Baa interrogates love, sacred images of love, and the caste politics that come through it. ‘The Star Moves’ by Ranjit.
A theater troupe consisting of Inian (Kalidhas), Rene (Dushara), Arjun (Kaliyarasan), Yaswandran (Hari Krishnan). Within this group there are many types of love. There are also various problems. A problem in love between Inyan – Rene, Arjun’s understanding of love and caste. And there are many representations of same-sex attraction, love between a man and a transsexual, and love for an older person that are constantly ignored by this society. All of them prepare for a play together. It ends up being a play about love and the dangers caste systems pose around love. Did they create this play and stage it successfully? The story of the film is about what happens to the conflicts between everyone within this group.
Director Ba has made this film in a very high quality. Iranchit. The nature of each character is written and the change that comes within it has been brought naturally. If it is a success to take something that is reluctant to talk about and necessary for the moment as a plot, then the main success of the film is to render it artistically and interestingly.
Kalidas, Tushara, Kalaiyarasan, Hari Krishnan, Vinod, Subatra, Shabbir, Stephen Raj, who have played each role in the film have shown their complete performance. The rehearsal scenes for the play, the dialogue between Dushara and Kalidas, the scenes where Kalaiyarasan opposes the misunderstandings, are all intimidating in their performance at many places in the film.
While it is said that love has no religion, no caste, no gender or age. Director Ranjith is shooting the present day reality called Love is Love. Thereby he raises the question towards the caste and social structure behind the discrimination and separation of love as a very natural phenomenon.
All these have been brought under a dialogue through the characters of the film and it has happened very naturally. The film talks about a lot of things like a person who is directly caste minded, a person who talks progressive on the outside but still carries caste filth in some corner of his mind, the imposition of all morality and honor on women.
Since this film is the platform for the greatest dialogue, he has tried to convey many important points of the film through the dialogue. It makes watching movies a little tiring. The thought arises that some may even have been emotionally hijacked. For example Kalaiyarasan’s change of heart happens in a flash. It could have been more emphatic about what made him change. The dialogue between Dushara and Kalidas about Ilayaraja could have been even clearer. Since there is no time to explain through symbols here, he has spoken a little loudly through dialogues, but the film would have been more complete if it had been moved through visuals and emotions. The introduction of a new character in the final part of the film was also a bit overwhelming as it was incorporated into the story very quickly.
The scenes in a psychedelic mood make the film more interesting. Especially the back-and-forth love story between Kalidas and Dushara is fascinating. Kishore Kumar’s cinematography and Selva’s editing have beautifully given shape to many such ideas. Tenma’s musical kingdom permeates the film. Everything from the bouncy of the Barume song, the narrating of the holocausts that have happened in the society through the upari form of the Janame song, the theme music played during the play rehearsals, and the Nakshatram Nagaranadu song at the end of the film is touching.
It cannot be taken as a new kind of cinema from Ranjith. A new opening in Tamil cinema as well. He starts an inevitable conversation with ‘Nakshatra is moving’. I am sure that many people will talk about this from now on.