Iruvar made my Pongal day memorable. It was 25 years back on a Pongal day, I hobbled on the steps of Woodlands Theater to see the film. ( I was in crutches and had two friends- RK and Charles as escort ). I wanted to see the film for two reasons - I was the first to break the story that it was a film on MGR- Karunanidhi and secondly Mohanlal was playing MGR under the direction of Mani Ratnam and Santosh Sivan was the cameraman.
I was sitting under a tree in Old Woodlands Hotel chatting with makeup man M O Devassia. He told me about doing the MGR type makeup for Mohanlal and the the details of it that took place in Merryland Studios at Trivandrum. He did not realise that the casual info he was passing was something that Tamil media was groping around. A heavily guarded secret. After it was published in front page of SCREEN , it was picked up by a top selling vernacular magazine. I remember Alai Osai Mani who known to break such news come up and congratulate me. I kept Devassia name out of it.
I went to Trivandrum and managed to enter Merryland studios. The part where Iruvar shoot was on but it was a no entry zone. There was nothing I could get. After this story, all media was about Karunanidhi then CM going to crush the film release. It is said that Vairamuthu the lyric writer of the film combed the film and after a few cuts, got ok from Karunanidhi.
I sat in the ground floor back row as I did not want to take steps to Balcony. As the show started, there was hardly anybody in the movie hall. After some time, a couple sitting in front of us started to get amorous. My pal got up and took a seat that had nobody sitting in front of him. The other pal told the couple to go elsewhere and continue.
Talking about the film's merits has no relevance - masterpiece of Mani Ratnam and best of Santosh's camerawork. The empty hall broke my heart and created a confusion - Are we critics far away from reality ?. Mani Ratnam continues to blaze on and Tamil cinema has come a full circle- now we have Thalaivi , a biopic on Jayalaaithaa. Looking back , I find it amusing that it was a Northern heroine who played Jayalalithaa , in both the films. Aishwarya Rai in Iruvar and Kangana Raut in Thalaivi.
For Iruvar failure, it was said that MGR - Karunanidhi fans were disappointed as no one emerged victorious, For the poor opening , it was said by casting Mohanlal- Aishwarya Rai , the film did not relate to Tamil audience. A day later `Bharathi Kannamma' was released and in Southern Districts of Tamil Nadu it created strong protests. It was about a Thevar girl falling in love with a Dalit youth, This film marked the entry of director Cheran and the controversy helped. If ManiRatnam did not subject to unofficial censoring it could have a been a hit ?. It could have been banned also. Kathalukku Mariyathaai which put Vijay on Superstar category released just before for Christmas , replaced Iruvar in many theaters. In the running was Ajith's Nesam for Pongal and failed to create a stir.
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