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twosquareroti · 2 years

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Whoever did the costumes and jewelry for Ponniyin Selvan was top-notch and made great choices.

Arulmozhi and his brother Aditya wear double tiger claw pendants. Besides being important to signify courage and bravery, it’s also particularly appropriate because they are princes of a dynasty that uses the tiger as its symbol. (You can see the red Chozha flag with its pouncing tiger in many scenes.) Aditya, who we almost always see in his armor, also has the tiger worked into that very same armor where the leather protects his upper legs. Fur also fringes his shoulder pads, again evoking a tiger for Aditya whose personality is the most focused on physical might and combat.

Madhurantaka, brought up as a devotee of Shiva, wears garlands of rudraksha beads interspersed with gold. While other characters wear them as well, he wears the most, then tears them all from his chest in a scene where he verbally and symbolically rejects the identity of a devotee, declaring his ambition for the throne and saying he was never interested in leading a life devoted to Shiva to begin with. (I’m not sure if I’m remembering correctly, but I think he also wears a lot of white when we first see him on screen, mirroring the white worn by men and women associated with temple for its purity. It would be interesting if he stops wearing white completely in the second part of the film.)

While the Chozha characters wear gold, Ravidasan and the rest of the Pandyas are all wearing silver. The only gems they have are on their slain king’s sword, and the beads they wear look to be made of natural materials rather than precious metals. Along with the fact that they now must live in the forest, the dull silver jewelry and how they dress is a strong visual indicator of their status compared to the Chozhas. They’re also all wearing black and dark red. Beyond visually matching the image of Kottravai with smeared blood for her, the heavy amount of black in the Pandya’s clothing mirrors how they have remained in the shadows, planning to murder a Chozha prince in revenge. It’s like a symbol of ill will and matches the fact that Ravidasan is one of our antagonists for the first movie.

The great hair choices in this movie are difficult for me to talk about because I’m not sure I can articulate it very well, (let alone completely), but I think they also fit each character very well. In Arulmozhi’s first appearance, his hair is oiled and combed back around his head in a nice, controlled and neat style. But when we first see his brother Aditya, his hair is unbound and flowing around him. It’s more energetic and matches his passion for fighting and the intensity of the anger and heartbreak that he feels, which itself feeds in to his need to fight to distract himself. Even if both brothers change their hair during the movie--of course Arulmozhi’s is more unkept while he’s actually fighting--how it appears in their first scenes is important in establishing the audience’s impression.

Ravidasan also has a lot of intensity and motivation for fighting, and he shares that long, loose hair with Aditya, but it’s also messier. (I don’t think he ever ties it back or binds it up in any way?) He and the other Pandyas have separated themselves from the rest of civilization to live in the forest, and they’re still focused on the calamity of the death of their king and destruction of their rule. The fact that Ravidasan has probably not conditioned or oiled his hair since the day his king was killed--and has focused purely on revenge and a will to fight since then--perfectly matches how the team of Ponniyin Selvan chose to style his hair.

Finally, the very long and neat hair of Oomai Rani combines with the white color palette they gave her to build a very specific impression of her character. It’s not the same as the reason Aditya and Ravidasan have unbound and more wild hair than other characters either. (Other men have long hair as well but it’s generally combed back or something like that.) Again, I have not read Ponniyin Selvan, but her appearance plus the fact that she has mysteriously shown up out of nowhere twice to save Arulmozhi made me think of the quality of shakti. I’m not sure how else to talk about it.

#It's impossible to describe how much I want to give Ravidasan some really good conditioner and some oil to treat it with afterwards #look I really relate to his hair struggles and I want to help him level up from one curly haired person to another #Ponniyin Selvan #Arulmozhi #Aditya Karikalan #Indian cinema #Indian movies #Tamil cinema #costume design #hair design #movie analysis #Ravidasan #Oomai Rani #Madurantaka

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kovaipaavai · 1 year

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Power and Desire

I've often felt that people that thirst for power seldom know how to wield it which is why it is extremely satisfying when power and authority rests in the hands of ones that actively shun it, knowing that it corrupts from within . Kalki Krishnamurthy must have felt the same way.

Why else would he write that splendid ending for Ponniyin Selvan if he felt otherwise?

Ponniyin Selvan has so many painstakingly etched narrative arcs but the penultimate story arc where the cards are revealed and the lots are drawn is a masterpiece in story telling . For the most part of the novel Senthan Amuthan comes across as a naive , innocent and plain odhuvar whose single goal in life is to love his cousin with no hopes of winning her hand.

The readers don't realize until much later that this man has lived most of his life as a penance for a single lapse in judgment made by his mother. He knows he has a right to rule and claiming that right would give him love, power and a mother, but he just doesn't act. He is staid and calm, undisturbed and uncaring about the war of succession that's happening . He has no personal ambitions except for winning Kuzhali's hand and helping her where he can , even if it means losing her affections

Even when Kuzhali reveals her ambitions to be queen , he stays firm in his resolve and doesn't reveal the secret of his birth . Therefore , it's extremely satisfying when Kuzhali accepts his suit and it's revealed after that he's the original Madurantaka . This emotional heft carries well into the coronation ceremony where Vandiyathevan has to physically restrain Amudhan in order to crown him King.

The emotional center of Ponniyin Selvan is centered around Amudhan post Adithan's death and in discarding this story arc in favor of a war with the Rashtrakoota King Amoghavarsha and the subsequent crowning of Madurantaka (not Amudhan) , Mani Ratnam loses most of the emotional heft he's constructed for the movie. The fact that he teases the book loyalists with a lot of cues peppered through the narrative and then discards the same cues for that damp squib of a coronation ceremony doesn't help matters.

A stunning piece of story writing from the novel is reduced to a perfunctory under-thought ending accompanied by hastily undercooked music . Amudhan and Kuzhali are bidden hasty goodbyes and seeing the undeserving Madurantaka win the crown makes me wonder if MR wasn't invested enough in characters other than Aditya to think things through.

Like the much maligned Amudhan , I too bid a hasty good bye to this ending that reduces a stunning movie to a mere good one.

I will rewatch and revisit this movie multiple times . It is superbly written for the most part and carries its emotional weight in gold until the last narrative arc. But every time I rewatch this , I will always go back to the book and imagine an alternate reality where the movie was thirty minutes longer and delivered power to the one that actively shunned it .

Fare thee well Amudha - at least the book did you good,

#ponniyin selvan #PonniyinSelvan #PS2 #WhyTheBookisBetter

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