When Poorni meets Shakti with her fiance (before the accident), she keeps calling, “Shakti” and comes running behind her. But, Shakti doesn’t stop until Poorni catches up with her. If you observe Shakti’s expressions in this scene, you will know that she is least interested in meeting Poorni and the reason obviously is her misunderstanding of the whole situation.
The first thing that Poorni asks her is, “nee enkittendhu odi oLiyaraa enna?” (Are you running away from me?) and again you don’t see any response from her.
Later, when Poorni and her fiance tell Shakti that it was Karthik who had helped in reuniting them, she says, “Cha naan” and stops just short of saying “What had I thought!” Her expressions though, convey that!
Hope it’s clear for you now. 😉
totally crystal clear!! thanks a lot for clearing up a major confusion.
little knowledge is indeed a dangerous thing 🙂
hi Aparna,
The Movie Alai Payuthey is a wonderful one it lingers on to ones heart forever.One intresting thing in the movie is that Sakthi….only towards the end (at the hospital scene) does she say that she loves karthik ie in plain words( I Love You).Thats really wonderfull and another thing i would like to know is that is this movie based on a real life story(Gosh i expect it to be) because i had come across a rumor that this movie was based on a real life story of some serial actor called Shyam Ganesh.I dont belong to TN but still i love that watching tamil Movies and Alai Payuthey being my favourite would like to know more about it.
Daneel,
🙂
Aneesh,
Welcome to my blog!
Yeah, Shakti saying ‘I Love you’ for the first time only in the last scene of the movie is sweet 🙂
I have no idea whether it’s based on any real life story or not.
Thanks you for your welcome.
Hope,you won’t see me as a guy with a bunch of doubts.My next one is that
the guy who rents his house to Karthik(Maddy) resembles like somebody close to Mani Rathnam,what i mean is that…i feel as if the guy is some relative of Mani……may be,he is a small time tamil actor or something,but just have this crazy kinda feeling.
The next thing,is that this movie is very close to my heart(obviously),the main reason is that…..my…mmm……..mm…ok let me make it staight…..i had an affair and this movie was an inspiration to our affair,in the end it didn’t work out,thats another thing,but still i have a kind of emotional relationship with that movie,i know its crazy……sooo,the point that i am trying to make is that.May be….uhh….(ts a suggestion you can either take it just dump it ) woudn’t it be wonderful IF…. you start a thread for…something like……
say……The Emotional Appeal of movie in your life, has it affected you emotionally,were you inspired by the movie..and things like that………the reason that i am saying so is that usually movies depict life in the plesantest form with….the best of the song and dance sequence put in,but seldom does it have a peek into what happens after love.This movie shows what pure love is…..i still remeber a part in which the house owner(maddy’s) says ” LOVE IS NOT JUST, ROAMING ARROUND IN THE PARK,HOLDING YOUR HANDS…THATS NOT REAL LOVE……REAL LOVE IS THAT SOMETHING THAT HAPPENS AFTER MARRIAGE……ANY LOVE OTHER THAN THAT IS JUST A “MAYAKKAM”……soo guys,i hope you must have got an idea about the madness.
Aneesh,
The person who plays the the role of the house owner is an assistant director of Mani Ratnam, Azhagam Perumal (now a director himself. Director of the movies Dumm Dumm Dumm, Udhaya, etc.).
Now I understand why you expected the movie to be based on someone’s real life. 😛 Anyway, I am not interested in starting a thread to know if the movie holds any emotional appeal to anybody’s life.
Thanks for the information.
one more thing the movie,i suspect,was shot in whole and then may be as an after thought edited into different sequences as an mixture of past and present and may be the whole idea of movie being great can be attributed to the best editing efforts.I have also come across reports as that the whole movie was soo lengthy that Mani had to edit out some sequences(usually that kinda stuff happens in movies).
oops i forgot to say one thing….its not because that my affair was inspired by the movie that i have a feeling about the real life relation.Its just that i had come across a gossip that its based on a true story.As far as the movie is concerned its a good piece of work,if it would have been any other directors he would have made a mess of the story.Another important fact is that mani uses natural lighting as far as possibele.So in the end what comes out is that it feels as if its taken sraight out of life(because of its visual appeal)……..
Aneesh,
Yes it usually happens that some scenes are edited out in movies to reduce the length and I have heard Madhavan say that some of his fav. scenes from the movie were edited out. How wish I could see those scenes! 🙂
I was just kidding when I said I understood why you thought the movie was based on someone’s real life. Anyway, the storyline of the movie isn’t far from reality.
Exactly, the part that i was talkin about is the Madahavans edited part….
i am sorry that i was a bit angry (not that much angry)but …….u.h…its ok yaar,
i love the movie very much soo lets discuss on it .One more thing is that do you have nay idea about any books written by Mani Rathnam…..has he written any? About his experiences and about his life.If you have any idea just share it plzzzzzzzzz.
(hey dont feel bad over that part,”getin angry”)
hey i forgot to add one morething the songs of this moive is superb i wish i could have a transalation of all the songs to english esp the kathal sadugudu one ma favourite all the other songs are also superb wish i could have had a transalation.Do you know any site were i can get it transalated…….
Aneesh,
When were you angry? :O Anyway, that’s ok.
I don’t think he has written any book.
I don’t know any site where you can get the translation of the lyrics. Do a Google Search. You should be able to get it.
Alaipayuthe is a great movie, your story telling make it wonderful. Keep it up.
Che,
Welcome to my blog. Thanks 🙂