K. Balachander’s Ivargal | Video Essay Script

Hello, my name is Junior. Balachander introduced me in Avargal, and today, I am going to re-introduce you to him. The story of K. Balachander’s foray into cinema is just as timeless as his films and his characters. A young writer with a passion for storytelling, first trying his hand at the short films of yesteryear; stage-plays, before finally breaking into Cinema with his radical ideas and relevant themes. KB set the path for the generations to come and entertained us for decades on three mediums namely plays, cinema, and TV. Enough of the introduction, I’ll let Kishor take over. OK?

Hi, my name is Kishor and this is MOVING IMAGES. Much has been said about the legendary filmmaker K Balachander, so today I’m going to try and talk about something different. Let’s look at the characters in KB’s films, specifically three main characters that kept recurring in many of his stories. The time and settings might differ from film to film but you will surely find these characters among them. This will be a three-part video series, with one video for each decade in KB’s filmography. The series will show how as these three characters recurred over and over in his films, they changed and evolved, giving them character arcs that spanned decades. Let’s start off with the most famous one.

The Perseverant

Our young filmmaker has made a name for himself with his first few films. These were either comedies or adaptations from his stageplays, and were all well-received. However, it was in the 70s that KB perfected a style of his own. This was the start of his exploration of more radical stories, that questioned both mainstream cinema themes and even the society at large. His films now needed something more than the A-lister heroes. KB did a 180 and chose to make women as the leads in his stories. These strong female leads became a mainstay in KB’s films and even the character that defined his films.

These were your Lalitha from Arangetram, Kavitha from Aval Oru Thodarkathai, and my favorite Anu from Avargal. The persevering female, was often the lead in his films. Her defining trait is how strong she is despite her circumstances. Sometimes it is a tragic past, other times it is her family. But KB was a revolutionary in showing how she tackled these hardships. His heroines had jobs and were even the main breadwinners of the family. They never settled to sit at home and bemoan over their lives. Like Joseph Campbell’s “The Hero with a Thousand Faces”, they jump into action at the face of adversity. But, despite being strong and at times seemingly cold because of their tragic pasts, these women also show a sensitive side. KB displays this trait by making them a fan or rasika to art or an art-form. His blocking for these scenes shows the calmness that washes over his troubled heroines, as they forget their hardships and themselves too while admiring the art. But even with all their strength and perseverance the female leads are almost always denied a happy ending. These made the films a tragedy. However, it doesn’t show their defeat either. True to their persevering spirit, the woman keep going on, facing life head on.

The Sensitive

What would be a good foil to a strong female lead? A sensitive male lead of course. The sensitive male was an antithesis to the mainstream heroes we largely see in Tamizh films. They did not perform stunts, nor did they have females fawning over them. They were KB’s idealistic men.

In the 70s, the sensitive male served as the man we wanted our persevering female to end up with. The happily ever-after she deserved. Hence, these characters were shown to have largely no character flaws and were also victims to their circumstances like the female lead. They were also the artists the female lead admired. Their art, in a way, offered the female lead a moment to forget their hard lives. An escape if you will. KB’s films never had the female lead getting her man, but making the man this desirable through how sensitive and relatable they were, made the heartbreak at the end even more effective.

An interesting thing to notice here is how the sensitive male kind of evolved even within this decade. What was perfected by Nagesh was slowly being changed by KB when this man started playing the role (Kamal Hassan). The sensitive male went on from being just sensitive to showing more and more flaws in his characters. No longer was he the ideal male lead as the decade drew a close and we went to the 80s. He was capable of anger, frustration, and even some of the traits of the character I’m going to talk about next.

The Obsessive

Finally, the obsessive villain. Like how Kamal made the sensitive male character his own, another heavyweight made the role of the obsessive antagonist his own (Rajnikanth). His portrayal of Ramanathan, the ex-husband of Anu in Avargal is a perfect realisation of this character. These were your obsessive males serving as an antagonist to both the persevering female and the sensitive male. Often, the obsessive male were the reason for the females’ tragic past.

The obsessive antagonist, is obsessed over the life of the female lead and tries to shape her into his liking. This is in stark contrast to the sensitive hero who likes our heroine for the way she is. The obsession leads them to spoil the life of the female lead. An embodiment of pure villainy, the obsessive however still remained relatable. Granted, none of us are going to the extreme lengths as these characters, but we all felt the pang of jealousy, lust, and obsession they feel, and that makes them even more dangerous, as they could be us.

Balachander introduced the three characters in the 70s and experimented with them in the 80s. His three main characters saw some changes as the decade progressed. Important questions were asked. Can sensitivity lead to obsession? Can the villain become the hero and vice versa? What changed in his strong females? We will explore this and more in the second part of this video series where we go to the 80s. Until next time, this is Junior singing off saying…