One of the more disturbing movies I have seeen was the 1994 Kamal Hassan movie Mahanadi. The movie is not about serial killers or pyschos, matter of fact does not have a very tragic ending either. It’s about how a normal middle class family is shattered and torn apart due to some events.
Krishnaswamy( Kamalhassan) is a widower, living a happy and a peaceful live with his daughter and son, in the temple town of Sri Rangam. Krishnaswamy is well to do and his life is rather simple and happy. He dotes on his two kids. In fact the opening song “Sri Ranganathanin”picturized on the magnificient Ranganthanaswamy Temple and the sylvan surruondings of the Cauvery river, give no inkling of the turmoil that would come into his life.
The trouble starts when Dhanush( Haneefa) , a crook, who has an eye on Krishnaswamy’s property, asks him to join his chit fund business in the city. Though reluctant at first, Krishnaswamy later agrees, and he goes to the city with his son and daughter. Dhanush however is a fraud, and dupes the customers of their money. Krishnaswamy is made the fall guy for this and he ends up in jail, though not at fault. In the jail he meets another person( Poornam Viswanathan), who becomes his cell mate. While Poornam is a religious person, the experiences in prison make Krishnaswamy lose his faith in God. He also meets his cell mate’s daughter Yamuna(Sukanya) a nurse, and she agrees to wait for his release.
After he comes out from prison he finds that his family is totally scattered. His son is in care of some street artists, while his daughter is missing. When he confronts Dhanush, he comes to know of the shocking truth that his daughter has been sold away into prostitution. Watch the rest of the movie to find out how Kamal manages to reunite with his daugther, and whether he is able to find peace in his life.
So what makes the movie so disturbing?
The fact that the the protagonist, is some one like us,a normal middle class next door neighbor. A movie like Satya is dark, but you could excuse yourself saying that is not me, those are some gangsters, that world is not mine. But a person like Krishnaswamy is some one like us, and that makes the effect more. Many a time I found myself asking, if it could happen to him, why not to me. And that makes it real frightening. Being a father myself, it was even more harder.
One scene is shocking, where Krishna finds his daughter in Sonagachi, the notorious red light area in Kolkata. That is the place where his daughter has been sold off. As he runs away with his daughter, he is beaten up by the pimps. You have a totally shocking scene, where Kamal sits with his half clad daughter, begging for mercy, and that is then all the prostitutes there, come to his rescue, paying out the money for his daughter. It is a scene that fills you with despair, yet also hope, that there are people who still have respect for human beings.
But for me the most shocking scene was this, Kamal’s daughter after being rescued from the brothel is now sleeping at his home. And in her sleep she starts to utter all kinds of foul language, the kind of words she used at brothel. “Leave me alone, i am tired, i am not machine” she screams out. Kamal is shocked, and he bursts out. Watch out his expressions in the scene, where he shows a mixture of disgust, repulsion, shock and sorrow. Trust me you are not going to come away unscathed after watching it.
You can watch it here.
These two scenes, just shock and disturb the hell out of you. Kamal here is a normal middle class father. And just imagine a father, going through the kind of hell, which you would not want even your worst enemy to suffer. Trust me for some days, after watching this, I was in a totally disturbed mood. I mean why, did that family have to suffer so much? For some one else crimes?
And it was disturbing because it was chillingly real. The fact that it’s often the ordinary people who end up suffering for the crimes of the rich and powerful. There are so many fraudsters like Dhanush who still get away due to their power, and there many an innocent Krishnaswamy, who end up as the fall guys.
Once again Kamal Hassan aces it, as the happy family man, whose life and world turn upside down. Just that one scene where he breaks down on listening to his daughter talking in her sleep is more than enough. One of his best performances ever.