O Kadhal Kanmani (2015)

Did OK Kanmani break new ground? No.
Has Mani Ratnam pushed the envelope? Maybe.
Is Mani Ratnam Back? Yes!

Ahmedabad. A. R. Ameen's voice pervades our subconscious with the haunting rendition of "Maula Wa Sallim". Thara (Nithya Menen), a student of architecture, films what seems to be a place of worship. As she pans her iPad, capturing the immense beauty of the structure, she films Aadhi (Dulquer Salman) - who had ingratiated himself in her trip - leaning against the structure. The camera zooms in on her face that registers multiple emotions for a few precious seconds and that is one of the many scenes in O Kadhal Kanmani (aka OK Kanmani, aka OKK) that proves Mani Ratnam leaves nothing to chance to cement his comeback in this most memorable, light-hearted tale of love.

A master storyteller can captivate audiences with a wafer-thin storyline with his magic. And who better than Mani Ratnam, a genre unto himself, to pull it off? He has come up with a colourful mixture of a Gen-Y romantic pair juxtaposed with that of a matured, well-rounded relationship between Ganapathy Uncle (Prakash Raj) and Bhavani Aunty (Leela Samson). Say what you will, but Mani Ratnam is amazing at creating rich characters and writing cracking dialogues and he has not failed to impress here. He can be forgiven for his last, disastrous outing (Kadal) and has yet again set a template which would unquestionably 'inspire' filmmakers in future.

Nithya Menen steals the limelight and is utterly iridescent as Thara. Leave it to Mani Ratnam (and Gautham Vasudev Menon) to write strong, female characters (a huge void left by K. Balachander). All it takes are the expressive, arresting eyes of Nithya Menen to portray Thara's joy, anger, doubts and a whole gamut of emotions. Dulquer has scored as Aadhi who is playful and contemplative at times. Both Nithya and Dulquer are magnificently pitted against each other in the church-wedding-scene, where they converse in 'almost-mime' at the beginning of the film. Even though Aadhi and Thara are at the forefront, it's with Prakash Raj and Leela Samson, I invested emotionally. Prakash Raj underplays (only if directors could get the best out of him this way) and Leela Samson is magnificent with the best one-liners. In my book Mani Ratnam gets full points on casting.

I can't find words to laud A. R. Rahman, P. C. Sreeram and Sreekar Prasad. Technically OKK is brilliant beyond description. Other directors should learn from Mani Ratnam on placing music in their films at just the right time without exacerbating the viewers. ARR has come up with a winner of an original soundtrack, ranging from effervescent trendy tracks to traditional Islamic to Carnatic compositions. Whether it is a face or a landscape, PC's camera captures the beauty that is restrained. Special thanks to Sreekar Prasad to have not included unnecessary scenes (which in my opinion, there were none) to pad out the length of the picture (something "Yennai Arindhaal" suffered from).

Complaints? None. Well... Unlike "Mouna Raagam" or "Alaipayuthey" (you know the comparison was around the corner!) there is no melodrama. The characters don't face Himalayan challenges. It could be argued that Mani Ratnam made a grounded film for this generation and prevented Aadhi and Thara from high intensity (overly cinematic?) situations. And Mani Ratnam has his own "Thaali" ("Mangala Sutra") sentiments. Was it a necessity for Aadhi and Thara to get married? Apart from these minor disputes which could easily be ignored, Mani Ratnam has come up with a love story which shows, despite the generational differences, the sense and sensibility of humans somewhat remain the same. And at the same time, Mani Ratnam has subliminally announced to all (fans and critics and naysayers alike) that he is still, the master of his craft.