Trails of symbolism in Mamannan

   

   From Pariyerum perumal,Mari Selvaraj has been mounting on the ladder with his soul searching struggle against casteism and suppression of the socially downtrodden section,with his keen perception of the inbuilt issues ailing the underprivileged.

  From a denial of friendship with a person of the lower caste in his first film,Selvaraj pushed the enslaved sections of society to claim their rights for road trasnport and their rights to take part in temple rites in Karnan.Mamannan takes them closer to their rights for legitimately sharing the seats of power,breaking the shackles imposed by the middle level casteist forces, functioning under the banner of social justice. 

  Mamannan is a visual treat in symbolism. Scenes without dialogues step up a sensational vigour,through display of dogs versus the pigs,implying the inherent beastly element of caste supremacy and the silent aggression against caste enslavement of society's tail end,by cautiously controlling the wagging tail.Even the dogs here are shown only as agents of brutality,unscrupulously manitained and managed by the middle rungs of the caste ladder.

  The pigs might be killed and their sty might be vandalized;but a single piglet will remain to affirm the fact that the struggle for equality in survival is an unending process.George Orwell rightly said in his Animal Farm that "All are equal;but some are more equal than the others".The overall indicator of caste equality shows that the boghey of social justice still keeps its tail end standing,so that the face and body of humanity can prevent its tail from wagging.

  Selvaraj is a keen narrator of reality through the medium of cinema.His three films {Pariyerum Perumal,Karnan and Mamannan},have poignantly established his conviction to picturise with least deviation,his social sense of responsibility and his unrelenting creative urge to realise his social responsibilty.He has been consistently taking up this social mission of caste equality,by letting the dogs and the pigs to participate in the horse race for equality,so that the horse alone need not carry the pride of the race to the top rung of the social ladder.

   There is a lot to say about Mamannan.It is a film dedicated to the purpose of its theme through honest narration.It is a film pulling the actors to a categorical performance without their label or name as actors.Vadivelu,Udhayanidhi,Fahad Fazil and Keerthi Suresh all merge with and dissipate into their characters. Vadivelu will outlive his actor image as a proclaimed comedian and stay fixed to audience memory as the MLA Mamannan, allowed only to stand in the power game and never let to participate in the race for power.Udhayanidhi as Adhiveeran will be remembered as the aggressive beat and pulse of his father,reflecting the inner cry for self identity.

  Fahadh Faasil will be ever recalled as the recalcitrant Rathnavelu holding the pride of power centre,never willing to give in his prime caste image,though ready to compromise his self-esteem with his social equals. Geetha Kailasam as Veerayi and wife of Mamannan,Keerthi Suresh as Leela and Raverna Ravi as Jothi will remain as the submissive and strong mind frames of the caste and gender suppressed women folk.

  Each actor becomes a character and each character symbolises a concept.In totality the film facilitates the scope for a vision of the social justice preamble encompassing the mission for making justice and equality as the two legs,not let to stand perpetually, but fit enough to find their track and run the race for achieving independence and individuality.

   A.R.Rahman is a musical facilitator of the theme,content and conquest of equal human rights through true social justice. The only inconsistency in Mamannan is the latent cinematic thrust embedded in narration that makes it different from the more true-to-life Karnan.But it is this cinematic thrust that makes the audience glued to the screen,big or small.

Courtesy:- Netflix.