Aayutha Ezhuthu | Analysis of Colors and Story Arcs (All Three Parts) | Video Essay Script | Moving Images
RED
Hi, my name is Kishor and this is MOVING IMAGES part one video essay of Aayutha Ezhuthu. I’m making a video for each of the three main characters in this 2004 movie. There will be a total of three videos in this series with each video consisting of three chapters. So without further delay, let’s start off the series with Inba, the gangster.
Chapter 1 — ELEMENT OF NATURE
Director Mani Ratnam has given each of his three main characters one of the three primary colors. The painstaking work undergone in making the set and costume design match the color of the character is apparent in every frame of the film. Inba’s color red here could mean danger, passion, desire, love. All qualities that describes Inba. But the color here also describes fire. Inba is fire, as evidenced by how he burns anyone who gets near him. The change in the color of his costume as the film progresses shows the change in his character as well. He starts off with black like coal and changes to red showing his burning desire for power and as the desire consumes him, he truly becomes fire incarnate and we see his costume is red surrounded by yellow just like an actual fire. Finally, when he is burnt out he is just smoke and that is shown by him wearing white at the end of the film.
Chapter 2 — STORY ARCS
Inba’s story is a story about choice. The story arc of Inba starts and ends with him in a jail with all the choices he makes leading him there. In the beginning, he plays kabaddi and loses and sits watching the others play and in the end we see him just watching the others play showing that he has lost both in the game and in his attempt to attain power. Within this main story are two other story arcs. His relationship with his wife Sasi is one. Their story starts with Inba choosing to meet Sasi over his gangster brother Guna and ends with him choosing to meet Guna for the last time before skipping town with Sasi. Notice the similar BGM in both the scenes and the added melodramatic flute foretelling the sad ending to their love story. The third story arc is his first victory and final defeat at the Napier Bridge shown at both the beginning and at the ending of the movie. The beginning shows his choice to kill a man to attain power and the end shows his choice to completely lose his humanity and become consumed by the fire of desire.
Chapter 3 — COGNIZANCE
The film opens with Inba and quickly shows us all three main characters and the way the scene links one character to the next is through dialogue. Inba is complaining about women to his friend showing how his love life is ending bitterly and we jump to Michael who is in love with a woman and then to Arjun proposing his love. The one scene transitions across the past, present, and future showing us the ending, ongoing and future love lives. That concludes part 1 of this video essay, until part two this is Kishor signing off saying…
GREEN
Hi, I’m Kishor and this is MOVING IMAGES part two video essay of Aayutha Ezhuthu. Make sure to watch part one of this series before watching this. We will be covering the same chapters as part one in this essay. This video is about Michael, the student activist.
Chapter 1 — ELEMENT OF NATURE
Out of the three primary colors red, green, and blue, Michael is represented by green. The color here is associated with meanings of energy, growth, safety, and ambition. Characteristics Michael exudes throughout the film. But like Inba the color here too represents an element of nature, Earth. Michael is earth, enabling the growth and fertility of the nation. He is an ideal leader who can sway a crowd towards the right deed. Here is one goosebumps-inducing scene that exemplifies everything Michael is. The elemental nature shows a dichotomy between Michael and Inba as earth is to fire. Unlike Inba, he is selfless, promotes growth, and cherishes the people surrounding him.
Chapter 2 — STORY ARC
Michael’s story is about hitting back. His story arc starts with him walking in to a mall to hit back thugs who hit his friends and ends with him walking into the assembly to hit back the corrupt politicians. He turns from a singular force urging people to act for the good of the nation to finally taking over the reins himself after getting shot. He hits back by turning from an activist to a politician. And keeping up with the theme of three, Michael’s story has two other story arcs. His first and last confrontation with Inba is one. Both confrontations happen at a bridge leading to a tussle. Both times, Michael bests Inba and is above him. The first time is a clash of strength between two men and ends when Inba calls for a truce and the second time is a fight between good and evil and ends when Michael realizes who his true enemy is. The similar BGM shows the magnitude of the clash, with a plaintive guitar for the fight between two men, and escalating to a full-blooded Orffian chants for the fight for the nation’s future. The third story arc is an interesting one with some metaphorical meanings to it and it is connected to the second story arc. This is the story arc between Michael and minister Selvanayagam. The corrupt minister wears black symbolizing a dark cloud casting a shadow on the nation and in the end he is wearing white like a cloud that has lost all its moisture and weight and Michael pushes him aside to bring sunshine. This is a continuation of his previous victory over Inba as it is seen over a sunset, telling us that Michael is bringing in a new dawn.
