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Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Urumi



History says that Vasco Da Gama contracted malaria soon after arriving in Goa on his third voyage to India and died in the city of Cochin on Christmas Eve in 1524. But in Santosh Sivan's Urumi, Gama is a blood hounding invader (contrary to his normal perception by non-Keralites as merely a sailor) killed by a young man seeking revenge for his father's death. When Prithviraj was asked about toying with history in the movie, he quipped – There is speculation about how Vasco died. The most commonly accepted theory is that he was killed by malaria. But if Quentin Tarantino can have Hitler killed in a theatre, this is our take on how Vasco died.

The film starts in the present day with two vagabonds Krishna Das (Prithviraj) and his friend (Prabhu Deva) being offered a huge price for Krishna Das’ ancestral property in Kerala. On his arrival in Kerala to sign the papers, he learns the truth about his land and ancestors, which is told in a flashback. Sivan tries to create a moral fable here comparing the two eras but I don't think that the movie needed this ethical posturing.

Chirakkal Kothuwal (Arya), a warrior and commander of the Arakkal kingdom, is killed by the tyrannical Vasco da Gama, the Viceroy of Portuguese Empire in India. His son Chirakkal Kelu Nayanar (Prithviraj) swears revenge and is supported by his childhood Muslim buddy Vavvali (Prabhu Deva) as they set out on their mission. Kelu and Vavvali join the service of Chirakkal Thampuran (probably a Naduvazhi and not a king) and along with the fearless Arakkal Ayesha (Genelia D'Souza), they attempt to create a force to attack the Portuguese.

The action in the palace of Chirakkal Thampuran provides a slice of the politics of the period; the Thampuran does not want to remain subservient to the foreigners but he has to contend with the likes of the ambitious Chirakkal Prince and his scheming adviser Chenichery Kurup who have different agendas. Jagathy as Chenichery Kurup offers a lesson in understatement but over achievement as a conniving effeminate Brihannala-character who is clearly smarter than the king but is forced to play out his ambitions through the meek Prince. Amol Gupte as Chirakkal Thampuran enjoys the regal powers and believes that he has a mind of his own but when the true realization dawns, it is too late. It would have been tempting for both these characters to go overboard but they tread carefully with marvellous restraint.

The promos of Urumi suggest a theme of vendetta – The boy who wanted to kill Vasco Da Gama. Revenge is a dish best served cold and so Kelu waits for 22 long years for Vasco to return to Kerala so that he could avenge his father's murder. His Urumi is made from the ornaments of dead women and children who were burnt alive in a ship that was going to Mecca, under Gamma’s orders (a nod to Shakuni’s dice in Mahabharata!).

However, the movie slowly carves out a nationalistic path for itself involving multiple characters to give it a pan-Kerala theme and a secular appeal by showing inter-religious love. In Sivan’s words – History is written by the victors, the powerful who won. So was Da Gama a brave explorer or a invader after gold? The film is about a failed rebellion against the Portuguese that happened in the 15th century. So, an assassination plot by a young boy is eventually re-invented as a patriotic theme where Muslims, Christians and Hindus all combine to attempt to overthrow the Portuguese yoke. But at the end of it all, we do not know what happens in the battle, except ofcourse that Kelu achieves his goal. 

Sivan wants to make a Pazhassi Raja out of Kelu but despite its dramatic tone and fantastic concept, the movie is quite self-conscious and not very engaging. The presence of the hunk Kelu is almost distracting; he is not much of a leader and is more at ease exhibiting his fighting prowess and draws more attention to himself than he would ideally want to. The action scenes are primarily choreographed in slow motion which unfortunately does not create the tempo that they deserve. They look like post cards with bright photos than battle-scarred scenes that they could have been. The songs stick out like sore thumbs and the movie needed crisp editing to reduce its rather long duration of three hours.

Prabhu Deva serves as an earthy, pragmatic and smart character and the writer gives him the best lines but the script does not demand much from the female characters. Ayesha of Arakkal is a warrior princess and  Genelia puts in effort to shed her sweet image and attempt daredevil stunts, playing a mercenary. Gladly the director does not attempt to define her marital status wrt Kelu even though the relationship is clear; this is partly aided by the fact that marriage as an institution was not so sanctimonious those days in Kerala.

