Review of Uttama Villain (2015) by Mister C — 05 May 2015

An art weaved with multiple layers of subtext - Introduction to Uthama Villain.

Art refines human beings. A culture that does not understand, appreciate, and support art faces the risk of turning barbaric.

The persecution of intellectuals and artists under religious regimes and that of authoritarian Nazi and Communist regimes and the subsequent downfall of those regimes was not a coincidence.

Someone said 'The best part of an art, is the part that cannot be explained'.

Instead of writing about stellar acting performances, exhilarating background music score and many other excellent technical aspects which is plain for anyone to see. Following is my attempt to explain the unexplained part of this movie.

This may all be just my figment of imagination but that is the definition of the best form of art, it allows the participant to play a role equal to that of a creator.

This movie has many layers of storytelling all exquisitely weaved into one interesting work of Art. To get an idea about what is really going on under the skin of this movie, we need to understand the outline of this story.

This may contain some spoilers but my hope is, if people understand these aspects they maybe able to appreciate this movie more.

Story outline -.

A popular movie star comes to know that his time is running out and he wants to do one last film with his mentor.

The main theme of the movie is, 'even if someone dies in real life he can remain immortal through the body of his works'.

This movie slides smoothly between the things that is happening in the life of the actor and the story that is being directed by his mentor.

Few things that is being conveyed within this outline -.

1 - Tribute: This movie is a tribute by actor Kamal Hassan (KH) to his mentor K.Balachander (KB).

In this movie KH says to his ageing mentor 'I want to make a movie with you before my time ends (with his mentor)' and there is a scene in which his mentor makes KH to sit in his chair, subtext of which is, after KB's time KH will carry on his work.

The same technique was used in KH's earlier movie Thevar Magan where KH will sit on veteran actor Shivaji Ganesan's chair to convey similar message.

The roles were reversed in this movie to show KB in good health because that is how KH wants his mentor to be remembered by posterity.

2- The movie within movie: It is not a coincidence that the movie being directed within this movie is represented in the form of folk drama.

Folk drama has always been used to convey valuable lessons to the king and the population alike, by hiding those messages beneath the veneer of banal comedy.

That way, no one will be openly offended and the powers that be will not have to lose their face in front of everyone, thus creating a more conducive environment to correct their mistake.

The contrary approach of a patronising sermon only succeeds in antagonising people, pushes them to become defensive and thus creates animosity instead of understanding.

So, what is being conveyed through this folk drama?

It starts with Arjun from Indian mythology getting pasupath astra from Shiva after doing intense penance. Subtext is, KH getting graduation from his mentor.

Then few kids let loose snake in the crowd which bites four people before biting KH, since the snake has already spent all its venom on four other people, the bite was harmless when it comes to KH.

Subtext is, snake is the symbolism for money spoiling the art. Many of his acting colleagues disappear due to over commercialisation of cinema but KH survives after seeing what that has done to his colleagues.

Later KH is being brought to cremation ground where he awakens among the dead body to the horror of people who thought he was dead. Only person who seem happy to see him alive again is a seemingly dim witted person. Subtext, the seemingly dim witted person symbolises his ardent fans who stick with him through thick and thin, even if they were ridiculed by others for it.

The scene in which he eats a banana and throw one towards that seemingly dim witted person shows the beautiful poignancy of that relationship in which both care for each other in their own way.

The scene in which KH runs away from dead bodies with disgust, shows his aversion towards art succumbing to pure commercialisation and thus stopping to do what it has to do, which is equivalent to death.

After this survival KH is known as immortal, this theme ties up with the main theme of the movie which is about immortality.

At the same time, a power hungry person kills the king and queen, and imprisons the beautiful princess. Subtext, the princess can be seen as the representation of Tamil itself, which has grown for many centuries under the love and patronage of great kings and poets, but she has been hijacked by narrow minded power hungry racial fanatics.

The king is shown as someone who has lost one of his ear, because fanatics cannot listen to anything other than the things they would like to hear.

KH was brought to the presence of this dictator in a cage, since KH has survived longer than others the dictator wants to appropriate KH's glory for his own benefit.

On the way, kids question KH who is enchained, caged and paraded in the street, about whether he is really immortal? for which he replies 'no' but some sell stones to the kids so that they could test whether he is immortal or not. This scene explains many constraints and hurdles an artist has to face, such as people saying I do not understand or I do not like it when art is not what they normally expect it to be and some even making themselves popular and rich by talking about art which they clearly do not understand.

The pet tiger of the princess has been imprisoned and fed with curd rice. Tiger symbolises Tamil people itself, who are purposely kept ignorant and dull by power hungry dictator.

