Varshangalkku Shesham: A Discussion - Friendship and Cinema

I am not a great fan of cinema on cinema. Primarily because it takes you through different aspects of film making and in the process demystifies the process of filmmaking itself, pretty much the feeling one would get when a magician after a good round of applause explains to the audience how he pulled off the trick. 

Varshangalkku Shesham on the other hand brought up much more engagement and entertainment in the ‘process’ of explaining magic (Jigarthanda has achieved this before). The story follows the lives of two friends Venu and Murali who leave a small town in Kerala for the promise of making it big in Kodambakkam, Madras. Spanning over fifty years, it is more about the friendship between two contrasting individuals than the film industry itself. 

The evolution of friendship between the two lead characters were established organically. Venu understands the prowess of Murali when the dashing smash-buckling musician saves a dull drama by a village troupe with only the versatility of his background music. He insists Murali to explore lands beyond the small pond while Venu gets a similar request when Murali gets to read Venu’s version of the last chapter of a Victor Hugo novel. Both leave Kerala expecting greener pastures in Madras.

The movie deals with the two aspects of Art - Timelessness and Change. We see Venu fail as a director after a few successive super hits. When Venu and Murali meet after several years, when Murali questions him regarding it, Venu recollects that he ‘lost’ the touch. This is true for so many directors who were celebrated at one point of time, unable to evolve and stick to similar troupe and genre leading to a downward spiral. In Tamil Cinema, in the last two decades alone, we have seen fortunes for cult directors decline to the point that their present day works are incomparable to the movies they made years ago. 

Kakka Kakka (2003) and Joshua Imai Pol Kakka (2024) - How times have changed 

But at the same time, in spite of all his failures, Venu is considered a credible director who is respected for his earlier works. This is credibly underlined by a plot point - a song composition by Murali which was sneakily stolen by a renowned music director which continues to be loved several years after its composition. 

Speaking of Change the movie goes on to show how cinema has changed and diversifies not just in terms of people’s taste but also location, finance and audience. When the ‘old’ team gets back together, for a ‘new’ movie we don’t see the artists rush back to Kodambakkam but compose music in their own studio in Kerala and the story discussion takes place in the comfort of an inn. We see the present day producer of the movie negotiating OTT and Satellite rights and stressing on the importance of a ‘bankable’ actor. The impact of social media and the impatience of the audience is also depicted - where a YouTuber provides a review for the ‘first half’ of the movie. 

The movie has a ringside view of the darker side of Kodambakkam - a lodge owner calls the place a ‘Bermuda Triangle’ signifying its black hole nature, assistants and associates working without salary hoping that they would get better opportunities, the hidden ‘expectations’ of ‘on screen’ heroes from heroines, the stagnation of blue collar workers (depicted by a room boy Senthil who doesn’t make it big), how money and ego destroys friendships and relationships. 

Yet the transitions could have been better. We don’t see Venu and Murali going back to Kodambakkam again - it could also be a creatively conscious choice to say that ‘Art’ has changed. The core of the movie beneath all the drama is the friendship between two men who love art for the sake of art and not for fame and glory alone. 

Murali is a tragic hero who sinks into alcoholism when he cannot face the fact that his composition was ‘stolen’ and refuses to rescue himself from the betrayal until he finally leaves Kodambakkam for good. Venu is the ambitious one who makes the best of every opportunity he gets and after a roller coaster ride of more than thirty years, still continues to write hoping that he would find his lost mojo. 

Though the friends part on a misunderstanding we see that they needed each other for rescuing themselves from the abyss they had forced themselves into. The spark which was lost years ago, is rekindled when they divulge the one reason which brought them together - their love for cinema. It has been quite sometime since someone told an earnest story of two friends who laugh, struggle, rise and finally triumph together. Kudos to the director 

P.S. I sincerely wished that the director had spent more time on the love lives of Murali and Venu. The sequence where Annie and Murali share books, and the one where Venu swoops Radhika were the icing on the cake.