Nithya Menon's role is only to partner Prabhu Deva; she is well-endowed, entertains and has her moments but has nothing else to do. Vidya Balan is supposed to be a Bhagavati in the temple who guides the hero but a song and dance which attempts titillation is the best that she is offered. It does not help that the Malayalam dubbing for the characters is out of sync, making us cringe at the paucity of Malayalam speaking actresses.

For a movie that looks at exploring the lives of the people of a definite era, Urumi does not dwell much into the social, economic and religious life of the age – these could help in understanding the nature of the struggle better. Considering the fact that the concept of a nation was not very clearly ingrained then, it is not entirely clear on what drew the poor into the struggle. I assume that both the Naduvazhis and the Portuguese suppressed them and so the nationalist feelings would be difficult to comprehend. Religious conflicts were probably not so acute but the presence of Muslims (Arakkal) and Christians (Local Syrian Christians vs Portuguese Roman Catholics) suggest that the lines were being drawn for larger conflicts.

Urumi is an attempt at historical fiction; so the writer moves out of the confines of historical accuracy and stretches his imagination to soar along with Sivan’s camera. It allows him to develop Gamma's son's character, play around with the role of native chieftains in the struggle and even make a one-man fictional odyssey into a mini-war of Independence. It has limitless possibilities of re-interpretation of facts but he isn't interested in history and is happier to let Kelu guide the story rather than be a part of a larger chain of events (of course, it is the director's prerogative to show us what he wants to tell but I'd love to see more on the trade conflicts and political rivalry on the ground).

While the visuals work overtime to take you to 15th century Kerala, the plot does not get you a feel of the palace intrigues of a bygone era. There is treachery and intrigue but they lurk at the background and every time you expect the script to kick off, it moves languorously focusing on Kelu and Vavaali’s antics. There are times when you are compelled to be tuned into the intrigue behind this fascinating premise called Urumi (it remains a premise) but when the camera lingers along for a longer time and asks you to keep staring at the visuals, you know where Sivan’s loyalties lie.

I guess that when you go to a Santosh Sivan movie, you know that the optics takes over everything else; in that sense, he is influenced by Mani Ratnam's last few movies. The fact that the concept of a historical germinated during the making of Raavanan adds to that style. So you have great locations, authentic costumes (though I am not sure of the genuine nature of the sub-cast), sweeping visuals which demand attention and awe, magnificent sound recording, apt songs which unfortunately only ebb the flow of the movie and a hype which brings in expectations that are never fully met.

Urumi is commendable considering the complexity and ambitious scale involved in marrying history and fiction but I fancy Sivan will be more at home weaving fantasies than probing history...

***Portuguese officers speaking in their language gave it an authentic ring but why were the sub-titles in English only? Hope the print had both English and Malayalam sub-titles when it was released in Kerala.

16 comments:

  1. Many likes to all your movie reviews..Would love to read about 'Traffic' and 'Devadoothan'

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  2. "Gama is a blood hounding invader (contrary to his normal perception by non-Keralites as merely a sailor) killed by a young man seeking revenge for his father's death." - This is not true. Gama is not killed by Kelu in 'Urumi'. Moreover, before Kelu reaches the place, a mosquito bites Gama and he says 'bloody mosquitoes'. I think, the makers of the film also believes Gama is killed by Malaria, Kelu tried to kill him but did not succeed. Prithvi's interview bit, he was not expected to reveal the climax in an interview, no? He was only suggesting, it is not a crime to show Gama's death like that.
    --

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  3. @Haree: Am not very sure the director intended malaria when Gama says 'bloody mosquitoes'. Don't think it never looked like Gama was not killed by Kelu; I am surprised by that thought...

    Am fully with Prithvi's vision to bring a fictional twist to history except of course, vision did not entirely work with me.

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  4. Any how it was true that Kelu the charactor failed to full fill his deed.........
    Gama flagged the fame....

    all these are challenging us to be {atleast} a mosquito infront of all the Modern Gama's...

    Can you.....?

    Can I ....?

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  5. hi sonny boy :)
    After a long time - sorry to hog your comment space for catching up like this, how have you been?
    Kavs

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  6. Hi Mom:)Long time...All fine here with me and Sangeetha in Mumbai; not heard from you for a pretty long time; not in India, I think..

