Aakali Rajyam (1981)

Oh, to see Kamal Haasan as an angry young man while I'm rotting away in my early 20s with barely suppressed rage and complete exasperation... plus all that poetry-induced nihilism.... plus all the softness of a romance... it's what dreams are made of in this disaster of a year. 

To say this movie has aged well would be wrong, since it hasn't aged at all. Released in 1981, it has striking similarities to 2020- INC is going through leadership troubles, unemployment is at an all-time high, there is a severe hunger crisis underway in the country, people with higher education are finding it increasingly difficult to both get jobs and maintain self-respect, the entire process of getting a job feels like a cruel facade, the "are you a communist?" question is thrown angrily at youngsters who try to make sense of the situations they find themselves in, and of course, this mind-melting scene where Kamal Haasan predicted the Great Maharashtra Chief Minister Debacle of 2019: 


In my humble opinion, I think Devi in Aakali Rajyam is one of Sridevi's finest performances in her entire career. Every emotion is so subtly well-depicted, from frustration to infatuation to helplessness to love to humiliation and to hope. It's all there. As Adil Hussain once said, you're either a Sridevi fan or you become one. There's also a monologue of hers in the movie that really hit me- it's so meta in the context of Sridevi's own journey as an actress, that I watched it three times just to properly soak it in. 


I also loved how it's mostly Devi who does all the desiring- we see her fantasising about Ranga (Kamal Haasan) multiple times, we see her looking at him with undisguised desire and we see her struggling with her feelings for him, which is but natural considering the economic and personal hardships both of them are undergoing in the movie. It's rarely that we get to experience female gaze in cinema, especially when it's done so well. A1 stuff, the kind that makes you watch the movie multiple times to experience those emotions again and again. And also to listen to Kamal Haasan reciting poetry again and again, of course.

M.S, Viswanathan's music makes the movie even more timeless- I have been humming "Tu Hai Raja" for the last two days. Other faves are "Gussa Rangayya" (I am going to listen to this a lot when I'm angry) (which means, a lot) and "Kanne Pillavani" (it's just so sweet and cute and UGH that video!!! all my feeeeels). 

Can't wait to watch the Tamil version soon, which will complete 40 years on 6 November. Wow. The fact that it's still so relevant and relatable just hit me all over again. Honestly, this movie should be talked about more, it's criminally under-rated. If as nothing else, please see this as a wake-up call. Or for Sridevi-Kamal Haasan's superb acting. Or for Delhi, which plays a character all by itself.

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