Aging Like Fine Wine

Ever since the pandemic hit, the days and months have become a lot more challenging and difficult for everyone in different ways. While a lot of people have struggled with keeping their means of earning alive and putting food on their tables, others with privilege (such as myself) find it challenging to keep negativity at bay and focus on menial, day-to-day tasks. During such difficult times, a heartwarming movie can offer much needed relief and distraction from reality. I recently revisited one such gem that filled me with awe and love for the movie all over again. A movie that released two decades ago, but that still holds up well in today’s day and age. 

Rhythm (2000) directed by Vasanth was set largely in Mumbai and centered around the lives of a journalist, Karthikeyan (played by Arjun) and a bank employee, Chitra (played by Meena). After bumping into each other accidentally a few times, they become friends and start opening up to each other about their past lives, only to realise that they both lost their spouses in the same train accident. Whether or not they get together forms the rest of the story. 

Strong Characterisations 

One of the best things about Rhythm is how the main characters are written. Karthikeyan or Karthik is portrayed as a quiet, fun-loving person who dotes on his parents and does not consider it a burden to take care of them all by himself even with a job as demanding as journalism. He does not think twice about making a cup of coffee for Chitra when she comes home for the first time (instead of the woman of the house almost always doing such work) and neither does he mind babysitting Chitra’s son, Shiva for a few days when she is out of town. The relationship between Karthik and Shiva is a delight to watch – Shiva adores Karthi Sir, idolizes him, and is insistent on learning to cycle only from him. In return, Karthik loves spending time with Shiva as well. We don’t get to see such relationship dynamics in Tamil movies much.

 

Another brilliant (and my favourite) character in the movie is that of Chitra played by a subtle, spot-on Meena. A fiercely independent, kind, and thoughtful person, she never makes a big fuss about living as a widow in a city like Mumbai while bringing up a child all by herself – a child she adopted in order to honour her late husband’s wish. In an age where there is a lot of talk and debate about women-centered films and feminist films, Chitra stands quietly in the background as testimony to what a well-written female character can look like, way back in 2000 when the word feminism wasn’t even a part of mainstream discourse in India. 

Chitra’s late-husband Srikanth (played by a lovable Ramesh Aravind) is another strongly written character who leaves a mark on you despite the limited window in which he appears. An unconventional character who is seen doing social work and volunteering on top of his full-time bank job, Srikanth strongly believes in adopting a child from the orphanage he volunteers with even if that costs him a few potential matrimonial matches. A movie in 2000 which spoke about adoption in a beautiful and organic way without making it a big deal – how did Vasanth manage to do this? 

Dialogues and Screenplay 

The movie has a lot of other things that work really well, distinguishing it from other movies of that day and age. The dialogues are organic and come across as something that you and I would probably tell people in our lives. This is a major contrast to the over-the-top dialogues audiences are used to hearing in most Tamil movies. Be it the dialogue where Karthikeyan’s father (played by a stellar Nagesh) tells Karthik, “Nee nallavan, unnaku innum nalladhu nadakalam” (“You’re a good person. I wish more good things happened in your life) are so relatable and sound raw and real. 

The screenplay is also clean and organic, as real as a movie can get. Although the core of the movie is the relationship between Arjun and Meena’s characters and whether or not they get together, they do not get a single romantic number. They do not hug or kiss or even say romantic things to each other. The closest we get to something vaguely romantic is when Arjun’s character tells Meena’s “I’ve missed a lot of things in life; what is one meal?” after eagerly looking forward to eating something cooked by her for the first time. 

Way Ahead of Its Times 

Rhythm is easily one of AR Rahman’s best work as well (Why did he have to get an Oscar for Jai Ho? when this is way better?). With the five elements (fire, earth, water, sky, and wind) as the inspiration behind the album, we get some of ARR’s best numbers in the movie ranging from the classic “Kaatre en vaasal” to “Nadiye nadiye” and “Gala gala vena pozhiyum". 

Rhythm dealt with a lot of interesting concepts – a widower and a widow exploring the possibility of a second relationship after dealing with losing the love of their lives, a single mother bringing up a child, adoption, grief, loneliness, and a beautiful father-son relationship. What makes the movie even more brilliant is how the director does not dwell on these elements but brings them together in an organic way without harping on any of these and preventing them from turning into a moral movie of sorts. 

There are lots of movies that I loved watching as a child but found extremely problematic when I revisited them as an adult. However, Rhythm is one of the exceptions. Strong characters, natural dialogues, an organic storyline, (I particularly love the climax shot when Arjun takes his luggage out of the train before stepping down; it is something that has always irked me when characters from movies randomly jump off trains without worrying about their luggage) and beautiful characters (including Lakshmi, who repents and realizes the problem with her casteist behaviour later on) – all of this makes Rhythm one of those rare movies which will always stand the test of time aging like fine wine, making you feel a lot better about the world we live in.