KH acts like a court jester to make the dictator and his cronies laugh but his real intention is to save the princess and her tiger from the clutches of the dictator. Meaning, his real intention is to save Tamil and its people from the hands of self serving bullies.

There is a dialogue in which princess tells KH that 'he needs to be brave to save the country' for which he replies 'Can a artist save a country? Then he says, I will try if your Tiger doesn't kill me before that'. Meaning, he will try to educate people through his art if people support him.

3- Black and white versus colour: The characters in the folk drama are either good or bad but in the story of the actor things are not that simple. This symbolises the glorious complications in real life.

The actor's father-in-law had connived to get the actor married to his daughter, actor's wife had threatened to kill herself to force her father, to get her married to the actor.

Even though people understand these two characters, they find it hard to empathise with the character of the actor, who seem to be having an affair with a young lady.

It makes them uncomfortable to know that the actor does not feel remorse for his action as he goes on to profess his love for all the women at the same time.

Does the story justify infidelity?

This opens a pandora's box in a country where most marriages are arranged and they survive only through mutual trust and the ability to find a common ground through thick and thin.

The scenario portrayed in the movie raises few questions, is infidelity a birthright for men or even women can engage in it? If so, what about broken hearts and houses? What about the injustice it does to the children due to the fallout of this selfish act? What about the psychological scar this toxic scenario can create in the minds of the children and what about the alienation they suffer in the hands of the step-parent or the relatives?

I do not believe this movie justifies infidelity.

Earlier in the movie KH introduces himself as a person who used to be arrogant, conveying he is not perfect.

The part in which KH has to face his daughter, whose presence he was not even aware of till she was a grown woman, shows no one can escape from facing the repercussions of their actions.

This movie thus portrays that all the main characters has their own type of flaws, which is not a justification for their own actions, instead as Leo Tolstoy said 'Error is the force that welds men together'. It is when people realise their own error they become more compassionate to other people instead of being vengeful.

4- Comedy: Lost in translation jokes garners nothing more than a smile at the best.

The too stupid to be true type of comedy which is strewn all over the folk drama makes people impatient and they risk being perceived as an insult to the intelligence of the audience. Which is what happened to KH's earlier movie 'Mumbai express'.

But as a part of the folk drama this can be justified in the sense that it is reflective of the over the type of acting and the buffoonery used in real life folk drama. But it would have been better if it was not repetitive and cut short to the bare minimum just to prove the point.

5- Social satire: The controversial Iraniyan Naadagam in which Narasiman dies instead of Iraniyan, this part is essential for the wellbeing of the society.

Someone said 'Art should comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable'. Art and artist has the right to mock, question and protest against the established ideals, because this is the only antidote against fascism and fanaticism.

That is why during the times of the kings they had court jesters to mock the authoritarian diktats, which helped to keep the feet of kings firmly grounded in reality.

In our tradition, we have the legend of Nakeeran who said 'even if you are Shiva, if you have committed a mistake, it is still a mistake'.

That's why the priests and monks who get caught in their sexual escapades are doing much favour to their respective religions because by their actions they prove nothing is and should be beyond reproach.

Their shams inadvertantly create a more healthy environment of debate and discovery, which allows their followers to grow internally with an open mind.

6- Multi lingual cast: It seems like a conscious decision to have a multi-lingual cast, to prove the necessity to live and love beyond boundaries of religion, language, race and nationality. This is needs to be underlined in the current Indian scenario where there is growth in religion, language and caste based fanaticism.

7- Screenplay: Even though the film seemingly moves between the story of the actor in his personal life and the folk drama, it is in fact just one story, that is the story of the actor, not only that, each scene is beautifully linked to the other scene.

For example, when the actor has to console others about the fact that his time is running out, the very next shot takes us to folk drama where the artist sings in front of the dictator about 'life without end is a misery and no one wants to listen to a story which has no end'.

8- His own review about reviews: In the folk drama after singing a philosophical song about death and immortality, KH will ask the king 'Sire, did you understand the impermanence of life?' For which the king will reply 'No, I understood the importance of lust' Then KH will sigh saying 'I said so many other things but it all seems to have fallen in the deaf ear'.

It seems like KH clearly knows that most of the things he has done will go unnoticed and such is the burden of the artist.

The very fact that so many things and much more has been packed within just one movie without any confusion, shows KH and his team's mastery of the craft.

Can this movie be improved upon?

Of course, as Leonardo Da Vinci said 'Art is never finished only abandoned'.

But this movie as it is, is an interesting work of art which will be treasured in years to come all over the world.