Aruvi | What a Melancholy?`

Cinema is quite a powerful medium and its ability to reflect the changing times is quite profound. My own state is possibly one of the best cases of the influence that cinema has had on its populace for almost 50 years as every Chief Minister of this state since 1967 has been from the film industry. And that dynamic refuses to change as more celebrities from the celluloid world continue to dabble in politics even today. While these dynamics have been a source of constant merriment in the world of social media (through satires, memes etc.,), the quality of cinema however had not really evolved in terms of the content as the landscape is littered with rather pedestrian content for the last several years. And these have found abundant takers amongst the common populace who view the medium as a source of entertainment to get a couple of hours of a make-believe world where the hero gets to portray the ultimate machismo, wins over the gorgeous lass and of course, saves the world. Sometimes, the technological advancements elevate the standard plots to the status of magnum opus (e.g. Bahubali) which does make one turn his head but still remains a rehash of the familiar plot. Amidst this Pandora’s box, a gem does raise its head once in a while which offers hope that all is not lost and gives the viewer not only a lump in the throat but rather some signficant food for thought.

We witnessed one such gem yesterday in the form of Aruvi which literally translates to “Waterfall” in Tamil. The movie struck a significant chord with me for several reasons. At a personal level, I have been going through the motions of trying to comprehend today’s world where an overdosage of consumerism has unleashed a vicious cycle amongst our generation leading to mindless races (for god knows what) and a significant erosion of values and culture. Words like Go-To-Market (GTM), Career, Growth etc., drive our actions everyday towards materialistic pursuits which everybody (at some level) recognizes is leading to a road crash but nobody wants to be left behind. Every day, our brains are littered with tons of crazy content in the form of news, advertisements, points of view, innuendos etc., which have really made truth an extremely grey matter as opposed to an age where there were clear demarcations between truth & lies, facts & fiction, reality & fantasy. Technological advancements have ensured that life has become extremely complicated and we end up yearning for simpler times. And this movie articulates this in such a powerful way through the eyes of the protagonist “Aruvi”, played superbly by Aditi Balan (a debutant who literally lives the role).There are definitely a few cinematic liberties but all of these are dwarfed in the main plot which keeps the viewer riveted to the screen and leaves everyone with a lump in the throat.  The tirade by Aruvi about this consumeristic overdosage hits the nail on the head and totally resonated with my current line of thinking. In fact, it left me wondering long after we left the cinema.

Some may call it as “maturity”, some would refer to it as “loser mind-set”, a few others would term it as “signs of senile 40s”, but then do we realize that the races today are not about being the best that one can be but about how well one can pretend to be the best? Right from the products (several of which are designed to be obsolescent or harmful) to the so called “professionalism”: (where it is all about putting “lipstick on a pig” or window-dressing), humanity is degrading itself into a “make belief” world where there is no big difference between “right” and “wrong”. All of us compromise on our values (though we want our children not to do so) in the name of practicality or convince ourselves because everybody does it. It is a question of making sure we run run faster than the slowest one in the pile. After it is a dog-eat-dog world and Darwin did tell us that evolution is all about being the “survival of the fittest”.  All of this would still make sense if it made us happy. But as Aruvi points out, is that really the case? In a world of crazy brashness and increasing insecurity, there is a need to slow down and check if these crazy actions and erosion of values really propagate happiness. I would assume that they certainly don’t as everyone of us tend to agree that the earlier generations were definitely a lot more happier than us and they really were far less consumerist and technologically backward vis-a-vis ours. This movie again pulled me back to my favorite line of thinking “Should we run less to walk more”?

Kudos to the Aruvi team for making such a wonderful movie which is supremely reflective of the times of today. It brought back memories of another favorite movie of mine “Aval Oru Thodar Kathai” which released in 1975, a year which was quite significant in the history of India as Emergency (the scars of which remain even almost half a century later) was proclaimed and this was a movie that portrayed the challenges of a modern woman with traditional values in a rapidly changing India. That movie also portrayed a debutante in the lead role, Sujatha who went on to become one of the most accomplished actresses in this industry. The character “Kavitha”, portrayed by her would linger with the viewer long after the credits went by just like Aruvi. Do we see a modern K Balachander emerging in the young Arun Prabu Purushothman, the director of Aruvi?

As far as I am concerned, the movie reinforced the need to keep looking for answers as I attempt to arrest this tide in my own way. As we close the book on 2017, I have taken a mental conviction to keep working towards a slower, simpler and sustainable world. Just like the protagonists, Aruvi and Kavitha, hope lingers on that I will get closer to the truth in 2018. Thanks Aruvi !!!