Kannathil Muthamittal


Kannathil Muthamittal is a 2002 Indian Tamil-language musical war drama film produced and directed by Mani Ratnam. It was based on a short story, "Amuthavum Avanum" by Sujatha Rangarajan. The film features Madhavan, Simran and Baby Keerthana in the leading roles with Nandita Das, J. D. Chakravarthy, Prakash Raj and Pasupathy portraying other pivotal characters. The film's score and soundtrack were composed by A. R. Rahman, while Ravi K. Chandran handled the cinematography. Mani Ratnam presents the story of a child of Sri Lankan Tamil parentage adopted by Indian parents, whose desire is to meet her biological mother in the midst of the Sri Lankan Civil War. It was released on 14 February 2002.
The film premiered at the 2002 Toronto International Film Festival, It also received a strong reception when screened at the San Francisco International Film Festival in 2003. The film received high critical acclaim upon release and went on to win six National Film Awards, three Filmfare Awards South, six Cinema Express Awards, seven Tamil Nadu State Film Awards and Best Film awards at six international film festivals. The film has won a total of 40 awards since its release.

Plot

The film begins in a small village in Sri Lanka called Mankulam, where M. D. Shyama is married to Dileepan, who along with a few other Sri Lankan Tamils in the village, is part of the LTTE. While having a quiet moment, the couple hears sounds of Sri Lankan Army troops approaching. He asks Shyama to leave while he remains in the forest. Shyama realizes that she is pregnant and waits in vain for Dileepan’s return. Her villagers begin fleeing to India to seek refugee due to the war. Shyama is initially stubborn to leave her husband behind, but her relatives convince her to seek refuge for her unborn child's sake. The villagers board a boat to the shores of Rameswaram. On the journey, one of the rebels says that he has seen her husband, Dileepan, with bullet wounds in the forest. Shyama wants the boat to turn around but it is too late. In Rameswaram, while a local collector takes down the names of the refugees, Shyama gives birth to a baby girl. However, the urge to find her possibly wounded husband and reunite with her people back home overwhelms Shyama and she leaves behind the newborn girl, hoping that the girl will lead a better life.
Nine years later in Chennai, a young girl, Amudha narrates her family life. She introduces her father, writer Thiruchelvan, who uses the pen name 'Indira' for his books. Indira is Amudha's mother, while she has a younger brother named Vinay and another younger brother called Akhil. Amudha's ninth birthday approaches and both of her parents take her to the temple. Indira later reminds Thiruchelvan of their promise to reveal 'the truth' to Amudha on her ninth birthday. After their prayers, Thiruchelvan brings Amudha to Marina Beach and reveals the truth that she was adopted from a refugee camp in Rameswaram and is not their biological daughter. Amudha is heavily disturbed after hearing the news and begins distancing herself from the family. Indira's father criticizes them for revealing the truth to her, but Thiruchelvan and Indira are certain they have taken the right decision. Amudha asks her adopted parents about her adoption.
The film then flashes to nine years ago in Rameswaram, where Thiruchelvan, then a budding writer, constantly travels to the refugee camp and writes stories inspired by the people there. At one such instance, Thiruchelvan sees a newborn baby girl and writes a short story about her. Indira is his neighbour, and has always expressed an interest in him. Thiruchelvan, after a while, finds the urge to adopt the girl, but realizes that he will not be allowed to do so until he is married. He then proposes to Indira in order to be able to adopt the baby. Indira suggests the name 'Amudha' after seeing the baby once, and then adopt the baby after they marry each other. Vinay was born few years after their marriage, followed by Akhil, and thus, the family happened.
Even after hearing this, Amudha is dissatisfied. She requests to meet her mother despite Indira's insistence that they can't possibly find her even if they wanted to. She and her cousin then go secretly to Rameshwaram to the orphanage from where she was adopted, to check the records. The family chases them there and is shocked to see her stubbornness. Thiruchelvan gives in and agrees to take Amudha to Sri Lanka to find her mother. Leaving the two boys under the care of Indira's father, the trio travel to Sri Lanka and are greeted by Dr. Herold Vikramasinghe, a Sinhalese friend of Thiruchelvan, who also helps them to find Amudha's mother. Amudha and Indira's relationship strains as Amudha becomes increasingly rude at her adopted mother while urging to find her real mother. While taking a walk in the nearby jungle, Thiruchelvan and Vikramasinghe are captured by a group of LTTE rebels. Thiruchelvan immediately recites Tamil poetry and is identified as Indira by the group's leader. Thiruchelvan explains his motives of coming to the country, mentioning the only evidence that he has regarding Amudha's mother is that her name is Shyama. The group leader arranges a meet and says he will bring Shyama to the spot. It is later revealed that Shyama is the group leader's sister who is also a part of the LTTE rebels living in seclusion.
The next day, Vikramasinghe, Amudha, Indira, and Thiruchelvan wait at the spot, but a sudden series of bombings break out at the place as the Sri Lankan army tries to infiltrate the hideout of the rebels. Indira gets shot in her arm in the process. The family finally leaves the place, and Amudha, apologizes to Indira and asks all of them to return to India. The next day, the family leaves for the airport but unexpectedly, Indira requests that they drive through the meeting spot one more time. As they wait, Shyama arrives. Amudha gives Shyama a photo album and asks Shyama a series of questions, some which Shyama is unable to answer. As the emotional meeting comes to an end, Amudha begs Shyama to come back with her to Madras but Shyama tearfully refuses saying that she has work to do in Sri Lanka and that someday there will be peace in the country and when that day comes Amudha should come back to her then.
The film ends with Thiruchelvan, Amudha, and Indira hugging each other as Shyama leaves, and a teary-eyed Amudha kisses her parents, re-affirming her love for them.

