Monday, October 15, 2018

'96: Heart-wrenching and Heartwarming All At Once - Facts

Certain books and films make you feel very strongly for several days at a stretch. While you mull over them, a lot of thoughts keep popping up. You can't rest until you have sorted all those thoughts neatly and put them down. I have never written any review in two parts, But there is a lot to say, about '96. Putting them all together would not only make it a bunch of disjointed thoughts but also a long boring read. So, I have split my observations about the film into two parts. 'Facts' and 'Feelings'. 'Facts' is about the technical aspects, who did what and how I liked it and so on. 'Feelings' is about well, just my feelings. Here's 'Facts'. 



Image result for 96 movie
Facts:
Subtlety is the catchphrase of this beautiful little film. A gentle nostalgic trip without an ounce of melodrama. The emotions are gently rolled towards you for you to catch.


There is an aura of not just peace and calm but there is a sense of cleanness about the film. Like watching a gurgling stream with every pebble clearly visible.


The director, Prem Kumar has captured the essence of the 90s with a lot of fondness and care. The music. I can't imagine the 90s without Ilaiyaraja's presence. He has been an integral part of our growing up years. The director has used a lovely collection of songs through the film, all with due and honest credit right at the beginning. Life was in a cusp of change in the 90s - inching towards progress but not at all edgy. The 90s was perhaps the most difficult time to fall in love. You are brave but not brash. The possibility of losing people due to a lack of communication (physical or postal) was so much more higher. Gone meant gone forever unless for divine intervention, for many. I'm not sure if today's children can relate to something like this when being out of touch is mostly by choice rather than compulsion.


Even the present day scenes in the film are removed from the harshness that we see in today's times. The delightful Whatsapp group chat is probably the only thing 'current' in the film. The entire theatre was in splits in the scene (did you notice that there is always a white collared 'Peter' and a homesick NRI in every whatsapp group?). There is no overuse of technology anywhere in the film - just like how the teacher-Ram tells his students to keep things natural. If I noted right, I don't think many electronic instruments have been used in the music too. At least, not obviously. Didn't I speak of subtlety earlier?


Speaking of the music, Govind Vasantha is an excellent choice as a composer for this film. He creates a wonderful mood around the scenes. Be it a solo violin or a veena with the sounds of the night during a walk on the deserted GN Chetty Road flyover in the dead of the night or the piano pieces for Ram that let us peek into his thoughts. The songs fit so seamlessly into the flow that you don't realise when a song begins and when it ends. I want to watch the film again to see if the songs are even used fully. 'Musical' is one of the most misused terms in Tamil films. I have repeatedly said that a film with many songs does not make it a musical. So that way, I'd say '96 could be a musical but the makers don't mention it anywhere. (Just like the makers don't make much noise about anything at all - even the promo was a silent heart-stealer). While listening to the audio I realise that many of the songs are fluid and non-formulaic. A few actually run for just a just minute or two. I'd love to listen to the album on a long drive.

The song lyrics are beautiful - sometimes poetic, sometimes conversational. With heart-warming lines like "Iru kaalin naduvil urangum poonai pol, podhum indha vaazhkai". Such fuzzy simplicity is what the film is all about.

The clever use of the same voice for the dubbing and the songs makes viewing so much more easier. Chinmayee's dulcet voice as always matches Trisha's calm persona so well. And I am so glad for Trisha that she got to do this film. One of her best roles ever (and I thought VTV was her best). So effortlessly mature, so comfortable in that maturity. Totally deglamourised yet strikingly beautiful. She wears just one outfit almost throughout the film, unbelievable. Isn't it a little sad that Trisha being much more senior to Vijay Sethupathy in the field finally gets her chance to perform? But he, within such a short span of time has established himself as a class actor. And rightfully so.
What do I say about him in '96? There is an air of honesty about his style of acting. The one slouchy walk out of the room after Janu rejects a bar of soap is enough to speak of prowess.

Loved each of the supporting cast, the child actors and their grown-up avatars. Devadarshini was a such a charm. It felt so good to see Janakraraj and Kavitalaya Krishnan. And I am glad there are no other extra characters than what is needed. My morbid fears of a Singapore angle were gently put to rest.

There is a sense of timelessness between the reunion party and the airport scene. Not just the emotional but at the physical level. 'How long does the night last really?' is a question I had in mind. And then the slightly off-putting and inexplicable kumkum that kept coming popping back. But I shall leave these to the nitpickers.

I saw some of the audience get impatient during the later part of the second half. They perhaps expected Ram and Janu to do something more exciting than just talk and talk. But all our protagonists seemed to need, were eyes and words. They are the 90s kids after all! And that is another thing that I liked about this movie. They actually show what the couple is talking about. Something we rarely get to see/hear in films - the lovers' talk is always muted by a montage song. (And heaven forbid, I've heard that actors mouth things as mundane as the alphabet during the shoot!)  Love stories these days is all about action. No words. So, the expectation of the audience kept rising at every moment and therefore the restlessness maybe?
But the director Prem Kumar is in no hurry. He patiently takes us through the night with the same detail as he takes us through the attendance roll-call in alphabetical order.

***

Find My Feelings here.

(Picture courtesy: thehindu.com)

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