Mahanati – The tragedy of being the pole star among actresses

There is a scene in Mahanati where Gemini Ganesan (Dulquer Salmaan) and Savitri (Keerthy Suresh) are watching a preview show of her movie.

Gemini looks at her and says, “This is your best work Savitri, but the movie won’t run”

Walking out to the waiting media, the ‘Nadigaiyar Thilagam’ quotes ‘Nadigar Thilagam’ Sivaji Ganesan’s advice on choosing films: “Do some movies for the audience and do some movies for the actor in you.”

The movie they just watched was Chivaraku Migiledi, the Telugu remake of the Asit Sen-classic Deep Jwele Jaai.

It is interesting how the protagonist in the Bengali movie is Suchitra Sen. A successful actress who, in 1978, suddenly decided to keep away from the public eye and remained so until her death in 2014.

In a poetic coincidence, Savitri’s role as Parvati in the 1953 Nageswara Rao-starrer Devadasu was reprised by Suchitra in the 1955 Hindi version of Devdas, opposite Dilip Kumar.

If Suchitra’s life was an enigma that remained so until her last breath, Savitri’s life was an open book that people forgot to read after 1981, till the Mahanati director Nag Ashwin decided to make it into a biopic.

Mahanati begins with a credit to one of the doyens of art direction and production design in Indian cinema — Thotta Tharani.

While the recreation of Madras from the 1950’s and 60’s is a sight to behold, the city from the 80’s provided a rush of nostalgia and a side order of a stark reminder of my age.

The first shot of the movie is a white screen that slowly juxtaposes itself as a curtain and the audience almost receive the first glimpse of the Mahanati when the sun’s blinding light provides a silhouette of sorts for a lifeless Savitri amma who is taken to a hospital where she slips into a coma.

That blinding light.

The first time she faces a blinding light is when a 14-year-old Savitri flinches at the studio arclights during the first of her botched auditions.

From the limelight to obscurity is the cliched arc a biopic of an actress follows (The Dirty Picture).

However, to paraphrase words from Madhuravani(Samantha), a journalist in the 80s who unravels the story of the actress and portrays the narrator of sorts in this biopic, “How do I write a story whose ending is already known and is a life that is rife with tragedy”

Savitri’s story is told through flashbacks and her journey begins as a young kid who has lost her father and has taken refuge with her uncle. She learns dance from a very young age, makes her foray into theatre that leads her to the final destination — Cinema.

While it takes her some time to get enamoured with the spotlight, she hardly takes time to fall for the charming Gemini Ganesan.

Wooing her during the shooting of her first Tamil movie, Manam pol Mangalyam (Marriage according to the heart… the coincidence), the chirpy Savitri receives her first shock with the revelation of Ganesan’s ‘marriage of convenience’ with Alamelu that has also seen him father a couple of children.

Dealing with the most-publicised and scrutinised romance of those times, Nag Ashwin hits the notes perfectly scene after scene while establishing the magnanimity of Savitri and the insecurity of Ganesan.

Despite Ganesan being the antagonist of sorts in Nag Ashwin’s retelling of the Savitri story, there is a sense of genuineness in Dulquer’s portrayal of the flawed superstar.

Among many standout scenes in the first half, there is one particular moment where Ganesan and Savitri discuss Devadas and he uses this moment to subtly break the news of his marital status. In that moment of heightened emotion, Dulquer delivers a killer line that was beautifully subtitled (As always brilliant Rekhs and team) as “If a married man falls in love, is the litmus test for his love or his marriage”

Dulquer stands tall in a thankless role that vilifies Ganesan without giving him any space to say his side of the story. However, it does make sense because this movie is about Savitri and in her story, there is just one man who is both the hero and the villain — Gemini Ganesan. It is disappointing how the movie shies away from exploring Savitri’s relationship with other actors and actresses. Was she actually this aloof and lonely?

But, the movie hardly wavers from shining the spotlight on its titular star. She is either present in every frame or is referenced to in every frame or her shadow looms large on the proceedings of a story far away from hers.

The filmmakers’ decision to portray Madhuravani as the Eklavya to Savitri’s Dronacharya in her journey to self-realisation, freedom, and breaking the shackles of patriarchy and societal rules, is an answer to questions that might crop up asking the need for this biopic.