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  7. Dear E. Pradeep,

    Urumi is a story that has traces of historical insights, however primarily and secondary the movie is purely friticional with no relations to actual events happened. Perhaps it has taken history just as a platform to build a castle of friticional story, which I have explained in another blog- http://varnachitram.com/2011/04/24/historical-inaccuracies-in-urumi/

    But I wish to point out some flaws in your blog's review or comments.

    1. Chirakkal is not a small Naduvazhi, rather a powerful kingdom comprising all areas from north of Tanur in modern Kozhikode district to Mangalore with parts of Coorg in east. The dynasty is known as Mooshika Kolathiri dynasty which has directly inherited its legacy from Chera dynasty. The current town of Chirakkal in northern Kannur and Ezhimala was their capital.

    Untill 17th century, this dynasty was better known as Kolathiri and kingdom as Kolathunadu. Contrary to what shown in movie, Kolathunadu was a staunch ally of Portuguese and main source for Portuguese for ginger and cardamoms, though Portuguese primary interest the Black Pepper were not of as good quality as that of Kozhikode's spice market.

    2. Arrakkal, the only Muslim Kingdom of Kerala was formed by Kolathiri to accommodate its princess who was married to a Muslim, to enjoy regal status. The current city of Kannur was capital of Arrakkal along with provinces of Lakshadweep and Maldives. Arrakkal also enjoyed good relationships with Portuguese, primarily because Portuguese used Arrakkal's influence in Kozhikode's Arab spices market to procure the high quality black pepper.

    3. In real history, the fight against portuguese was primarily initiated by Kozhikode's Samoothiri Raja due to initial behaviour of Portuguese traders at Zamorin's court and other events, which even include Vasco's ship burning incidents. I must say, in those days, poor peasants never involved in fights against Portuguese, as they were not affected much as Portuguese used to procure spices either directly from them at market rates (which is still profitable for them) or from third parties.

    The struggle was primarily between Nobles and traders against portuguese. Muslims, particularly Arabs were damn against Portuguese due to two reasons- Portuguese direct sea route trade affects their monopoly trading rights in the lucrative spice routes and secondly the strong anti-Christianity (read Catholicism) prevalent among Arabs due to Crusades.

    Syrian Christian (Kerala's indigenous Nasaranis) were also against Portuguese as their forcible attempt to convert them into Catholics and learning Latin rites.

    Historically several times Portuguese face strong opposition against them, primarily from Zamorin's forces who also secured support of Turkey Sultan, Egypt's Mamluks and Oman pirate forces. The frequent wars against Portuguese in Kerala, only forced them to shift their capital/base to Goa.

    The only people who supported Portuguese in Kerala were Kochi Royal family supported by Kochi Nair force and Kolathiri (Chirakkal- due to trading rights).

    4. Vasco's death was due to Malaria. Those days Malaria was widespread and in 1524 Vasco da Gama was already in his 60s, which makes him too fragile for resisting then-the deadly diease like Malaria. However the movie depicts it wrong as in 1524 Vasco first reached Goa where he spend a few months and proceeded to Kochi, as invited by Kochi Raja. He reached Kochi in 23rd Dec 1524 and died the very next day.

    Also Vasco's son Estave Da Gama never visited Kerala, though once he was appointed as High Captain of Indian Seas (by then the base was shifted to Goa). Estave got a chance to became Viceroy of Portuguese India in late 16th century, but by the time Dutch already took over most of Portuguese possessions in Kerala.

    Anyways, the movie was a visual treat, though never a historical movie in any senses... Perhaps we can call Modern Kunchacko (Udaya) kind of movies

    Arun Mohan

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  8. Arun,

    I am glad that you have taken pains to provide a more historical perspective of the times in which Urumi is set, in various online forums. I had read your comments in Varnachitram too which came out before the full fledged article but I have my misgivings on the criticism of the movie based on that.

