Ok Bangaram Review

Mani Ratnam has this knack for introducing to the audience his main leads' thinking without wasting time.  Just a few minutes into the film, you find Aadi and Tara scripting the marriage life of the couple whose marriage they are guests of.  They mutter a few words to describe what will happen to them in a life spanning decades.  It is a church but so what? When Mani's characters are non-conformist, it is a treat to watch.  The youngsters mention 'kamam' without batting an eyelid.  The give away is that they are strangers who have hardly known each other for more than 4 minutes!

'OK Bangaram' is a romantic drama with Mani-style humour sprinkled.  As his style goes, his heroines surprise us with their humorous repartee.  Nithya Menon's Tara is no exception.  An architect with radical feminist persuasions, she can sometimes outwit her man.  Dulquer Salmaan (better known to the Telugu audience as Mammooty's son) strikes the right chemistry with the well-established name.  They graduate from their previous outings (Ustad Hotel and 100 Days of Love) as PC Sreeram's lovely lens capture the sizzle of the kind seen in 'Ishq' (the lighting is different, but Nithya's presence gives a sense of deja vu).

Aadi, a video games designer, eschews marriage and he finds his perfect rebel companion in Tara.  Before it is revealed that Tara comes with the story of a semi-broken family, Ganapathi 'uncle' (Prakash Raj) and Bhavani (Leela Samson) as the old and affectionate couple present the antithesis to the young pair blissful in live-in.

This is one of the few of Mani's films with a wafer-thin storyline.  There is style over substance and it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that AR Rehman's formidable BG gives the film any poetic, subtle touch that is there.  Unlike in 'Sakhi', the lilting music and mellifluous singing are the only best part of the scenes.  The songs are neatly coalesced into the narration.  A difference between 'Sakhi' and 'OK Bangaram' is that while the former was about conventional lovers with middle-class sensibilities thrown in,  the latter is about deviants with a love for neo-modern enticements.

That Prakash Raj playing a man older than himself and Leela Samson as his old wife suffering from Alzheimer's are the ones out to teach (by example) about the beauty of enduring relationships is quite apparent from the beginning.  The director with a competence for intriguing narration is platitudinous here. The climax goes for the erstaz as it inevitably might have.

For all the overarching presence of AR Rehman (rather than Mani), the film comes out being Gautham Menon-esque.

Those in the age group of 15-22 or so will find it quite refreshing as they were either unborn or too young when the master craftsmen churned out his sublime best.  Others may not be too buoyed even if they don't watch it with high expectations.  Suffice it to say that 'OK Bangaram' packs in some naughty moments and high-brow lines here and there (besides the dash of melodic music and rich visuals).  There is this scene where the pair rent a lodge after wondering to each other if they will cross the limit, only to end up singing an 'umma'-fied song.  "Umma devudi account ah..' so goes a line.  Watch out for such witty lines.

In another scene, Aadi mentions Draupadi before a night of coital encounter.  As she plays a gynaec prank on him, Tara subconsciously loves the kind of attention Aadi gives her.  If there is such cracker of a scene, there are also oldish scenes like this one: the hero asking the old couple about how their love story all began.

Nani's dubbing for Dulquar Salmaan is a masterstroke.  He slips into the character with ease and gets the expressions right.  Nithya Menon walks around in all innocence, then suddenly oozes some ravishing chirpy attitude like Mani's heroines.

MounaRagam, Alaipayuthey, Bombay and most of the Maniratnam movies have a major portion of scenes within the four walls and they all required the perfect  interiors to convey the various moods.   OKB too gives a lot of importance to art work and it is just spot on with crafty curtains, chic costumes and speckle free wood work.

If Prakash Raj passes muster, Leela is OK.

Verdict: If you are someone who marvels at AR Rehman, this is your kind of film.  This one is for lovers of urbane, glossy stuff.

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