Swansong for a hero. Review on Oru Vadakkan Veeragatha Movie

Take the Mahabharata and give it a small tweak so that Karna becomes the hero and Arjuna, a rank villain. Turn it into a movie, and you are likely to have a blockbuster (provided the fundamentalist elements that rule the roost in India dont turn you to toast). This was more or less the recipe adopted by M.T. Vasudevan Nair when he penned the script for Oru Vadakkan Veeragatha or A Northern Ballad of Courage. The only difference was that he substituted a legend from Kerala for the Mahabharata.

According to legend, Aromal Chekavar, one of the famous warriors of Northern Kerala lost his life in a duel, when his sword broke off at the hilt during the fight. The reason for the failure of his weapon was that the metal rivets holding the blade to the hilt had been substituted by wooden ones by his trusted ally and cousin, Chandu. Chandu was said to have betrayed his cousin as he was jealous of his popularity and his abilities. Now MT has twisted this story around, so that Chandu became an innocent scapegoat, and the heroes of the original ballad became villains who persecuted him throughout his life.

The film succeeded because it was based on a well known legend, and because it was backed by an excellent script which made the twist in the story extremely believable. A stellar performance by Mammootty as Chandu, which bagged him the National award for the best actor, and equally memorable performances by the rest of the cast, fleshed out the screenplay to make this an exceptional movie. The film also has some excellent footages of kalaripayattu, the ancient martial art which originated in Kerala, of which both Aromal and Chandu were exponents, and from which Karate and judo are said to have developed.

The sweep and span of this movie are reminiscent of the great westerns, the works of Kurosawa and Sholay. If you liked these works of art, you will appreciate this movie, which was one of the bricks on which the reputation of Malayalam cinema was built.