Aalavandhan | The Duality in | Video Essay Script
Hi, I’m Kishor and this is MOVING IMAGES. The illustrious work of Kamal Hassan often deals with the concept of Duality (Nallavara Kettavara). His most ambitious project in terms of experimentation till date, Aalavandhan is no exception. We saw how Kamal portrayed a man suffering from PTSD in Hey Ram, and in this film, he plays a paranoid Schizophrenic. Since the portrayal here is a bit stereotypical and exaggerated and might even give a wrong impression about the mental disorder, I am not going to talk about that aspect of the film. Instead, let’s analyse the story and it’s duality. Today, we are going to answer three questions about the film.
- What drives the god?
- What drives the beast?
- And finally, how the god and the beast play a game of dice?
The God
The story of Aalavandhan, as the title denotes, is about Nandhu. His paranoia about his abusive step-mother being reincarnated as Teju, Vijay’s fiance, and his self-imposed mission to save his brother forms the crux of the story. Nandhu in his song claims he is made of both the god and the beast. This might be true for his character but also true about the relationship the two brothers share. Vijay and Nandhu are the god and the beast. They both have both aspects in their characters but when the balance is tipped, chaos ensues.
To see how Vijay and Nandhu are different, let’s start with their similarities. Both Vijay and Nandhu are killers, while one kills out of duty for his country, the other kills out of duty for his brethren. Nandhu too sees saving his brother as a mission, a mission he accepts from his dead parents. This is an argument Vijay has with Teju. Vijay claims Nandhu is a sadistic killer, but even Vijay exhibits some sadism in the way he kills a terrorist. This is the beast within the two brothers. But what tips the balance is when Vijay gets Teju pregnant. At a meta level, Vijay is bringing life into the world, as god does, and when Nandhu learns about this he completely turns into the beast that is out to kill Teju and the life Vijay is bringing. One becomes the god while the other becomes the beast.
The two brothers are like the two-headed snake the brothers tattoo themselves with, two faces of a coin, or the god with two faces, Janus. Janus, is an ancient roman god who represented the idea of duality. The two faces of Janus represents life and death, war and peace, and even the past and the future. Nandhu is stuck in the past, reliving his traumatic memories and confining himself to a self-imposed hell, while Vijay looks towards the future to start a family with Teju.
The Beast
The story is about Nandhu and although it might seem Vijay is not the protagonist here, he is the one driving the story, driving the beast. The two brothers share a link where one influences the other. Call it brotherly rivalry or psychic connection, but this is seen throughout the film as every action of Nandhu is actually influenced by Vijay.
The influence starts with Vijay introducing Teju to Nandhu, making Nandhu decide to break out of the asylum, and go on a drug-fueled killing spree. This is obvious. But what is not obvious is the subtle pushes Vijay has on Nandhu’s psyche. Nandhu hates women and believes they are untrustworthy, but later fantasizes about Sharmilie. This might seem like an unrealistic turn in his character, especially seeing how his whole mission is to kill a woman. But, it is Vijay who makes Nandhu fall in lust. We see this in the previous scene where a drugged Nandhu feels lost in the outside world and tries to reach his brother for help. On hearing Vijay and Teju’s voicemail, Nandhu is pushed over the edge with rage and resumes his hunt. Teju’s voice reminded him of his step-mother, but what it did was also show how his brother has found a woman for himself and how he is happy. This influences Nandhu into finding one for himself too. The influence doesn’t stop here.
Take the climax for example, Nandhu claps his hand proudly seeing Vijay receive a medal, but uncharacteristically turns against his own blood. This sudden changeover again comes after Vijay declares to Teju that he might have to kill Nandhu to save Teju and his unborn child. When Vijay tries to save Nandhu’s life, he sees his brother’s love and stops hallucinating Teju as his step-mother. The attitude that Vijay exhibits towards Nandhu influences Nandhu’s attitude too. The phenomenon is even spelt out by Vijay, when he claims he can think like Nandhu too and rightly predicts about Nandhu’s actions.
A game of dice
We saw how Vijay and Nandhu are the two sides of a coin. It is a single coin-toss that determined the fates of the two brothers, and it is the same coin-toss that seals Nandhu’s fate. Their lives were based on chance. We also talked about how Nandhu is the beast here. He is often associated with snakes, seen from the rattling sound when we first see his face and later throughout the film, coming to a full circle at the climax, where he sheds his old skin and covers himself with snake tattoos. This too has a significance. The story of Aalavandhan is based on a story series Kamal wrote in the 80s named “Dhaayam” or dice. The title again denotes chance. Like a coin-toss, a dice throw too works on probability. The two brothers figuratively play a game of dice, paramapadham or snakes and ladders to be exact. Their lives were based on chance, with either getting bit by a snake and dragged down to hell or climbing up a ladder to reach god. Just another layer to the story and a tie back to the original source the film is based on.
Aalavandhan is a tour de force in Kamal’s filmography with exceptional acting, a layered story, and experimentation with radical ideas. The hallucinations scenes are a testament to Kamal’s brilliant vision, and the film has been a highly influential piece of art (Kill Bill). This video has been a long-time coming and I am glad I was finally able to analyse a film that inspired me to no end. Until next time, this is Kishor …or the whole story could have happened inside Vijay’s mind while he was in a coma, with his sadistic side and good side fighting to take control of him, only to wake up months later to be a good and responsible father! Who knows?…