    Neither Sivan nor the blogger in me claim that this is historically true; an attempt was made to take a certain period and weave a story around it. Gamma died due to malaria and so the story would never have existed but this is just a cinematic attempt to create a fictional plot as mentioned in the first paragraph of the review. Quentin Tarantino uses the same creative licence in ‘Inglorious Bastards’ where Hitler is killed in a theatre; if that can be appreciated, why not Urumi (only comparing the intent and not the actual movies)?

    I have read Prof. Sreedharan’s- Political History of Kerala and brushed up my reading on the Portuguese period again before the review and clearly there are historical differences but history and art are different. Considering the fact that Sivan never intended to interpret the actual chain of events, historical inaccuracy is not necessarily a problem.

    If the movie intended to be true to historical events, your points may be valid enough. Even then, perspectives can be different; after all in Oru Vadakkan Veeragatha and Randamoozham, MT interprets several popular ideas/characters differently but that does not mar the movie/book in that sense.

    You say – ‘But I wish to point out some flaws in your blog's review or comments’. The review was done of the movie as an experience and not of the authenticity of the historical events behind it. A reviewer ideally must look at the movie through the eyes of what the director intended to depict and not what he expects or wants the movie to depict. Prithvi and Sivan wanted to create a historical fiction with the backdrop of the Vasco Kerala trip. I don’t see why there is a flaw in either the movie or the review on those grounds.

    I don’t think that I have claimed anywhere that all or any of the events depicted are true; in fact the review says – ‘Urumi is an attempt at historical fiction; so the writer moves out of the confines of historical accuracy and stretches his imagination to soar along with Sivan’s camera. It has limitless possibilities of re-interpretation of facts but he plays safe and is happier to let Kelu guide the story rather than be a part of a larger chain of events (of course, it is the director's prerogative to show us what he wants to tell but I'd love to see more on the trade conflicts and political rivalry on the ground).’

    Regarding the struggle, the review says –‘ For a movie that looks at exploring the lives of the people of a definite era, Urumi does not dwell much into the social, economic and religious life of the age – these could help in understanding the nature of the struggle better. Considering the fact that the concept of a nation was not very clearly ingrained then, I am not entirely clear on what drew the poor into the struggle. Religious conflicts were probably not so acute but the presence of Muslims (Arakkal) and Christians (Local Syrian Christians vs Portuguese Roman Catholics) suggest that the lines were being drawn for larger conflicts’. This probably goes along with your point-3 that you raised.

    The one point where I accept your point of criticism is calling Chirakkal a Naduvazhi and not a king. But I mentioned this as a Naduvazhi primarily because the movie did not do enough to suggest it as a kingdom and the atmosphere seemed to be a smaller chieftain, rather than a king.

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  9. Dear Pradeep,

    I was not criticizing you or your review. I was pointing out the flaws in movie, which gives a wrong impression to public. Well, no-one expects a commercial movie to be 100% historical fair... But when talking about history, especially when certain real historical events/characters/families are mentioned, the script must be atleast 50% to history.

    MT have never changed history when using his style of tale-telling for Oru Vadakkan Veeragatha or PazhassiRaja. Rather he simply changed the context or viewpoint or hidden certain facts for the story. Example in Oru Vakkan Veeragathan, every single sequence shown were true to events happened, but told in viewpoint of other person that justifies his actions. Likewise in Pazhassiraja he has kept mum about Pazhssi's Pro-British stance during war against Tipu's rule in Kerala, by changing the story telling to post-Tipu period

    Both both historical stories, only ending (how protagonist/antagonist died) got changed to cinematic liberties, not the events...

    Urumi has done the other way. It changed the history. Its just telling Gandhi used AK47 and Gurellia war-fare against British to achieve Indian Independence... We can't call that cinematic liberties.

    Quentin Tarantino used imaginary characters and plots where most of the characters are 90% imaginary, barring Hitler.. Whereas in Urumi, except Prithiviraj's character most of others were real life characters. Arrakkal and Chirakkal are still widely respected royal families in Kannur. How can they tell a story involving heads of these real-life families in a totally negative contexts?

    The problem of Urumi, is that it feeding a historical awareness starved population with totally wrong information and fooling them with mere visual techniques.

    Anyway nice to see people like you making aware of real history and considering it in your valuable review. Nice to see your write ups and please continue so.....

