Naalu Pennungal (Four Women) & Oru Pennum Randaanum (One Woman And Two Men)

Yesterday evening, I enjoyed a marathon session of cinema. I watched two movies by Adoor Gopalakrishnan: Naalu Pennungal (Four Women) and Oru Pennum Randaanum (One Woman And Two Men). Each film has four chapters based on stories written by Thakazhi Sivashankara Pillai.

Let me begin with the ending of the two movies.

The movie Naalu Pennungal ends with a woman saying:

‘…purushan illathe ottakku oru sthreekku jeevikkaan kazhiyanamallo…’ […a woman should be able to lead a life alone without a man…]

Oru Pennum Randaanum ends with a woman and three men (her husband and two ‘others’):

Woman’s husband: ‘Aaraadi ivan?’ [Who is he?]
Woman: ‘Ente kochinte achan.’ [Father of my child.]

Why did I put in those scenes? If you have read those lines and not seen the movies, note down your immediate thoughts about what you think you can expect. Then, see the movies or read the stories and find out if your notes match the sensitivity and complexity portrayed.

For those who are interested in knowing more about the movies or the writer, please follow the links provided above.

I have read somewhere that Adoor himself considers these movies to be simple. But, it requires a master-craftsman like him to recreate Thakazhi’s stories for the screen. The beauty of the land, the harshness of the system, the troubles and hardship in society, the complexity of human relationships – these are depicted with a careful eye.

For a movie-lover, two points stand out after watching these two movies:

• The two movies have strong roles for women and most of the stories are women-centric. This should be noted especially because the Malayalam cinema of recent years has hardly a role for women.

• It would be nice to have more budget movies of this type, i.e., with strong short chapters. These short chapters or movies of 30-45 minute duration would be ideal for prime time TV, but I can only hope.

I am not really reviewing the movies here. Then, what am I trying to do out here?

Personally, I had three reasons to go through these movies and old stories, and to write about the same:

• One, I love fiction (quite often, more than reality) and writing. I also know that there are very few thoughts which have not been thought before in a better way. When I write, I wonder whether my ‘modern’ thoughts have been expressed elsewhere in a ‘better’ way ages back. By ‘better’, I mean ‘more true’. When I read stories, the first question that comes to mind turns out to be: ‘is it truly narrated – sans commercial acceptability and values, sans schoolbook morals, sans fear of the moral police?’ The stories in these movies are truly and carefully depicted.

• Two, when I need to scavenge for stories, I use my village. There are fewer rules, fewer gods and fewer reasons to worry in small places. In these two movies, the stories are based in villages and set in the period 1940-1960’s. Usually, I am more inclined to see a movie about life in a metro but I know that there is more life outside the metro. In these two movies, the social scene and human relationships are depicted without airbrushing. It allows us to see how society and human relationships have improved and where it has regressed.

• Three, I wanted to record something that I would like to understand better. And, for once, I would like to share the experience with others. I am sure that this is not due to altruism. Maybe, I desire a group who will ‘cut the crap’. The stories in these two movies are, like life and unlike popular writing, natural.