As I gear up for watching M. Manikandan’s latest film Kaidaisi Vivasayi, it is a good time to revisit one of his previous films Aandavan Kattalai (2016). To Gandhi and Pandi, two unemployed men in their thirties from a village in Madurai, London is the utopian space that holds the key to their happiness. Both of them are convinced that all their problems will be solved if they are able to land in London once.
One of the main arguments against this brilliant film is that Gandhi’s priorities suddenly change after meeting the theatre instructor at The Stray Factory, lovingly called ‘Master' by his students and staff members; and that by the end of the film, he completely loses sight of his primary goal of clearing his enormous debts. Gandhi’s loans, then, become what Baradwaj Rangan calls a case of a ‘MacGuffin’. According to critics, it is Gandhi’s loans that set the story spinning but ultimately is of no use in itself in the plot because the audience, by the end of the film, is not informed about how Gandhi would pay them back.
I beg to disagree with them. Gandhi’s loans come back time and again to haunt him till almost the end of the movie. There is a scene where his brother-in-law arrives in his workplace and creates a nasty scene regarding his loans [more about this in a while]. Towards the end of the film, when Gandhi comes under the scanner of the Intelligence Bureau, he begs the official not to drag him to his native village because he would be killed if he turns up there empty-handed.
If the second half of the movie is devoted to Gandhi trying to undo his ‘fraud’ [of attempting to fly to London on a tourist visa with the intention of taking up a job there] rather than actually working towards repaying his debts, it is because he cannot afford to lose his job at the Stray Factory. The Stray Factory is not only a workplace for him, but also his safe haven in Chennai. After arriving in Chennai, this is the first place that Gandhi and Pandi come to with the hope of staying there for a few weeks before moving to London. After he is rejected at the visa interview, Gandhi goes to Stray Factory again to see if he can get a job there as an accountant. So, when Gandhi leaves no stone unturned to remove the deliberate error from his passport, it is not only to save himself from sinking in Master’s estimates but also because he wants to tightly hold on to his last resort in this alien city. Even after Pandi is released by the IB officials, Gandhi takes him to Stray Factory for dinner. Telling Master the truth and getting fired was not even an option for Gandhi. Where else would he get a job in Chennai so quickly and that too according to his expertise?
Manikandan presents us with a spectrum. If Viji belongs to one end of the spectrum, Pandi belongs to the other end. And Gandhi belongs somewhere in the middle. All three of them are able to visit London. Viji not only goes to London fraudulently, but also adopts dishonest means to earn money. He is successful, and returns home with lots of money. On the other hand, Pandi returns with bruises all over his body, tortured, starved, and traumatised. Gandhi is a primary witness to both the ends of the spectrum. So, when Gandhi is finally able to visit London, his condition is neither like Viji nor like Pandi. He will neither be able to transform himself from a pauper to a prince nor end up in a deportation camp. And yet, he partly realises his London dreams, in the sense that he is able to visit London, not to earn money but as part of his job as the Manager of The Stray Factory. The film ends with Gandhi and Karmeghakuzhali’s marriage and Gandhi flying to London with his theatre group. In no way should these two events give us a sense of a happily-ever-after. Gandhi cannot escape his loans. He still has to return to India. He still has to deal with the moneylenders and his brother-in-law back home. On top of that, he has to help Pandi hire a lawyer. This happy ending does not solve every problem in Gandhi’s life. It is just a momentary deviation; a few moments of relief before he comes back to his otherwise difficult life again.
The first time Gandhi sees Karmegha, she is the middle of a press conference with a Minister. She boldly questions the minister’s regressive remarks about women’s clothing choices and how they lead to violence; then skilfully exposes his hypocrisy by showing on camera a picture of his elder daughter wearing a dress that Minister considers to go against ‘Tamil cultural values’; and then goes in a full-on fight mode with the Minister’s side-kicks by attempting to hit one of them who verbally abuses her. In the middle of the commotion, we learn that this is not a new thing for Karmegha, and that she always speaks up like this in every press conference that she attends. Nesan is horrified at her audacity [After all, how dare she talk to a Minister like this, that too being a junior journalist!]. Gandhi’s eyes, on the other hand, instantly light up. He is in awe of this woman. A few scenes earlier we had seen Gandhi showing a similar kind of audacity when he talks back to his brother-in-law. He demands that Gandhi clear his debts immediately and bring back his sister’s jewelleries that he had pawned. A furious Gandhi, in the heat of the moment, tells his brother-in-law that the jewelleries were given by their parents to her sister as part of her dowry— implying that he better not interfere in something that has not been bought with his money. Both these scenes are premised on violence against women— if Karmegha speaks up against slut-shaming, Gandhi speaks up against the dowry system that her sister and her family are victims of. If the Minister’s followers threaten Karmegha with physical assault, Gandhi’s brother-in-law threatens him with divorcing his sister. Beyond their obvious disgust with people who slurp their tea loudly and anguish on seeing the huge queue in the divorce court, what binds Karmegha and Gandhi together is also their audacity. As Rangan remarks— “Compatibility is a far better indicator of happily-ever-after than love at first sight.”
The film is stripped of an overt romance between its two leads. Love happens slowly, eventually; through silent admiration. Gandhi too, like every other hero, stalks Karmegha. But Manikandan takes this overused trope only to subvert it. Gandhi stalks Karmegha not to get her love but to get her documents so that he can bring himself out of the divorce-mess that he has landed himself into. These scenes do not become problematic probably because of how hilarious they are. Take for instance, the scene when Gandhi steals petrol from Karmegha’s bike only to hand her the bottle later to impress her to get her documents.
The title of the film is translated as 'God’s decree’ by Rangan. Throughout the film, nothing happens as planned. Gandhi and Pandi are unable to work in London. Gandhi perceives himself to be a way more suitable candidate for London, but to his disappointment it is Pandi whose visa application gets accepted and not his. Gandhi’s sister tells her husband that her brother has already left for London, and then, to her horror learns that his visa application has been rejected. Rajesh is sure that since he and Arthi are in love and have marriage plans, she would need some convincing before she actually agrees to play-act as Gandhi’s wife in court. But Aarthi instantly agrees without even the slightest bit of persuasion. All the efforts of Gandhi to disguise Aarthi as Karmegha in court goes in vain when she disappears in the washroom at the last moment. Master is unable to make Gandhi his son-in-law. Annadurai, the staff at the regional passport office, even after peddling lies to prove how intimidating the new Passport Officer is, is unable to stop Gandhi from visiting him. Gandhi and Karmegha appear for a divorce hearing even before their marriage. The supposedly 'fake' name of his non-existent spouse eventually becomes Gandhi's wife. Even after being almost on the verge of getting Karmegha's name removed from his passport, Gandhi proposes marriage to Karmegha. Everything in the universe of Aandavan Kattalai happens according to a preordained decree. Gandhi, too, will be able to clear his debts if he is meant to do so. His pillars of strength this time are his job with a steady salary, a supportive boss, and a feisty partner. Even if Gandhi is unable to fully deal with the loan-sharks back home, it can be safely assumed that Karmegha will deal with them.
Reference:
Bharadwaj Rangan’s review of Aandavan Kattalai on his blog and the comments below it.
The Hindi version, dubbed as Pappu Passport [don't know whether there is a political pun here or not, but it is indeed a terrible title] and released by Goldmines in 2020 is available on YouTube.
Kadaisi Vivasayi is streaming on SonyLIV.
Screenshots Courtesy: Jio Cinema
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