Marupakkam

Marupakkam (1991): Brief Review -

The first Tamil film to win the National Award is more about technical brilliance than its simple human story. I was expecting a lot from the narrative of Marupakkam, but there was hardly anything remarkable. Amby and his wife, Sweetie, arrive at his hometown to see his parents, and Sweetie, being a Christian girl, is humiliated by Amby's orthodox Brahmin father. The two leave the place and return to Delhi. A few weeks later, Amby goes back to visit his ailing father, who has lost his memory and is suffering from mental trauma after learning about Amby and Sweetie's divorce. Amby feels that his broken marriage has pushed his father into this condition, but in reality, Vembu is haunted by his own painful past. He was deeply in love with his first wife but had to separate because of his mother's interference. Now he feels remorse for abandoning her and blaming her with false accusations. Will he ever find peace? In the end, you can easily guess who will be returning to the house and what unfolds thereafter. Marupakkam offers a basic human story with nothing extraordinary, yet the terrific cut-to-past frames and the concept of visualizing two different versions of the same person from different periods make it a worthy watch. Vembu's present condition and past life are seamlessly aligned through back-to-back shots, accompanied by a smooth background score and well-paced drama. The drawback, however, is that it feels too plain to leave any strong impact. Another issue lies in the core of the storyline-someone's troubled past and broken love life don't really amount to much in the larger scheme of things, so the universal appeal is limited. One must be personally affected by a similar situation to fully connect. The social relevance feels narrow. That said, the film offers steady performances and admirable cinematography. Sivakumar is excellent in the older-age role, while Radha looks effortlessly gorgeous. K. S. Sethumadhavan keeps the ship steady, but I wish the film had something more unique to truly leave me in awe.

RATING - 6/10*

By - #samthebestest.

The story is beautifully narrated. It's is layered very artistically in a way it's not overwhelming but still intrigues the audience, revealing the dying fathers past bit at a time. The dialogs are crisp and the acting /plot is very realistic. This is how a movie should be! Definitely recommend this to Indian/Tamil/Indy movie fans. This is a rare gem.

Simple story, simple relatable characters, superb actor performance incarnate the polemic issue of religious rules blocking the possibility of spontaneous love, erotism and joy in general. Many movies talk about this, but the especial thing here is the realistic characters, the acting and the perfect selection of simple scenes that describe powerfully the vital points of the story.