Cast

Like other Mani Ratnam projects, the film began production with very little official publicity in early 2001 with the media covering the project as either Manjal Kudai or Kudaigal. The film was reported of a trilogy of films based on love and peace in the backdrop of war after Roja , Bombay and Dil Se. The film was originally conceived as a taut racy thriller that centres on a script based on a female leader of a guerilla group - with Mani Ratnam later choosing to base the film on human relationships with the backdrop of the Sri Lankan Civil War. Madhavan was signed up to play a leading role in the film, with the venture becoming his third straight Mani Ratnam project after Alaipayuthey and the Mani Ratnam production, Dumm Dumm Dumm. For the role of Indira, Mani Ratnam considered casting either Soundarya or relative newcomer Bhumika Chawla, before finalising Simran to portray the character. Madhavan and Simran thus shot for two films simultaneously together, as they had also been cast in K. Balachandar's Paarthale Paravasam as a married couple. Nandita Das was also roped in for the film, making her debut in Tamil films, and in a later interview mentioned that the team shot for nearly thirteen hours a day. P. S. Keerthana, the second daughter of actors Parthiban and Seetha, was cast the child artiste in the film, while Prakash Raj was also roped in to play a Sinhalese character. Mani Ratnam approached actor Vikram to make a special appearance as Keerthana's biological father in the film, but his refusal meant that J. D. Chakravarthy was later handed the role.
The title of the film was finally announced as Kannathil Muthammittal in July 2001, after a famous phrase from a poem written by Subramanya Bharathi. Parts of the film shown to be Colombo in the film were shot in Puducherry. Further schedules were carried out in the forests of Kerala to depict the base of the LTTE in northern Sri Lanka. As most of the cast were non-native Tamil speakers, dubbing artistes were used with actresses Sukanya and Deepa Venkat lending their voices for Nandita Das and Simran respectively. Furthermore, Mounika lent her voice for Easwari Rao's character, while Thalaivasal Vijay spoke lines for Chakravarthy.

Music

Accolades