Vekkai – A Movie

Vekkai – A Movie

The novel Vekkai has spread the heat in my heart. As Stephen King says, “Books and movies are like apples and oranges. They both are fruit, but taste completely different.” The movie, Asuran directed by Vetrimaran and the novel, Vekkai written by Poomani are two different entities. I feel that Chidambaram, the son, has carried the novel to the front place. In the movie Father, Sivasamy does that instead of the son. Vetrimaran has changed a few things while adapting the novel into a movie.

Vekkai

The novel begins with the murder of Vadakkooraan. He is a symbol of power. The fifteen-year-old Chidambaram (addressed as Selambaram in the novel) and his father Sivasamy stay in hiding for the next eight days to escape the police. A dilapidated well in a desolate forest, a crevice in the mountains, a sugarcane plantation resounding with grunts of pigs, a hillock in the middle of a lake, and another in a farm, a deserted temple and a tree nearby. They keep wandering from one hideout to another until they decide to surrender in court. The novel shows father and son reminiscing and discussing their family history as they wander. These eight days make up the novel’s timeline. But anyone who reads the novel gets to know the intimate story of three generations of Chidambaram’s family. Poomani’s writing conveys to us that Chidambaram’s actions do not stand alone, they are a result of the scorching heat [vekkai] and violence that form a part of both the family and the landscape.

The novel begins with a scene recounted by fifteen-year-old Chidambaram, who has stabbed Vadakkooraan to death. Chidambaram mentions that he wanted to chop off Vadakkooraan’s hand, but the machete got stuck in his rib cage. He recalls how Vadakkooraan writhed and groaned like a sheep being slaughtered. He also talks about hurling hand grenades to create a smokescreen, to flee the villagers who chase after him. Despite having ample opportunity to vividly describe a gruesome murder, we notice right away that Poomani does not indulge in gratuitous violence. The author intends to enable readers to empathize with the character’s thoughts and the process of his rationalization.

The hallmark of good writing is to encourage readers to delve into a character’s thought process rather than appealing directly to their emotions. The rage in Chidambaram’s heart that instigated him to murder Vadakkooraan, who caused his brother’s death, may be interpreted by some as a violent thirst for revenge. But Poomani takes care to tell us that many years ago, Chidambaram’s father Sivasamy killed a person in a land dispute and underwent life imprisonment, implying that lives and their realities are often cyclical.

 Asuran and Vekkai

Vetrimaran’s screenplay contains some sequences that are not present in Poomani’s novel. Also, the film focuses on the topic of Panchami lands. The Panchami land is intended for distribution to oppressed castes. This was first put forth during British rule. While the novel placed the son at its centre, the movie makes the father the protagonist. Vetrimaran may have had his reasons for these changes. He might have felt this change was necessary to communicate the legitimacy and necessity of such violence and establish their relevance to current political developments. Apart from adding, Vetrimaran has removed a few things from the novel while adapting.

Vetrimaran remove and add in the movie

Almost 37 years after the book’s release, Vetrimaran brings to us Asuran. Vetrimaran brings a strong starring Dhanush and Manju Warrier, ably supported by Ken Karunas, Pasupathy and Teejay Arunachalam. Asuran has Vekkai as its backbone, creating a revenge drama that addresses land grabbing, oppression and caste politics set in the 60’s and ’80s. Asuran sets the tone of the movie with a crimson red title card symbolizing the bloodshed. The boiling revenge and the heat that engulfs the core of the movie. The opening shot is so beautiful both as a metaphor and as a scene. It shows the reflection of the tranquil moon in water, and in mere moments, gets muddied when a foot causes ripples. The life of Chidambaram’s family changes after the gruesome murder of their eldest son.

Point of View

Point of view refers to who is telling or narrating a story. A story can be told in three different ways: first person, second person, and third person.

Vekkai is told from Chidambaram’s point of view. It takes us through the journey of a father and son, everything they encounter, how they connect and bond over adversity. The reader sees the world through his eyes, his plight for life in their dialect, we are ignited by the heat that is in his heart and mind. Vetrimaran’s Asuran positions the father Sivasami as the central character. He is portrayed as a weak, cowardly, subdued human who protects his family by burying his anger, and ruthlessness. Dhanush is brilliant in the scene when his teenage son insults him by saying “I wish you were dead instead of my brave brother who stood up”, and he just stands there taking it all in, leading us into a Baasha-Esque moment in the pre-interval block. Both mediums showcase the unconditional love of a father, how he tries to shield his child from the harsh world, and the moral compass of parental responsibility, and his constant worry that violence and inequality have transcended generations.

