Kandukonden Kandukonden — Revisiting A Classic…20 Years Later
It was the summer of 2000. On a hot May afternoon, my sister asked me to get ready. It was quite unusual as she never really took me along with her. She had a friend circle of her own, and so did I.
We travelled for an hour or so and reached this theatre in Bandra called Gossip (It’s now part of the G7 Multiplex- a hub for Salman Khan movies, and one of India’s oldest single-screen cinemas). I was surprised to see a few cousins. I, aged 12 then, discovered that we’ve come to watch a Tamil film starring Tabu and Aishwarya Rai. The movie- Kandukonden Kandukonden.
As a kid, I had probably been for a few movies before, but on most occasions, I remember sleeping off, and too small to remember a thing.
This was my second Tamil film at the cinemas. The one before this was Jeans, which I saw along with my parents at Padma theatre in Ernakulam in 1998.
In 2000, it was unusual for a Tamil film, unless it’s a Rajinikanth film or Kamal Haasan film, to make it’s way to a theatre in Mumbai. So there must have surely been something really special about the movie that it attracted the Tamil crowd in Mumbai.
Looking back at the film 20 years later, Kandukonden Kandukonden is still as fresh as the beautiful visual poetry Rajiv Menon painted on celluloid in 2000.
Indianising an adaptation can really be tough.
But writer Sujatha and Rajiv Menon deserve full credit for writing the characters of Sowmya (Tabu) and Meenakshi/Meenu (Aishwarya Rai Bachchan) so beautifully. The contrasting personalities, the contrasting emotions — Sowmya the calm breeze, Meenu the wild thunder.
If this was not enough the characters paired opposite them was a surprise again. The male leads were Mammooty and Ajith Kumar. And the obvious pairing that one would have thought was the senior actors being paired together.
But NO! Menon once again surprised us with the unconventional pairing of Major Bala (Mammooty) with Aishwarya Rai, and the young and composed Manohar (Ajith Kumar) with Tabu.
To bring together such a stellar star cast would be difficult in today’s time. But Rajiv Menon at that time managed to pull off a huge casting coup.
Kandukonden Kandukonden is not just a film about human relationships. It’s Poetry in Motion.
Whether it’s the use of colours in lavishly-filmed songs, Konjum Mainakkale Enna Solla Pogirai or Kanamoochi Yennada, the reference to Bharathiyar poems, the bubbling burst of emotions in Yengae Enathu Kavithai, all this and much more brought out the unsaid emotions, subtlely and beautifully.
Ravi K Chandran’s scintillating cinematography, Vairamuthu’s lyrics and of course the maestro AR Rahman’s brilliant tunes made Kandukonden Kandukonden the film it was, and the film it is.
Even today, this one is a must-see and on my watchlist. For the way, Rajiv Menon has directed it. For each character’s performances and of course for its soothing music.
There is nothing fancy about this film. Nothing like what modern-day cinema has to offer. But it’s the sheer simplicity of the film and the charm it has on you that makes it a clear favourite, even after 20 years after it first hit the theatres. This one is truly a cinematic masterpiece and a cult classic.
One more insight is that Kandukonden Kandukonden was shot in film. While there are digital restorations of movies available on streaming platforms, sadly there isn’t a print of this one. I watch it on YouTube.
Though, I am optimistic that the film will find it’s way to Amazon or Netflix soon, as this one is surely not to be missed.
This one is truly a gem — A gem for movie lovers.
