A movie beyond its times

Recently I watched this movie from the 2000s called Kandukonden Kandukonden (KK). This was released around the time when movies usually portrayed young women as damsels in distress who required knights in shining armors to save and protect them from the cruelness of life. Sometimes, wanting to re-live the simpler times, I end up picking up one of the regressive movies of those times for a weekend watch, and end up boiling in anger and rage. Thankfully this time I picked up a pretty progressive movie that was beyond its times, and did end up moved enough to want to write in length about it.

As a child when I watched KK, I remember being very fascinated by Aishwarya Rai’s gorgeous looks and clothes, that changed every frame, and was never repeated. The songs, the background score, the colors had also taken my breath away. Otherwise, it just seemed to be yet another feel good movie where good triumphs in the end and the sisters end up in “happily ever after” marriages.

As a child, I did not look through the plot, the characters, and the circumstances more deeply than that. But as an adult, today I am able to and I cannot help but wonder in astonishment that this movie was way way progressive, especially for its time. For starters, the young woman protagonist, Sowmya, even when blamed often to be a harbinger of bad luck, shrugs the negativity off, after a much needed cry or two, and goes about her business, in as graceful a way as she can. The other protagonist, Meenu, comes across as a dreamy woman, with interests and passion in singing, dancing, and loving. She even expects a prince to soon come and sing along and dance along with her. She is confident about finding her prince soon, even in that small village.

And boy she does find one, complete with poetry reciting, handsome looking, Mercedes car driving Knight in a super shining Armor, whose business often shores up “crores” of money. Sowmya for her part has earned the love of an aspiring movie director, who is besotted by her grace, her vulnerability, and her courage to go forward despite the setbacks. There is also an ex army officer, who has a deep seated, yet one sided, love towards Meenu that seems to clearly be going nowhere, atleast at the start of the movie.

Just when we brace ourselves for very early ‘happily ever after’s, when the princes, the sisters are in love with, marry them and take them home, circumstances change drastically, or to put it colorfully, shit happened. Overnight, we see this family losing all their money, their home, their peace, owing to which their love lives are forced to take huge backseats. They may have lost all their hardwork and the wealth that ensued, but they refuse to lose their respect and dignity and we see them walk out gracefully, despite being unclear about how they would fend for themselves in an unfamiliar place.

They struggle their way into the first month in the big city, after which Sowmya lands a job, a job for which she is overqualified, yet she accepts it wholeheartedly for it means rescuing her family from dire poverty. She holds no resentment about any of this, and goes about her life with as much cheer as she can muster. The same can’t be said of Meenu, unfortunately, for she is on a constant lookout for her prince to save her and her family from their circumstances. Her love would rescue her, she believes strongly. Her love though, was ghosting her, as he was dealing with his own struggles, having gone bankrupt in no time.

In walks the army officer back into this family, and tries his best to help them out, only to be ridiculed often by Meenu. Soon we see Sowmya getting promoted, Meenu becoming successful in her singing career, and even one of the princes getting successful in his venture of movie direction. The other prince who was expected to rescue this family, needed to be rescued himself, and is seen to be quite cowardly and spineless, for he couldn’t even bring himself up to call and tell Meenu why they need to break up. Instead he offers to marry her secretly, not once but twice. Thankfully Meenu gets over him, and walks away without looking back, tightly holding on to her dignity. Not without going through her own episode of life threatening heartbreak of course.

That is what I really loved about this movie. The women here are vulnerable, and do not mind shedding a tear or two, yet they gather themselves up and keep getting better in all that they do. Success comes to them after a lot of hard work, hard work that is cherished enough for them to refuse the easy money that later comes their way in the form of sudden inheritance. They continue to hold on to their self respect, as they refuse the wealth, and state with conviction that they do not need that money, nor would their future husbands, who per them, should marry them for who they are and not for the walls surrounding them.

I honestly wanted to whistle loudly hearing this. The key characters, their powerful dialogues, and the way they hold their heads up, even when circumstances try to push them down, are the most progressive aspects of this movie. I loved how the sisters proved that underneath beautiful looks, lay strength of immense proportions, which stole many a breath away, including mine. The army officer, whose love first seemed to be out of place and unrequited, later shines for its unconditionality, and he is shown to be a gentleman of highest standards. It is of little wonder that he is blessed with what he wanted and he could see things falls in place, as he is finally felt seen and valued.

If there is one qualm I have about this movie, it is that Sowmya should have gone ahead with her California plans and not cancelled her trip when her prince showed up. She should have built a stronger career before getting whisked away by her prince. She patiently waited for him to become successful in his career, the least he could have done is, waited for her to become (more) successful as well. I hope that is what ended up happening.

Overall it was a brilliant job done by the Director, the actors, the camera men, and the entire crew that brought to life a great reformer of a movie that would definitely stand the test of time. The women in this movie showed us that despite losing immense wealth, home, and love, it is possible to get back up and rebuild and become far greater versions than what was ever thought to be possible. And they also showed us that it is ok to be ghosted, to be betrayed, to be overwhelmed, as long as we take back control over our lives. As for the men in this movie, they earned a lot of respect too, by not forcing love from the women they held dear; they also showed without inhibitions that men can fail, and men can be vulnerable too, and there is nothing wrong with any of that. This movie was perfect in the way it depicted the imperfections of people and of life itself. Couldn’t have asked for a better way to spend my weekend.