A truly Atrangi experience - Atrangi Re /Galatta Kalyanam movie review (SPOILERS INCLUDED)

 This is one of those movies that I have NO regret of watching in both Hindi and Tamil languages, and one I would definitely go see again! 

When I first saw the Trailers of Atrangi Re/Galatta Kalyanam (which I would refer to as ARGK here onwards for convenience) I was enraptured by the fact that Anand L Rai sir, Rahman sir, and Himanshu Sharma sir were coming together for a bilingual production; and then seeing Dhanush sir, Akshay sir and Sara as protagonists just sealed the deal for me. I knew this was going to be an indeed "atrangi" picture. 

The Tamil audio jukebox and background score became my go-to playlist every single day from during my morning runs to my commute-busters and evening-chill times. I enjoyed the Hindi songs as well, but I strongly felt that the Tamil language and its lyrics suited Rahman sir's melodies a little more. I first heard Chaka Chak in Hindi and then Chaka chakalati in Tamil and immediately fell for the latter. I was doused with a bout of nostalgia with Rahman sir's vibes of the 90s which I had not heard in some time. And then it was followed by Mannargudi, Kadhal solla mudiyadha (what a gorgeous melody) , followed by Murali Mogha which took the cake for me. I jammed the replay button so many times that my family questioned my sanity once jokingly. 

Before moving on to present my opinion of the movies which I had the opportunity of seeing yesterday, let me tell you how appropriate the songs were created to be. Listening to the playlist before watching the movie was an entirely beautiful experience of its own, but knowing the extremely "atrangi" story and heeding to the soundtrack thereon just made a lot of sense. Rahman sir has had made such amazing choices of playback singers in the Tamil soundtrack; for example, using Chitra amma's voice for Murali Mogha, and Mano sir for Mannargudi after so long, was just so refreshing! And then Yazin for KSM and Dhanush for Little Little - wow. 

I absolutely loved the video for Mannargudi, even before I saw the movie. It was not surprising to see that Ganesh Acharya ji choreographed the song- as those unique movements could only come from his incomparable dancer-mind. Then when I saw Murali Mogha's visuals it intrigued me to see Sara and Akshay sir in a slightly different avatar than what I've seen of the movie before.  After knowing what the story was it was so obvious and very heart-touching in experience.

I read a few reviews of ARGK before watching (without spoilers) but they half-heartedly stated that despite Sara and Dhanush's performances there was nothing much to see in the movie. After seeing ARGK I vehemently disagree. For me at least, there were plenty of factors in the movie which I enjoyed, and as I said before, I will have no hesitance to re-watch it whenever I get a chance to.

To begin with, the narrative of ARGK is a totally unique and incomparable one to any other of recent times. Blatantly addressing trauma, domestic abuse, honor killing, caste and creed discrepancies and filial wounds through a beautiful account of Vishu's exciting and heart-touching affections for the fire-cracker of a girl Rinku is completely atrangi. The almost-absurd and incredulous love triangle , when all pieces fall together, had an amazingly endearing after-effect in my heart. Beautifully written dialogues that are both edgy and deeply meaningful splashed the narrative with radiance. For instance, there are some extremely witty dialogues between VIshu and his best friend Dr Madhusudhan fondly refered to as MS, especially about VIshu's gender problem when using the Hindi language. 

Vishu's confession of love to Rinku in a complete gush of emotion articulated by him purely in Tamil, and Rinku's reaction to it (Sara's eyes did all the acting) was one of the best scenes of the movie. Dhanush is one fine actor and I think it's a universal piece of knowledge by now. I suppose his combined efforts with Anand sir after his epic portrayal of Kundan in Ranjhanaa is very much evident in every single scene of the movie. I really liked his reaction to Mandy's father when he treated Rinku aggressively , and then the moment where he decided to continue the act by telling Rinku that Sajjad is unharmed and will live. His little cute dance outside his dorm room when Rinku decided to join him to visit Tamilnadu for his engagement was one of the most endearing moments of the movie. Again, Dhanush is such a fine actor. There are actually very few actors in India who can portray their character's nuances without making it look even slightly artificial; and he's absolutely one of them. 

