Poetry on the silver screen

Movie - the visual medium that shouldn’t be bound by a language. If you are able to get the whole context of the story without understanding the language the actors speak, then the director has achieved something extraordinary. And Manirathnam has exactly done that with Geetanjali! I’m reviewing this movie almost after 18 years after it was released because I saw the original version in Telugu just recently. I’ve seen the Tamil version ’Idhyathai Thirudathe’ (’Do not steal my heart’) when I was a kid, but I only remember it vaguely.

It is a simple boy-meets-girl story, but the difference is that both are counting their final days of their lives. Prakash (Nagarjuna) knowing that he is about to die leaves to Ooty to spend the rest of his life in seclusion. There he comes across a mischievous young girl Geetanjali (Girija) who makes him realize that ’today is more important than tomorrow’. Eventually they fall in love and have their own share of misfortunes that separates them apart. Do they finally unite or not forms the rest of the story.

Maniratnam has once again proved why he is the most celebrated director in the country. Direction is flawless. The movie runs exactly for 2 hours without deviating much from the main storyline. Scenes where Prakash realizes that someone has entered his room only after the mist grazes him are Mani’s trademark. The dialogue is short and crisp.

Ilayaraja also owns a great share of credit in the movie’s stupendous success. Seven beautiful songs(awesome picturization of each of those) and stunning BGM. The BGM when Nag takes a walk in the forest realizing the importance of the time he has left in the world and the soundtrack for the title are just mind-blowing. I can surely say that Ilayaraja deserved a national award for this movie.

And the visuals. I’ve never seen Ooty so beautifully even when I was there! Full marks to P.C.Sreeram for the excellent work behind the camera. All the cast members have performed well particularly Girija on the title role. She brings life into the character.

I would recommend to watch the movie in Telugu even if you do not understand the language (the dubbed version in Tamil has some comedy track scenes included which is very annoying).

It is a wonderful movie! Makes you feel good and you would wish you had a romantic interest (if not already) :-)