Mullum Malarum

Mullum Malarum
File:Mullum Malarum Poster.jpg Poster
Directed by	J. Mahendran
Produced by	Venu Chettiyar
Starring	Rajinikanth Sarath Babu Fatafat Jayalakshmi Shobha
Cinematography	Balu Mahendra
Edited by	D. Vasu
Music by	Ilaiyaraaja
Release date	15 August 1978
Running time	135 minutes
Country	India
Language	Tamil

Mullum Malarum ([Thorn and Flower] Error: {{Lang-xx}}: text has italic markup (help)) is a 1978 Tamil film directed by J. Mahendran. Starring Rajinikanth and Shoba in the lead, the film has cinematography by Balu Mahendra and music composed by Ilaiyaraaja. The screenplay for the movie was based on a novel with the same name written by Umachandran. The novel won the first prize in the Tamil magazine Kalki's novel contest held in connection with the celebration of the silver jubilee of Kalki in 1967.

Following the film's release, Rajinikanth received an appreciation letter from his mentor K. Balachandar, who praised his performance in the film. The letter was widely publicised.

Plot

Kali is a winch operator in a powerhouse station in the hills. The town is small one as near any powerhouse stations. Kali has a sister Valli. They are orphans but Kali brought up his sister Valli all by himself since their childhood. Kali by nature is kind of a person who shows affection to his sister but a nightmare for others. He does what he feels is right without regard for authority. A new Supervisor for the powerhouse, Kumaran, joins the town and conflicts start between Kali and Kumaran. The supervisor reprimands Kali for helping the villagers by allowing them to use the company winch without authorisation. Kali develops the theory that Kumaran does not like him. Kumaran in the meantime falls in love with Valli. In turn of events Kali loses his left hand in an accident and eventually fired from the job. This aggravates the conflict. At this juncture Kumaran asks Kali permission to marry Valli. Kali responds by announcing the next day that his sister would marry Moorthy, a much older man who had helped Kali in the past, but is a womanizer. Manga, Kali's wife supports Valli. Valli is conflicted — she likes Kumaran but unable to do anything beyond her Brother. Manga and the rest of the villagers decide to get Valli married to Kumaran without Kali's knowledge. The rest forms the emotional, sentimental and powerful climax.

Cast

• Rajinikanth as Kali
• Sarath Babu as Kumaran
• Phataphat Jayalaxmi as Manga
• Shoba as Valli

Production

Mahendran did not read Uma Chandran’s novel fully. He just read part of the novel and got impressed with the winch operator Kali, his affection towards his sister and the way he loses his hand to a tiger. From then onwards, the screenplay was developed by him, deviating from the novel's plot. He decided to make the film without melodrama, overacting, excessive dialogues, duets or regular climax, and developed the screenplay accordingly.

Rajinikanth was playing negative and villain’s characters in Tamil Cinema till then. Hence, Mahendran recommended Rajinikanth for the role to producer Venu Chettiar, he did not agree and asked for other options. However, Mahendran stuck to his decision and refused to direct the film if the producer was not willing to cast Rajinikanth in the lead role. Thus Mahendran and Rajinikanth began working together. Rajinikanth was paid only Rs.13,000 for acting in this film.

It was Kamal Haasan who recommended Balu Mahendra as the cinematographer to Mahendran for this film. After seeing the double positive of the film, producer Venu Chettiar expressed his displeasure to Mahendran, saying he was disappointed as the film had limited dialogues. He had chosen Mahendran to make this film since he had already proved himself as a successful screenplay and dialogue writer in Tamil Cinema. The producer and distributors did not expect a film with limited dialogues and more visuals from him.

Venu Chettiar decided to freeze this film's budget and did not provide finance when Mahendran wanted to shoot an important lead scene before the song 'Senthazham poovil...' with Sarath Babu and Shobha. However, Kamal Haasan, a good friend of Mahendran, came forward and provided funds to ensure that the scene was shot and included in the film, giving it the necessary depth. Mullum Malarum was shot in Sringeri, Ooty. Kundha and Chennai in about 30 days. The winch operating scenes were taken at Glenmorgan near Ooty. Balu Mahendra‘s camera work was highly appreciated for its excellence.

Themes

Mullum Malarum explores the concept that beautiful flowers need sharp thorns to protect them. Umachandran’s novel and Mahendran’s film transposes this into a sibling scenario. Much like in Bairavi, Rajinikanth and his sister have abusive parents in childhood and it is up to the brother to provide for his sister. But unlike in Bairavi, the siblings here are not separated and this leads to a very protective attitude on Kaali’s part for his sister Valli, bordering on obsessive love. There is a remarkable scene where after lashing out at her in a foul temper during the day, he applies henna to her feet at night when she is fast asleep.

