Thoovanathumbikal

I remember the song...”Onnam ragam paadi..onnine maathram thedi.." I used to cry when I was a kid of 3-4 years old to hear that song again and again without knowing that there was no rewinding in radio. That was my favorite song those days. No. Perhaps I can say that was the song which I could recognize as the first song of my life which I discovered to sing by myself.

That song became dearer to me when I saw Mohanlal in it. Our whole family are real Mohanlal fans. For us, when we grew up Mohanlal became Lalettan among our cousins. And our life in Thrissur became yet another factor for this movie to catch my soul. I was in love. No, not 'was', I’m in true blind love with my town, the typical Thrissur slang, the Thrissur Round and Vadakkumnathan Temple... I can breathe easily there...

It was during my B.com 2nd year that I joined NIIT. I got some pretty good friends there. Rakesh, Saneesh, Jaggoo, Venkidi, Rahul a.k.a Committee, Rashid, Geo, Sreekesh and Sreenath. As like in all the students gang, movies used to be the main topic for our hot discussions during the intervals and other leisure hours. But the factor to be noticed was, never ever was it about the current releases. It always used to be about the classics that had been made in Malayalam. We were crazy about Padmarajan and Bharathan movies. Those were a set of real good days.

In the duo, Padmarajan stood a little higher among us. Again a reason was born which brought Thoovanathumbikal closer to me. It will be suicidal if i just say that it’s a good movie. It’s a class. With no similarities, without minding any bloody criticisms, a story like a river...an essence like a poem…that is bold, beautiful and strong from all possible view points. Both the protagonists, Jayakrishnan and Clara possess a multi faceted outfit. Though Jayakrishnan was a real life character, the moulding by Padmarajan and the rendering by Mohanlal was simply brilliant. And Clara...what to say about that character. She is the linchpin of the story. You can also see Padmarajan beautifully signing this classic with rain which makes a cameo appearance in the movie.

Even though I told all these, I have only seen this classic bits and pieces during those days. i never got a chance for seeing it in a stretch until I bought the CD with brother-in-law, Dineshettan from Music Park, Thrissur. Thank God..!! For we have so many crazes in common. Like…the films of Mohanlal, sound of Yesudas…and it goes on. Since then I don’t know how many times I have watched this film. That is one of those classic movies I have in my mobile also, since there are some things I would like to be with me wherever I go.The story depicts a friendly, sincere and virile man and his resolutions, his crazes and so on. It’s a true story with a handful of class artists and shockingly brilliant sequences. Another major factor was the locations, that was naturally natural.I reckon…, the theory of diminishing marginal utility taught in our economics class turns out to be something meaningless every time I watch this movie. Each time the satisfaction climbs a never ending sky. There is no saturation.

Every time I see this flick there is a sense of contentment .I think the climax has a lot to do with this. The movie keeps haunting me for hours after I watch it and this happens every single time. Especially the background score...WOW!!

I couldn’t help feeling nostalgic.... I am satisfied yet another time…

Thoovanathumbikal..."Butterflies of the spraying rain"....