Madhuravani’s scenes are also some of the most well-picturised portions of Mahanati and Samantha as the feisty journalist nails an epilogue towards the end of the movie that establishes her as a worthy actress. Her acceptance to play second fiddle in this movie requires special mention too. As mentioned in the Rangasthalam review, Samantha does seem to feel more at home in Telugu cinema.

The grainy texture of the time period adds value to her sketchy relationship with Anthony (Vijay Devarakonda), who assists Madhuravani in her discovery of the Savitri people didn’t know.

Every frame in this movie tells a story and special mention to the cinematographer Dani Sa-Lo for taking the audience to the times of LV Prasad, Nagi Reddy, Chakrapani and SV Ranga Rao. In addition, the lighting and framing in the end portions where we don’t fully see Savitri’s face when she makes her dramatic fall from grace is brilliant.

If Dani ensured the movie looked like a painting, it is Mickey J Meyer’s music that adds soul to it.

The clear pick of the album is Mooga Manasulu, sung by Anurag Kulkarni and the inimitable Shreya Ghoshal. The song that is used to exemplify the romance between Ganesan and Savitri has an other-worldly feel to it that somehow brought to mind the iconic lines from the Kamal Haasan-movie Guna — “Idhu manidhar unarndhukolla manidha kaadhal alla, adhayum thaandi punidhamaanadhu“(This is not a love that will be understood by mere mortals. This is a love that is purer than any love known to humanity)

However, the Bahubaliesque title song is the high point of Mahanati. The lyrics and picturisation appropriate the rampant hero-worshipping culture in Indian cinema and turns it on its head to provide a glimpse into the life of an actress nonpareil in South Indian cinema.

Despite all its positives, Mahanati is a film riddled with cliches.

There is the unprecedented rise. There is the deifying of a person. There is the proverbial downward spiral and there is the rags-riches-rags trope.

However, if a life abided by most of the cliches, then there is little else one can do.

Savitri’s story from being a wide-eyed teenager who comes to Madras to become an actress, her secret marriage to Gemini Ganesan, becoming one of the most respected actresses ever in Indian cinema, her personal family problems to subsequent alcoholism and bankruptcy is something that apparently everyone knows but none speaks about.

Nag Ashwin takes 176 minutes to etch this story for posterity and uses some of the best Telugu actors to give the movie a sense of authenticity. (But, a case may be made about the complete disregard for her Tamil cinema career. )

With a talented and stellar star cast that boasts of names like Mohan Babu, Prakash Raj, Tanikella Bharani, Rajendra Prasad and Naga Chaitanya, the director ticks all the right boxes.

His masterstroke, however, lay in the decision to cast a few-films-old Keerthy Suresh in the role of Savitri in Mahanati.

There cannot be anyone who has followed the career of Keerthy, who wouldn’t have been miffed at Nag Ashwin’s choice. Her movie choices so far didn’t scream of an acting calibre to headline a movie titled Mahanati / Nadigaiyar Thilagam.

But didn’t we all just spectacularly go wrong.

Right from the time she playacts in her village drama till the moment she takes to the bottle and portrays an alcoholic who is slowly losing the grip on her life, Keerthy embodies the role of Savitri.

This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and Keerthy has grabbed it with both hands to deliver a nuanced performance that is set to define her career from this moment onwards. However, with the movies that she has signed, it is clear that Keerthy is moving back into her comfort zone. But, having seen the performer in her, it is evident that in the hands of the right director, Keerthy can be a revelation. It would also hold her in good stead if she follows the very advice she mouths in Mahanati — “Do some movies for the audience and do some movies for the actor in you.”

The 2015 movie Uttama Villain dealt with the concept of immortality and in my write-up on the same, I’d called it a delectable tale about the trappings of a star and the wish to remain immortal, albeit in the memory of generations to come.

Kamal Haasan playing a dying superstar asks his guru Margadarsi to direct a film for him and says, “Enna makkal marakkaama irukka oru padam” (A movie to ensure people don’t forget me).

With Mahanati, Keerthy and Nag Ashwin have ensured that they have delivered a movie that will ensure the legendary actress Savitri will not be forgotten.

And for that, Thank You Keerthy and Ashwin.