Mohanlal Movie 'Vaanaprastham': Critique

Kunzhikuttan(Mohanlal) is an individual who's learnt Kathakali against all odds. And he is in absolute love with his art and so completely devoted to it that his name is now taken with respect. His only failing is in the fact that he is an alcoholic. Though one can very clearly see that this is because he is in pain, a deep unsettling pain. Quite a difficult movie to understand. He is shown crying in the presence of his ailing father who it seems had left his mother. He is shown to be in deep pain, asking Narayana to help him handle such a difficult situation his heart is in, in a haunting scene.
The film also potrays the difficulties faced by the Kathakali artists who are not able to sustain their living purely on basis of the devotion to their art. A sad truth faced in the country today in the case of many other such arts too. But in this perspective the movie highlights a positive sign as Kunzhikuttan becomes popular performing abroad, etc.
The main plot of the movie is that Kunzhikuttan, part of an unhappy marriage with a sweet girl as child, falls in love with a woman(Suhasini Hassan) who falls in love with the Arjuna she sees Kunzhikuttan performing. And she has her deepest fantasies coming true when she makes love with this Arjuna.But this truth dawns to Kunzhikuttan when she refuses to meet him as an ordinary person. She also shows him the baby that is born only once, just before he's to play Arjuna,when he's complete in his costume.Never able to come to terms with this loss, he declares that he'll only play ferocious characters from now on. He eventually finds contentment when he goes on a pilgrimage to the holy places in the country after the death of his father.
A man who's not had the love of both his father and son, his pain is well depicted by Mohanlal. Unforgettable are many other scenes like the one when he last goes to meet his dear friend, the man who's sung for him for years as he played complex characters, who's now dying of cancer. Kunzhikuttan, as if to fulfill a purpose, teaches his daughter Kathakali inspite of the fact that his wife(who'd already learnt that he's cheated on her) is unwilling to take it anymore and leaves the house.Kunzhikuttan sends word to the mother of his boy that he'd be playing Arjuna during the "Aarengattum " of his daughter. She comes and sees him for the last time. She's shown erasing her Sindoor the next morning in a state of shock when she's learns through a letter from him stating that he'd be ending his life by immersing himself in the Prayag that night.
A lifetime impression is left in the soul by Mohanlal's performance of such complex character, one who's not materialistic, truly devoted to God, melancholic; someone who's a victim of his circumstances. CLASSIC is one word to describe the performance.
-- Published in http://www.mohanlalonline.com/movie-info.asp?dxv=231 3/28/2003 11:28:42 AM