Akshay sir brought such joy to ARGK. His role as Sajjad - the mysterious enigmatic magician who only unravels himself fully at the very end of the movie, is so fresh and raw. Akshay sir gets many chances to showcase his sense of humour and wit which is actually part of his real self , which is aided by Sajjad's atrangi dress sense and his extremely joyful and love-for-life vibe throughout his scenes bringing so much elation to the audience. Mannargudi / Garda is a wonderfully uplifting song that suits Akshay sir very much. His performance especially as the young Sajjad reminded me of his 90s movies and it was such a refreshing and nostalgic encounter for me.

The best acting award of ARGK goes to Sara Ali Khan! I have loved the girl (and she's the only Bollywood star-kid of her generation that I admire the skills of ) since I saw Kedarnath (if you haven't seen Kedarnath- please watch it possibly BEFORE you see ARGK) and I see a LOT of potential Madhuri Dixit in her (nope not comparing Sara with THE queen of Bollywood, just saying she works hard as much as Madhuri ji does , visibly). Her moment of self-realization at the climax of the movie was portrayed so heartbreakingly well. One of my favorite scenes of her was the humorous yet serious conversation she had in the auto with Vishu as she ran off without signing her divorce papers ;my favorite lines being "Is it a crime that one girl can love two men at the same time?" to which Vishu responds"And did that one girl just had to be in MY life?!" Sara if trained and guided properly , is able to master roles beyond her age and experience, in my opinion. 

Rahman sir's background score was just a masterpiece. I almost felt like I was watching a European movie with a tangy edge of Indian-ness to it at certain points due to his expert ways of maneuvering new age fusion music. I doubt any movie is ever a success without an appropriate background score after all, and when Rahman sir is given the job then I doubt that any filmmaker has a concern about how expressively and explicitly extraordinary their audio-visual experience can be. My favorite BGM moments of the movie were, 1. Vishu's jig of glee outside his dorm room , 2. Vishu's next jig in the railway station washroom as he fully realized the truth about Sajjad, and 3. The climax scene when Vishu carried Rinku out of the station with the simultaneous scene of little Rinku carried out of the crime-scene by her father. 

The symbolism of ARGK was enchanting. Beginning from the Train-rides, all turning points of the plot taking place in railway stations, to the usage of rains, weather-changes, and color and camera-angles, the intriguing and involving plot was colored in by adequate allegories. I starkly recall how colorizing shifted from Rinku to her mother defining their similarities yet difference in mental states. I particularly like the scene where a taali of scattered sindoor and flowers lay on the floor next to Rinku's mother herself splayed across a charpoy as the child cuddled up to her , the former's maang carelessly strewn with sindoor- parallelizing it with Rinku's wedding scene when Vishu smeared hers with the same.  The colors used in those two scenes showcased the uncanny connection between mother and daughter, and simultaneously their differences. 

Overall, ARGK was one of the most interesting and captivating movies I have seen yet. I do feel it isn't for everyone though. The discourse about mental health and related concerns portrayed in the movie might raise a few questions among critics, who often have less tolerance in sense of humour regarding the same. As someone who has experienced mental health issues myself, I of course did not mind the occasional jest, as I felt like they were only thrown in as good and harmless humor- however that depends on the perspective of those on the receiving end. 

I enjoyed Atrangi Re/Galatta Kalaynam very much. And if you would like to enjoy some great performances with fantastic cinematography and direction salted with AMAZING music, do check it out. Keep an open mind, child-like curiosity, and thoughts of empathy and artistic compassion; you'll come out feeling truly Atrangi-ed. 

- Anu Madhubhashinie ©

#wordswithanu #anumadhubhashinie #atrangire #galattakalyanam 

Image courtesy: moviecrow.com