What I like in the movie

In Asuran, I loved a few things too much. The movie revolves around two periods. During both, the period’s movie had two contents, one is a land dispute between zamindars or upper class and the working class. Another one, Slipper, in both the occasion characters use it to beat another character.

1. Panchami land

Panchami land is the assigned land which was distributed for Dalits in Tamil Nadu during the British rule in 1892. It can neither be sold nor re-classified. Murugan, Sivasamy’s brother, and Prakash Raj were canvasing with the rules of Panchami land to the village people during the flashback scenes. Even during the narration of the movie, the narrator talks to us through the movie dialogue, “Periya nelathu karagaeethachu seiyanam nu necha avaga nelathuku pakathula irukura china nelam tha theva paduthu(Sivasamy’s land).

2. Slipper

It talks about social hierarchy. It revolves around the movie. Pandi beats Mariyammal for wearing slippers. Later Young Sivasamy beats Pandi with slippers. Murgan beats Vadakuran with a slipper. While climbing the mountain Chidambaram says to his father that his legs are aching due to strong stones. Chidambaram ignores to wear slippers until Sivasamy narrates about young Sivasamy. I felt that the story is repeating in the movie.

3. The movie goes beyond teaching Chidambaram the value of education, justice, and liberty.

Poomani and Vetrimaran

Poomani stays clear of Caste politics and addresses only the class difference. Chidambaram does not understand identities, all he knows is how unfair it is that power favours a few. He needs to find justice in a world that denies him of the same and he resorts to violence to render the man powerless. Vetrimaran shows socio-economic inequality along with Casteism and untouchability issues. The entire flashback or the struggle for the Panchami land were never discussed in the novel.

Vekkai, glorified violence, where all the characters worship weapons. Chidambaram’s mother says, “I will hide a sickle under my saree and sever Vadakooran, I would rather go to jail than grieve my son’s loss”. Vetrimaran shows refrain in violence. Even though the young Sivasami, fights casteism with violence, he has been shown since then to fight the social hierarchy democratically and legally.

The History of Kilvenmani massacre

Vetrimaran has included the Kilvenmani massacre in the Asuran movie. I appreciate Vetrimaran for including the massacre in a sensitive way. To be specific, Mariyammal reveals that Pandiyan threw the two children into the fire again. This made Sivasami angry so he went in search of Pandiyan to kill. Mariyammal reveals these things before dying. Vetrimaran specifies this incident. I am quoting lines from new18 newspaper and Wikipedia,

“Two children thrown out from the burning hut in the hope that they would survive were thrown back into the flames by the arsonists. Of six people who managed to come out of the burning hut, two of whom were caught, hacked to death and thrown back into the flame.”

Constructing this scene on-screen is difficult. Vetrimaran has done it perfectly. He brings the revenge element into the movie along with history.

 The End

The novel ends with Chidambaram and his father, after many internal conflicts, coming to terms that what they have committed is a crime. Asuran creates a strong and lasting impact in its climax scene. Sivasami’s smile symbolizes the assertion in the often humiliating rebel. He stands dignified by fighting against the injustice that, with education, justice and liberty will be reinstated.

I found the novel, more internal, detailed, richer, and multi-layered experience. Through Chidambaram, he makes us see the difference between law and justice. He understands the foundation of violence that stems from generations of socio-economic oppression. Poomani’s ideology is evident through the conversations of the father and son, a need for the people to collectively organize themselves and fight against injustice that is deep-rooted in our society.

As I watched the movie, I could practically hear the pages of Vekkai turning in my head. But Asuran is unmistakably a Vetrimaran Universe, passionate, brutal, raw, hard-hitting, realistic and forbidding in nature.

The film stands tall and independent of the book. For someone who might not have read the book, the broader reach of the movie will urge the audience to pick up the book and read. Vetrimaran has done enough justice to the novel. But I felt incomplete while watching the movie after reading the novel. Vetrimaran has portrayed a brave mother and other women. Vetrimaran has ignored adding a character in the movie. Chidambaram’s aunt, Janaki was missing in the movie. In the novel, she is the peacemaker between father and son.

Everyone tries to watch the movie and read the novel once. If you haven’t watched the movie, read the novel and watch the movie. So, read the novel to know how the heat has travelled the land and watch the movie to know how the heat changed into a Demon(Asuran) or Destroyer(Asura avatar of a father).

The novel is on Kindle. Hard Copy cost 115rs.

Happy reading and watching the movie.