Alaipayuthey (The Grand Finale)

May 31, 2007 at 7:04 pm (A.R.Rahman, Mani Ratnam, Reminiscing Mani Ratnam's movies)

The wedding:

If the wedding where Karthik and Shakti met first was so colourful and had a joyous atmosphere, their own wedding is not far behind in these aspects. Right from Madhavan’s blue shirt and Shalini’s maroon saree to the white garlands and the group of friends and Shakti’s sister pulling their legs and the Registrar making his presence felt through out his screen time, everything is picture perfect! Shot at Kapaleeswarar Temple, the wedding of Karthik and Shakti is the most beautifully picturized wedding sequence in Mani Ratnam’s films what with ‘Mangalyam’ scored by Rahman playing in the background. 🙂 After Karthik cleverly manages to dodge Mrs. Prema outside the temple and runs in, the beat of the song starts and you have Karthik taking the garland in his hand. If Mani Ratnam doesn’t utilize the songs appropriately, who else will? 😉

After that follows yet another set of lovely scenes like the one where Karthik and Shakti are travelling by bus and a lady comes and asks him to get up saying it is ladies’ seat and Karthik asking her, ‘Ungalukku kalyanam aaiducha?’, ’15 years!’, ‘Paavam purushan!’ 🙂 The expressions on the faces of Madhavan and Shalini (Shalini trying her best to put on an act by controlling the laughter) make you enjoy this scene even more! 😉

Then, the song ‘Snegidhane’! Beautifully shot at Maheshwar temple on the banks of Narmada (Mani Ratnam ensures that he uses at least one location in each of his films that you would want to visit at least once in your lifetime), this song has everything starting from the lighting, excellent choreography and of course, Madhavan and Shalini’s costumes (It’s high time some actors and some men in general, understand that Sherwanis don’t suit all men. Just because Madhavan looks handsome wearing it, it doesn’t mean it will suit every Tom, Dick and Harry! 😛 ).

After the song comes one of the much debated scenes among my friends circle. Everyone keep arguing that Shakti shouldn’t have said that she is already married when Poorni’s ‘in-laws’ ask for her hand for their younger son. Wouldn’t it have been better if she had just said she was not interested in the marriage and at least saved her sister’s wedding from not getting stopped? But, do we all make only the right decisions at all the crucial moments in life? Enough of serious talk!

After this when Karthik and Shakti leave their homes, I like the way the scene shifts from the one where Madhavan and Shalini are in the auto to the scene where Karthik’s friends ‘furnish’ their house with the start of the music of Pachchai Nirame. I feel as though the use of Pachchai Nirame as a BGM for this scene acts as an indication for the happy times ahead in Karthik and Shakti’s life 🙂 Talking about Pachchai Nirame being used as a BGM, the last time when it comes as a BGM in the movie is when Karthik tells Shakti that they will go and visit her father in the hospital the next (the last happy scene in the movie feat. Madhavan and Shalini before the climax).

The song ‘Kadhal Sadugudu’, followed by the ‘suda suda news’ scene, ‘thaali’ scene and then, the mock ‘fight’ followed by the marking of the dates in the calendar scene are one bunch of sweet scenes. 🙂

Well, we all know what happened in their lives after these happy scenes. 😉

Stills courtesy: The once existent website of Alaipayuthey, Sakhi (Telugu version of the movie) and various other sites.
Slideshow created using slideroll.com Videomaker
(Why has the sharpness of the stills become poor after I uploaded the video! 😦 )

How can I even think of wrapping up the series of posts on Alaipayuthey without mentioning the one song that means the most to me! It is of course, Pachchai Nirame! It is the only song whose magic is ever-growing right from the first day I watched it/listened to it to this day! Time and again, I have tried to write about it, but I have always failed to do justification to the song. The music, the flute, the words ‘Sakhiye Snegidhiye’, Hariharan’s voice, the locales where the song is shot, the opening shot of the song with Shalini wearing a beautiful green costume and dancing, Madhavan and group ‘dancing’ for the lines ‘Sakhiye’! Is there just a few things in that song that I can pinpoint and say are the best aspects of it! Mani Ratnam and A.R.Rahman rock in this song! I thank them for giving us such a wonderful song! 🙂

With this I am wrapping up the series of posts on Alaipayuthey! I thank each and everyone of you for all the words of appreciation and for patiently reading my posts! 🙂 At this point of time, it would be highly unfair if I don’t thank the two persons with whom I have had endless discussions on Alaipayuthey for the past 7 years and all these posts were born only out of those discussions! They are my Mom and my sister! 🙂

P.S.: This is my 100th post! 😀 Thank you my dear readers! 🙂 I wanted my 100th post to be on Alaipayuthey. But, when I started writing, I found that I had lots to write about this movie. So, I decided that posts 96 to 100 will only be on Alaipayuthey! I will try to revisit the music of Alaipayuthey in a detailed manner sometime later!

P.S.1: Does anyone have the unedited version of the song ‘Alaipayuthey’ featuring the scenes where Shalini sings that song to Madhavan in their house? If any of you have a DVD having that song, please give me the details. I would be most grateful! Thanks in advance!