Aarya – Risky Business

“The moral dilemma is to make peace with the unacceptable”                                                                               May Sarton

First up, RD Burman is back in popular discourse. Even people who haven’t heard the song ‘Bade Achche Lagte Hai’ sung by Amit Kumar will starting humming this song while they are by themselves or in a romantic mood for sure! This is just one of the coolest aspects of Aarya produced by Endemolshine and created by Ram Madhvani – ad guru and director of Neerja.

But hey, that’s not even the most interesting part!

So there are more than one or two things going on in the favour of Aarya –

It is set in the backdrop of a Rajput family in Rajasthan.

It is a crime drama in the same mold as a Narcos – the writers and directors have been able to successfully transpose the story of a family engaged in organized crime. The operating word here is family. The plot and the relationship dynamics such as father-daughter relationship, father-son relationship, the sisterhood of siblings and teenagers and kids affected by crimes are very well defined and this works because our lives and philosophies revolve around the family.

The recurring theme running through the length of this 9-episode web series is the ethical and moral dilemmas associated with crime. If in Mahabharatha, the dilemma is about the Pandavas waging a war against the Kauravas, here it is a battle to deal with the unacceptable both in terms of loss of a life and the aftermath.

The best thing about this series is Sushmita Sen without an iota of doubt. She lives and breathes Aarya Sareen. The series is about how the world turns upside down for her when her husband is gunned down by an assailant. This is a thriller with an undercurrent of musings on how people deal with grief in their own ways. It also shows why women are at the top of the food chain and why women are portrayed as goddesses – in this case a domestic goddess becomes somebody else altogether when circumstances force her hands.

Sushmita, after a long hiatus, gets a role that does complete justice to her talent. I have always felt that she’s one actress who never got her due – she has always been that tall heroine who the Peter Dinklages of Bollywood didn’t want to work with. They feared she would look down upon them for their lack of height, literally!

If Breaking Bad was about a wall flower of a Chemistry teacher extracting more out of his knowledge and getting more out of life in a peculiar situation, Aarya is about a wife and mother dealing with life after the death of a husband whose decisions cost him dear.

The Rajasthan havelis are opulent, the cars swanky and the haute couture in this movie could start a trend on its own as well.

Once again, this is a relevant series in the Indian context in that a good actress and personality in the public sphere gets a role worth her talent. This would have been unimaginable five years back. All thanks to the OTT channels, many forgotten stars are making a comeback on these channels. And Chandrachur Singh won’t be the last of them!

As Krishna says in Bhagavat Gita, “Fulfill your Kshatriya duty to uphold dharma through selfless action.” This is what Sushmita’s character Aarya Sareen does because it’s not really good vs evil. The dharma here is evil vs lesser evil.

Watch this thriller of a series on Hotstar Premium for Sushmita Sen, Chandrachur Singh, Namit Das, Maya Sarao, Sikhander Kher and the rest of the amazing cast. A special mention goes to the child actors – what an awesome bunch of talent!

And Bade Achche Lagte Hai is still on my lips!

Kaadhal Oviyam –

The 39-year-old song that still sounds fresh!

First up, I am not a musician. Just a lay listener – on a given day my playlist could include anything from an S. Janaki song from Mouna Raagam and a Billie Eilish singing about Bellyache or The Weeknd being a boisterous, self-absorbed Starboy.

I first heard an Ilayaraaja song while I was in the middle school. Irony of ironies, my private tuition teacher for Hindi was a huge fan of Ilayaraaja and I’ve heard quite a number of tracks being played in the household. I remember the songs from Chinna Thambi permeating through the walls of another room in the house

Thooliyile Aada Vanthu…

Kuyile Pudichu Koottiladachu…

Povoma Oorgolam…

Ada Uchcham Thala Uchiyile…

The cassette used to be repeated from Side A to B and back!

I think it was here that I heard strains of O priya priya from Gitanjali.

And this was when a music director wasn’t a concept I could grasp so easily.

It was at the same time that AR Rahman made his mark as a music director and I had heard the song Pudhu Vellai Mazhai on a car stereo that belong to a senior at school.

If I am not mistaken, Roja and Thalapathi released in the same year or subsequent years without much of a gap in between.

Over the years, I realized that some of the songs that I heard on the radio in Malayalam were also composed by Ilaiyaraaja.

Thumbi Vaa

Vezhambal Kezhum Venal Kudeeram Nee

Kiliye Kiliye

Puzhayorathu Poonthoni Etheela

Oru Chiri Kandaal

Of all these songs, Aalippazham Perukkan Peelikkuda Nivarthi and Minnaminungum Mayilkkanniyum were a hit with the children in the 1980s – that Raaja Sir had composed these songs was a pleasant surprise to me.

Along with the songs from Manjil Virinja Pookkal (Mizhiyoram and Manjani Kombil) and Nokketha Doorathu Kannum Nattu (Aayiram Kannumaayi and Jingle Bells), these were the first memories of music I ever heard in my life.

At that time, so many songs composed in Malayalam were inspired by or copies of hit Ilaiyaraaja songs, which I realized only too late!

