Maryan (2013)

Unfortunately. Unfortunately I have to begin this review with "Unfortunately", because unfortunately Tamil film fans who are used to the frenzied expressions of stars with some kind of weapon(s), looking directly into the screen, breaking the fourth wall and our senses, delivering kitschy, out-dated dialogues with volumes set to eleven, will find "Maryan" quite tedious and sluggish. It is quite unfortunate indeed that, while people cheered on an abysmal-at-best Singam-2, Tamil (or any other) film fans have sadly overlooked a technically-sound, engaging (in my opinion) tour-de-force film by Bharat Bala.

Does love have the power to move mountains? How does love instigate courage? Is there a limit to human endurance? Watch Maryan to find out. The love story in itself is nothing new. Girl loves boy; boy ignores girl. After a while, boy falls in love with girl. But, the treatment of it, especially the scene when after realising he in fact loves her, Maryan (Dhanush) trying to catch Panimalar's (Parvathy Menon) eye in a church during a wedding - absolute bliss; the viewer is never left with a bitter aftertaste due to the beautiful composition of director Bharat Bala.

I bet you will not see Dhanush and Parvathy Menon on screen; we are voyeurs to the lives and relationship of Maryan and Panimalar. For that, you will need actors with extraordinary screen presence and Dhanush and Parvathy Menon deliver the most powerful performances you will witness in recent times. Kudos to Bharat Bala and Sriram Rajan for writing a strong-willed character of Panimalar (unlike most female characters who appear for song-and-dance routines and be all "bubbly") for Parvathy Menon who with her emotive eyes makes us fall in love with her at first sight. Dhanush, if some of his recent characters have placed him among one of the very best actors, with his portrayal of Maryan, takes it... no travels onto a different plateau of acting. Portraying sadness, anger and fear as he is forced to call his employers to pay the ransom for his release (just that one scene should be sufficient to be shown in acting classes), cries and screams and breaks your heart, pleading in broken-English to release him and switching to Tamil so the terrorists would not understand that he in fact, is really on the phone with Panimalar.

Academy Award Winner A. R. Rahman. 'nuff said. While "Netru Aval Irunthaal" and "Enga Pona Raasa" tug at your heartstrings, "Nenje Ezhu" (additional thanks to Kutti Revathi) proves just the song to inspire Maryan to walk 300 km across the vast, barren desert to survive, brought on by the love he has for Panimalar. The songs are expertly placed without lagging the pace of the story. The camera of Marc Koninckx is just visual poetry at its heightened best. The editing by Vivek Harshan has garnered some criticism but I felt it was justified for the story.

One aspect that did not work for me was the bad guys, who were nothing more than mere adolescents, being tough with their AK-47's and strong, hallucinogenic opiates. While it is a sad state of affairs in Africa, the child soldiers did not create an impact as I would have wished. But even here the writers stand out; earlier in the film Maryan says "ellaarum nammala maathiri manushanga thaane" (everyone is just like us; we are all humans). This dialogue reverberates strongly as Maryan is kidnapped along with his co-workers and treated horribly (to say the least) and even when (SPOILERS) his co-workers are shot down, mercilessly in the course of the film. The film may not be without its flaws, but it is an essential watch. It is a quite quiet film (read it again, carefully, in case you missed it!). (SPOILERS) The reunion of Maryan and Panimalar itself is quite a serene one; there is not much of breaking-down emotional dialogues and/or sweeping background music score (Musicploitation?). Glances are exchanged and they are in each other's arms. You need seasoned actors to convey that, and they DO with flying colours. Maryan is a true testament to human endurance brought on that ubiquitous meaning/message of love.