Readers Write In #734: Lubber Pandhu
By Latha Rajasekar
A perfect confluence of design, content and style, this flick keeps the audience engaged, as much as any gully cricket match would. It becomes a crowd favourite as the maker wraps a relationship drama into the cricket premise. Attakathi Dinesh, Harish Kalyan make their presence felt, along with actor ‘Vijayakanth’ who joins them from above.
Cricket sells, but not every sports drama with cricket as its premise, wins the audience over. The movie, ‘Chennai 28’ enchanted the cricket loving audience, more than a decade and half ago, and Lubber Pandhu is aimed at mimicking that magic. ‘Blue Star’, released early this year, has a similar sub text of caste marring the spirit of sports with layers of romance. But ‘Lubber Pandhu’ sugar coats the same, in a ‘non-preachy’ mode, as the screenplay spins an amusing family drama around.
The form and design of the two movies are pretty much similar. Both the movies throw light on how ‘caste in sports’ is a deadly combo. ‘Blue Star’ tries to instil fear in the viewer’s minds by laying emphasis on the consequences of concocting caste in sports, through narrating an unpleasant violent incident of the past. ‘Lubber Pandhu’ indicates the same, ever-so precisely involving minimal semiotic inferences. Lubber Pandhu’s screenplay is stacked with emotions but the predominant of them all is the ‘ego clash’ between the two lead men. The strength of the movie is the director’s subtlety in visualizing complex issues.
Athakathi Dinesh’s character Poomaalai, surpasses the vibrant Harish Kalyan’s Anbu character. The characterization compliments the actor’s unique onscreen emoting skills and the depth in his eyes. His nonchalant demeanour, lion like valour on the cricket ground and love – stricken adolescent mannerism when at home, is not a loud transition, yet the actor exhibits it beautifully through his fluid body language. The bond with his daughter and lovetowards his mom, makes Poomaalai a complete package and the soul of the movie. The nuances in his expressions, adds more layers, other than what is explicitly seen onscreen. For instance, he tires not reveal the ego that disturbs his inner peace and when it does spurt out, the actor plays, a mere ‘tool’, to express what had been brewing within him, over a period of time.
However, Harish Kalyan’s character seem to be etched with more depth, as he is seen to be more mature among the two, when it comes to manipulating situations to get what he desires. From participating as a guest player in the teams of his choice, to up his career, to showcase his nobility in letting ‘colony boys’ to be a part of the team that once rejected him, Anbu steals our hearts. Sporting true sportsmanship when in failure makes him to be looked up to. Repainting the CSK fanatic paint on the walls of his house with the colour choice of his fiancé’s and rehearsing an apology note to the would-be father-in-law, the young actor is super convincing. Harish Kalyan the ‘Parking’ actor, is on a roll and his choice to play beside a hero with equal screen-space and mass moments, is not just brave. It throws light on the actor’s passion to play versatile roles in stronger and newer scripts.
The female leads mom and daughter duo, take the centre stage as their characters are equally stronger to that of the men folks. The men get much ‘macho’ on the cricket ground, only to become ‘kittens’ when at home, explaining the respect they possess for the love of their lives. Poomaalai sleeps everynight making his bed out of his wife’s sarees, followingthe ruckus at the stadium, resulting in her walking out. It is easily the height of mid-age romance. Poomaalai’s mom played by the adorable Geetha Kailasam, takes her cow and calf to her daughter in law’s mother’s house, saying the cattle are missing her. Later, she declares she miss her too, as there is no one to give her food and give the right pills. Those ‘melodramatic prone’ sequences, rather transpires beautifully as a pinnacle of romance.
The assistant director at the Madras talkies, Sanjana Krishnamoorthy’s personal confidence oozes through her character ‘Durga’ as Poomaalai’s daughter. Her bold, outspoken and sensible characterisation, strikes a contrast to her mother’s, who is often seen cursing her husband’s passion, for it doomed their lives and buried them in debts. I have my share of problems with the characterisation of Poomaalai’s wife played by the bold Swasika. She is this strict anti-cricket soul, who is constantly curbing her husband from playing cricket, right from the opening sequence, where she is seen ploughing the pitch with her tractor. It does relate to the anger of all the mothers of the ‘Indian gully cricket boys’ who are worried about their son’s lives being wasted on the highly competitive sport.
It resonates much with the mom character in ‘Blue Star’, who is trying to steer her sons away from the game. But the director there establishes a father character who insists that the game is not a mere waste of time, if taken seriously. He is seen to channelise his son’s talent productively, by trying to acquire a job at ICF, where he worked, and is seen to apply for the same duly.
Swasika who plays Yashodhai, the wife of Poomaalai, in Lubber Pandhu, is constantly seen stern faced and iron fisted. She is seen brimming with love, cooking meat for her lover-turned husband to save it for him in a silver tiffin box and adorns a few smiles, in a couple of bus ride montages with Poomaalai. Except for these few sequences, she is mostly seen grumpy.
The promise that Yashodai insists her husband Poomaalai makes in front of God, that he will quit playing cricket, which he dupes, is a fun watch. In the latter half of the movie, Anbu is shown to express his magnanimity in making the team become ‘inclusive’ to welcome young talents, by wiping ‘caste’ out of the equation. The warmth of this reveal, seems to lose its significance, when Yashodhai, asks the duo Poomaalai and Anbu,as the end credits role, to make the same promise,of not to play cricket again.
The mood of the movie would have instilled hope in many youngsters, had Yashodhai, come to terms in acknowledging the passion and direct the duo to become better care takers of family too. Branding them players as unprincipled, good for nothing rogues, who would never be there for the family when needed, is stereotyping the societal youngsters at large, whose are left to compromise their passion for the game.
Being the wife of asurgeon, me and my daughter had many a times missed the presence of him, especially in times of need or important moments of our lives, as he would be busy operating elsewhere. Had the director made Yashodhai repent for the branding, had she spoken to Poomaalai about balancing his passion for the game and his bread winning career, her loudness, would have resulted purposefully.
Actor Vijayakanth’s songs played to celebrate Poomaalai’s cricket prowess, is a master stroke by the makers, as it not only exhibits their love for the actor, but also value adds Dinesh’s character traits to that of the departed soul’s. Categorizing people by coupling them with particular butchery, does fall under a self-branding exercise. Not spelling it out loud might be a subtlety decision and the makers could have steered clear from those labelling, as well.
Striking the right balance and the right chords creates magic, irrespective of few loose ends. ‘Blue Star’ stayed rigid in trying to document the ‘pain’ that plays spoil sport in ‘Sports’. Whereas, ‘Lubber Pandhu’ eases its stance in documenting the pain, by mellowing down the ‘loud structure’, which otherwise would have drawn attention to itself, ruining the very text, that was intended to be narrated. The difference is pretty much like Pa. Ranjith’s and Mari Slevaraj’s films, ‘Blue Star’ being from the former’s production house.
