The one thing this lockdown has done is that it has given us the chance and time to take a step back from the race we have been relentlessly running, reminisce the old times and revisit a lot of memories from our very own past. We have been calling up our old pals, have held Zoom video calls with all our family members. We have been binge-watching our favourite movies and series and also have been re-watching a few good old classics. One such classic that of those times is the ever-famous, ever-fearful and ever-thrilling “Marma Desam: Vidaadhu Karuppu”.
Tamil serials are a general subject of mockery. They are usually family dramas with thundering background music and close up shots where the villain is always a female character adorned with jewels. However, Marma Desam was different from the rest of the lot. True to its name, it is a universe in itself.
Vidaadhu Karuppu is an adaptation of the novel “Vittu Vidu Karuppa” written by the famous thriller genre writer Indra Soundar Rajan. Usually, it takes a great deal of confidence and courage to take up a novel to make into a movie or a series as not many have resulted in successful conversions, and also it takes huge amount of time and money to successfully convert them. Furthermore, there is an added pressure to do justice to the fans of the novel and the writer as well. Director Naga had taken up the challenge of recreating the book and has succeeded in creating something that could very well stand the test of time.
Vidaadhu Karuppu is a tale that explores the legend of the Hindu village deity Karuppu Saami. The series consists of 79 episodes with each episode being 19-25 minutes long. The first 7-10 minutes – “Andru” portion – is the flashback sequence that consists of events revolving around Raasu aka Rajendran (played brilliantly by the then Master Lokesh) and the remainder of the episode takes place in the present. At the start of each episode, there is this catchy yet haunting theme music as the introduction song and the end credit sequence that starts with the neighing of the horse, then followed by the music of ‘Ho ho, ho ho ho‘ playing while that horse runs on a billhook machete with its mane and tail on fire, it used to give chills to the 90s kids when it was aired on TV.
The first episode starts off with a full front view of Kaasithoppu Bungalow. The bungalow looks very beautiful, with all the lights adding to the beauty of it. Little do we realize that this bungalow would become the origin of all the mysteries in the village Thottakara Managalam. We then see the screen turn to a sepia tone to indicate that it is the past. Within a split second, the so-called beautiful Kaasithoppu Bungalow turns into a morbid, fearful place. The background music of a hammer hitting an iron rod gives us an immediate effect that this is no place that would reflect happiness.
We are immediately introduced to the young Raasu drawing a portrait of a Horse on his slate board with a chalk piece. When his baby sister starts to cry, we hear a booming, scary voice. Raasu quickly rushes to the window through which he sees his grandmother sitting on an easy-chair smoking a cigar (Suruttu in Tamil). He sees two things coming out her mouth – huge amount of smoke due to the Cigar and ruthless abuses that target the whole family being a nuisance to her.
The character of Pechi Kezhavi is probably one of the most impactful characters we have witnessed on television. The characteristics that defines Pechi Kezhavi can never be attributed to anything “good”. She is arrogant, abusive, demanding, clever, cunning, deceiving, and any other traits that would deem someone as a bad person. The kind of arrogance that Kezhavi exhibits makes everyone in the village fear her. She is the only person in the whole village who has the resources to give loans to those in need. This premise gives rise to so many sub-plots that would link various characters of the story.
The Andru and the Indru portions sometime seem to have no relation to each other, in the sense that when there is a parallel storytelling, we expect the past scenes to somewhere link to the present scenes of that episode. But while the series progresses, we would realize that this character of Pechi Kezhavi has become the fulcrum on which Raasu gets absorbed into the world of his grandmother and that turns out to be a life-changing phase of his life. Even after the death of Kezhavi, the Kaasithoppu Bungalow sequences still evoke fear in the audience watching them. Hats off to the yesteryear actress C. T. Rajakantham to have carried the character of Pechi Kezhavi this brilliantly.
Just like how the character of Pechi Kezhavi has a purpose of its own, each and every character in the story has a purpose. More importantly, the character definition is quite brilliant that each character never goes beyond the circle that it is designated to play around. The story keeps moving forward at a pace that never stops until the end, yet retaining the character definition throughout its run. What is appreciable is the fact how the director puts for the concept of Aasthikam and Nasthigam. Two contrastingly opposing beliefs and ideologies going head on against one another, yet there seems to be certain genuineness in both their beliefs. There is no portrayal of one better than the other, no preaching of which one is better. Both sides of the coin have been equally and carefully concentrated on.
The storyline is clearly defined that makes the series a great success. The mystery investigation involving Karuppu Saami headed by Reena and a seemingly side track of Dr. Nanda and his research linking to the mystery of Karuppu Saami keeps one wondering about Dr. Nanda’s role. The unexplained texts and images in the notebook and the sword with Dr. Nanda, the confusion regarding who Sathyanarayana was, and the purpose of Nanda in all of this sometimes keeps us wanting more of Nanda portions than the Reena portions. However, everything comes together in the last 10 episodes that the true purpose of Dr. Nanda was that he be a messenger who will carry the legend of Karuppu Saami to the next messenger, Achyutha. There is a lot of brilliance in conveying these subtle messages to Dr. Nanda and to the audience as well.
Right from the smallest of characters like “Mottai” character played by Benjamin to the most important characters like “Reena” played by Devadarshini or “Rajendran” played by Chetan or the character of “Dr. Nandha” played by Mohan Raman, each of them move a story to a definite direction that makes them essential to the plot. Even the character of “Kattayan” played by Ramachandran or the character of “Bramman” played by Povannan will eventually become your favourites due to their genuineness in things they believe in.
The technical aspects employed more than 2 decades ago are noteworthy. The simple yet impactful camera angles and lightings evoke the right amount of emotions both for the characters and the audience. In a few interviews, it was said that the sound was recorded using live sound and then later enhanced in the studio. The light and smoke effect for scenes involving Karuppu adds to the already prevailing eeriness of the dark. And these were shot at night and not in the morning hours and then dimmed to create a night effect. What is more appreciable is that the series never felt silly or cringy at any point during its run. In fact, it urges one to rewatch it as there are a lot of hidden elements in the series that is bound to miss our attention during the first watch.
We may not experience the cliffhangers when binge-watching the series now, but just imagine watching it on TV then. Anxiety of what would happen next is at the zenith when suddenly there is a commercial break “Andrum Indrum Endrum Tharame Nijam Pakku. Nijam Paakku!“ You would want to break the TV in front of you, but then you restrain from doing so because you realise that the very same TV is the only way you can know what would happen in the next episode. The kind of frustration the cliffhangers gave can never be experienced these days with the option of “Play Next Episode”.
Read the full review of the author here: Marma Desam: Vidaadhu Karuppu
Click here to watch the series.