Chapter 3 — COGNIZANCE
Michael when in the lockup with his friends teaches them the grand unified theory or GUT. This is something most would have noticed. The GUT is a single theory to unify three forces and I feel that is what Director Mani Ratnam attempted with this film. Another thing I loved about this film is its attention to detail. In the climatic fight, Michael faces off Inba with a recently fractured right hand. You can see him not using this hand to fight at the beginning and when he does he winces in pain. His right hand was fractured when Inba shot him and he uses it to deal the final blow giving it a poetic justice. That concludes part two of the series, until part three this is Kishor signing off saying…
BLUE
Hi, I’m Kishor and this is MOVING IMAGES part three video essay of Aayutha Ezhuthu. This is the final part of the series. Make sure to watch the other two parts before watching this. Let’s talk about Arjun, the youngster.
Chapter 1 — ELEMENT OF NATURE
Keeping in line with the color theme, Arjun is given the color blue, symbolizing his cool nature. Out of the three main characters, Arjun is the most associable. In many aspects Arjun is like us, the audience. In Director Mani Ratnam’s own words, “…he’s so much like any of us. In the name of being chilled out, we avoid all problems. We don’t want to face them. We want to float.”
And as you may have guessed it by now, Arjun’s color symbolizes water as he likes to go with the flow avoiding any conflicts. But this nature of his doesn’t last long. The moment where the Director pits all the elements of nature against each other, Arjun, the water is brought unwittingly into the battle between Inba, the fire and Michael, the earth. The situation forces him to make a choice: get evaporated by the fire or help nourish the earth. His decision is symbolized by the color he wears. He wears blue when he tries to be cool but loses the color during moments of indecisiveness, such as when he is not sure of the feelings he has for Meera, or his reluctant visit to Michael at the hospital after he admitted the dying man but stepped away when he was afraid his passport might get confisticated. But the earthy nature of Michael slowly soaks him in and pulls him in deeper and he decides to follow Michael. This is where his color turns to green, Michael’s color. He has become one with the earth and is nourishing it.
Chapter 2 — STORY ARC
Coming to Arjun’s story arc, I’m going to talk about the defining relationship in this entire movie, Arjun’s relationship with Meera. The casual fling between Meera and Arjun is something very new for the Tamil screen and Mani Ratnam handles it tastefully. But Meera isn’t without convictions. She is the one who pushes Arjun to do the right deed, and she chooses to be with Arjun only after he decides to do something good for the nation. The relationship between Arjun and Meera is interestingly shown in three scenes. The first is where the casual fling between the two is about to end and Arjun realizes his feelings for Meera are a little deeper than he thought. He proposes his love to her but she mocks him into proposing it in a big way for the whole world to hear. He stands above the Napier bridge and shouts his love two times and when he is about to shout the third time he gets interrupted by Inba shooting Michael. The second instance is where Meera is leaving to get married and Arjun comes to meet her at the train station. During this time her feelings for Arjun has grown and she is having second thoughts. Arjun tries to propose his love again. But this time it is more intimate, she does not want him shouting it for the whole world to hear. He again proposes two times and she begs him not to change her mind and he lets her go. But that is not the end of this love story. Meera realizes she wants to be with Arjun when she sees him taking a stand for the nation and not being his usual selfish self. She runs back to him forsaking her marriage and this is when Arjun finally gets to propose the third time and she accepts it.
Chapter 3 — COGNIZANCE
For Chapter 3, I am going to do something different and show a few things you might’ve missed the first time you watched my video essay. Starting with the color theme during the opening of each video and the constant number three popping up everywhere. Finally, I’ve been getting this question on how I associated the color with an element of nature. Take a look at the three songs for the three main characters. This is where I got my clue from. It was highly educational dissecting this movie and marveling at its beauty. I thank you all for giving it such a great response. I’ll meet you all with another video essay very soon. Until then this is Kishor signing off saying…