Going beyond the central theme, the film is all about the extent of ego that can be sustained. Kaali is clearly the community’s alpha male and he does not hesitate to inform the world about this fact. His hangers-on constantly massage his ego and he gets to play god when he gives villagers a free ride—saving them miles of walking—on the power plant’s trolley of which he is the suzerain. Thus, it is a bit of a shock to his system when a presentable and educated male arrives in the shape of the divisional engineer. Being a subordinate, Kaali cannot really oppose him in any way and his frustration threatens to bubble over several times; it finally does when he is suspended. His feelings manifest themselves in a song where the lyrics go, ‘It doesn't matter whether Rama or Ravana are reigning, I am the king of my own conscience,’ a clear reference to the engineer's authoritarian yoke to which he is bound. When Kaali’s arm gets amputated, he feels helpless and emasculated. Which is why the engineer, his bête noire as it were, becomes an easy target. Kaali refuses to see the benefits of his sister marrying above her station into wealth and education, even when his wife Manga explains it in so many words to him, or when his sister expresses her desire for the union. Kaali’s words when Valli abandons her wedding proceedings to be with her brother are revealing: ‘My sister has shown all of you that I am the most important person in her life. I need only that happiness for the rest of my life. And it is with that pride and arrogance that I give my permission for my sister to marry.’

The film's title Mullum Malarum can also be seen as a depiction of an over-possessive brother (the thorn) being over-protective of his younger sister (the flower).

Music

The music was composed by Ilaiyaraaja, while the lyrics were written by Panju Arunachalam, Gangai Amaran and Kannadasan. There are 5 songs in the film and 4 songs in the soundtrack; the song not included in the soundtrack is the film's "title song" Maan Iname that was sung by Ilaiyaraaja. Mahendran had scrapped the song Senthazham Poovil song in the original cut due to budgetary constraints, and the producer could not provide the money. However, Panchu Arunachalam gave some money to shoot the song as he thought it was "too brilliant to be left out". Elements of the song Raman Aandalum were later used in the song Machi Open the Bottle, composed by Yuvan Shankar Raja for the 2011 film Mankatha.

No.	Song	Singers	Lyrics	Length (m:ss)
1	Senthazham Poovil	K. J. Yesudas	Kannadasan	4:35
2	Adi Penney	Jency Anthony	Panju Arunachalam	4:30
3	Raman Aandaalum	S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, Anjali	Gangai Amaran	5:44
4	Niththam Niththam	Vani Jairam		2:54

Senthalam poovil is one of the rare melodies and was captured in beautiful scenic locations. The song "Raman Aandalum..." (Whether Rama rules, or Ravana rules, i don't really care) was very famous for lyrics and Rajinikanth's fast stylish steps that was choreographed by Mugur Sundar. Adi Pennae is a typical song sung by soon to be married females imagining their future life. Nitham Nitham nellu soru is a song that is sung after their Marriage ( Kali and Manga) but a folk number.

Reception

Amrith Lal of The Times of India stated that Mullum Malarum "revealed the potential of Rajini, the character actor." Playback singer Suchitra said, "Rajini's role as Kali in Mullum Malarum is my favourite for the following reasons — one, it is the most honest on-screen depiction of the brother-sister relationship; and two, though it was only his third film, he was brilliant — as the rough-hewn, obstinate winch operator and, in the movie's latter half, as a frustrated individual rendered immobile due to an accident, yet trying to retain his dignity." and called Mullum Malarum her "Favourite Rajini movie". Behindwoods listed Rajinikanth's performance as one of his "Top 12 acting performances". Directors K. Balachander, K. Bhagyaraj and K. S. Ravikumar have named the film as one of their "best ten" films. Mani Ratnam said, "When you watch a film, you know the way the shot was taken or the way the narrative was constructed. [Mahendran's] Mullum Malarum, for instance, was so startlingly different from anything that had come before in Tamil cinema. It really stood out. You need not know exactly what it is that stands out, but it would stand out for you. That is the beginning. There was something really special about the direction, Balu Mahendra's cinematography, the characterizations, the costumes, the compositions, the colours, the light, the way it was cut and, of course, the music. The sheer restraint in it is really remarkable. I think the real starting point is the script—the content and the narrative. The way a scene starts, the way it finishes—most of it gets played out there. And then, it's just a question of being able to translate it well onto film".

Awards

• 1979 – Filmfare Award for Best Tamil Film
• 1979 – Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Film (First prize)
• 1979 – Tamil Nadu State Film Award Special Prize – Rajinikanth

Remakes

Year	Film	Language	Cast	Director
1979	Venalil Oru Mazha	Malayalam	Jayan, Shoba, Srividya, Madhu	Sreekumaran Thampi
1984	Seethamma Pelli	Telugu	Mohan Babu, Revathi	Bapu
1985	Pyari Behna	Hindi	Mithun Chakraborty, Padmini Kolhapure, Tanvi Azmi, Vinod Mehra	Bapu

External links

• Mullum Malarum at IMDb
• Listen to songs