Out of this, one of my favourite songs is still

Ilam poongattinodum kilikalodum kathakal cholli nee from Poomokhappadiyil Ninneyum Kaathu directed by Bhadran.

And surprise of surprises, I just realized the songs from Friends, the Siddique Lal movie, was composed by Raaja Sir too. The songs were hugely popular at that time. I was under the impression that those songs were composed by an SP Venkatesh or a Vidyasagar:

Pularikkinnam…

Thani Thanka Kinapongal…

In the past decade or so, Raaja Sir has had a long-term collaboration with Sathyan Anthicaud for movies like Manassinakkare, Rasathanthram, Kochu Kochu Santhoshangal

Melleyonnu

Aattinkarayorathu

Kodamanjin

Mandarapoo

Enough of gushing over other songs. Let’s get straight to the point.

When I started to listen to songs composed by ARR, I somehow got this feeling that the other composers were inferior in terms of music production and to a large extend, imagination. I was under the impression that a Veerapandikoottaiyile from Thiruda Thiruda or a Mannipaaya from Vinnathandi Varuvaaya were the best examples of using melody with western chords with a choir in the backdrop.

Kadhal Oviyam from Alaigal Oivathillai is an amazing achievement in terms of musical production, arrangement and sheer musical brilliance on display. I haven’t seen the movie yet, need to. The song starts with a shloka/chant and quickly transitions into a choir. Can you beat that. I am assuming that the love story involved a boy from a Hindu background and the girl from a Christian background piecing together information from lyrics and the other songs in the album.

What makes this composition really stand out and sound fresh every time you listen is the melody, the use of some complex beats that peps up the song, the quality of the choir and the breezy, dreamy way in which Raaja Sir and Jency Madam render this song. The song exudes romance at its best – innocent, warm and fun. The magical lyrics by Vairamuthu goes gaga over the feeling of being in love!

Once S. Janaki was asked in an interview whether there was a dearth of singers in Malayalam and if that was the reason so many singers come from other states to sing in Malayalam, she answered, “You have singers like Jency. So why do you need singers from other states,” or something to that effect.

Well, that pretty much sums up how much of a talent Jency Anthony was and how far she’d have gone had she chosen singing as a career over teaching music. She will be remembered for at least another 50 years because of this song!

To sum up,

This song is, as the lyrics goes,

Enrum aanandam, perimbam, deiveekam….

is ecstasy, pure bliss and truly out of this world!

Bulbbul – Our own Pans Labyrinth or Crimson Peak!

She’s

The giver of life

The carer

The protector

The preliminary source of knowledge

The lover

The wife

The daughter

The daughter in law

The sister

The list goes on…

Bulbbul, without much ado, starts with the close-up of young feet, the owner of which is shown a couple of seconds later. The feet are skilfully painted with red alta liquid and washed – a tradition that exalts the virtues of women both young and old, appreciating and worshipping them. The older women are celebrated as they are deemed to hold the key to luck and success of their husbands. The younger girls are feted for their potential for life, love and happiness of the family she’s married to and the community to which she belongs.

That said, the story of Bulbbul is anything but. These traditions are an excuse for patriarchy to choose a path of life for girl children until death. Before these children realize what a husband means, they are married to someone decades older, even at the tender age of 5!

Clearly, this is the norm for many communities in India at large. And Bulbbul is about the power a women ultimately comes to possess when push comes to shove and she can’t go any further.

How many of them do we know whose

Thoughts have been curtailed

Dreams have been crushed

Opportunities have been squandered

And everything has been swept under the carpet of patriarchy, tradition, log kya kahenge and the promise of a life of opulence, provided the woman keeps her silence.

The silence could be about the abuse at the hands of people at her husband’s household or the husband himself –  a woman’s household is also the unsafest place for her in the entire world!

Bulbbul narrates the story of such a woman in a ‘Gothic’ way. It’s 18^th century Bengal. There’s a haveli and Bulbbul is married into a rich, aristocratic family at the age of 5. Rahul Bose plays both her husband and his brother with panache. Pauli Dam as Chotti Bahu does complete justice to her role.

It’s Tripti Damri with her ethereal looks and playful, sassy demeanor that takes this story forward.

Innocent, tender, vulnerable, romantic, vengeful, humorous – she’s a breath of fresh air when it comes to portraying these emotions with ease. The character could have gone either way, but Tripti plays it to perfection. She’s a welcome addition to the new crop of fantastic actresses to grace the silver screen and OTT channels to include Kiara Advani of Lust Stories fame, Saiyami Kher from Anurag Kashyap’s Chocked and Radhika Madan from Vasan Bala’s Mard Ko Dard Nahi Hota (a theatrical release).

Every scene is a work of art by itself – kudos to the art, sound effect and other technical teams. The aesthetics, the graphics and music by Amit Trivedi also play an important part in making this story grow on us and it certainly does.

I am quite certain that as we reach the climactic scenes, our eyes either well up or the brain is flooded with a lot of thoughts. Either way, this means Bulbbul has done its job.

Anvita Dutt, who has written a lot of songs we adore, marks her entry into film direction. And what an entry!

Summing up,

You can beat the body to a pulp, but you just cannot kill the spirit!

Catch Bulbbul by all means on Netflix to understand the significance of this line!