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  10. Dear Arun,
    Even in MTs screenplay there was a change made in the concluding part which elders still debate on. Pazhassi Raja died after swollowing a gem on his finger ring and Chandu had killed Aromal which the history and the vadakkan paatu says. Is it true

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  11. Urumi will be released in Telugu now. Before going to watch the movie I wanted to read the review about the movie. This was helpful, now I dont have intentions to go to the movie if its not related to the history. But I just have one question how come the Muslim Princess of 15th century is so scantily dressed in the movie. I dont think that there were any hair removal creams or waxing during those days. and the woman would not even clean their armpits

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  12. I thought it was rather cool. But I would have enjoyed it even more if the near ending was happy.

    Question: Kelu died before marrying so how come he has descendants?

    And the girl is crazy is that why she can see him like decades after his death.

    Bit confusing but superb climax.

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  13. Its as usual that an elephant can be the mighty but an ant can make it die. Likewise the Gama was powerful but a mosquito less than 1cm killed him. What a Joke. But Did someone existed as Kelu Nayanar?? If really it must be great so we can change the date of India's first Independance War to Many years before.

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  14. The movie was absolutely fantastic! and its not about the insignificant "details" of the so called "history" that matters - It is the moral.  You have to be totally unpatriotic and totally deluded to not see what the movie is attempting to tell India, the present India in the here and now. 

    Those who don't learn from their mistakes are condemned to repeat it. Thats what I got from watching this movie.  Now, go figure it all out and save what you can before its too late.

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  15. Glad that Santosh Sivan found one 'nationalist' admirer for this work! Thanks for certifying people with a different opinion on the movie as unpatriotic and deluded - would I not be surprised if you'd have felt anything else?

    Anyway, as a viewer, I try to understand the craft that went into the movie and did not find the moral (if any) in it but if you have, please proceed to learn your lessons, without patronizing the rest of us.

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  16. During last decade of 19th century ie during 1890's a man called C.V.raman pillai who was living kerala wrote a novel,a historical romance.it was one of the first novels in Malayalam.the novels name is marthanda varma-the famous king of travancore who enlarged travancore to a bigger country and made it strong with new revenue administration .he also weakened the feudal system there which was slowly emerged and formed from 14th century.C.V.Raman was very high caste spirited person (as was like many at the time.even now its said that nairs are the most caste spirited persons in kerala ).so he named all the important characters of the novel with surname pillai, some of the characters were real historical figures .they too were christian-ed with pillai surname.this novel was very popular and was taught in schools and colleges(even now) .many thought foolishly that it was the real history.but actually many characters were his creation which he thought needed for a love story.he knew many folk songs and from that he formed his own story.some parts of these songs are including at the start of each chapter.

      Many after reading this novel tried to read the history accordingly ,doing so they corrupted the real history.as all know kerala people is very caste spirited specially the upper castes and christians.the caste organizations of kerala also tried to make profit from this novel.and thus when the real social history surfaces many people find it difficult to believe and accept.

       The author C.V.Raman was a learned man .but at his time travancore state government jobs were mainly given to tamil bhrahmins.new educated malayalees wanted to have jobs in government and they organised and started demanding this need.a memorandum was submitted to king which was signed by thousands demanding appointment of malayalees in administrative jobs of travancore.but it was rejected.later some relaxation was given.many ezhavars awere also signed in that memorandum including Doctor Pulpu ,one of the great reformation personalities of kerala,along with the nairs and others.when government began to accept malayalee youngsters to service,ezhavar and other castes were denied this right.it was like a 100% reservation for the upper class,mainly benefited by nairs.it aroused a new hate and separation between nairs and ezhavars who were now in obc list and were untouchables at the time. but ezhavars were already organised and actively taking part with the reform movements of sndp .nairs and bhrahmins lagged back and were clinging tight to the old customs.many learned persons from upper class including nairs and bhrahmins were actually part of the reform movements and were working even with sndp .eventually removements started in upper class and new organisations were formed.nairs were so few in number.so many small castes , sects and groups joined together and took the umbrella name nairs and formed the organistion named nair service society(nss).after the formation of nss many sects were included in it.eventhough it was a organization meant for the modernization or civilizisation as explained by its leaders at that time ,it eventually became involved in politics after independance and is the most benefited caste organization in kerala.

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