Kanjeevaram: Weaving a delicate story

Priyadarshan,known mostly for his commercial films (in Malayalam,Hindi and Tamil),now comes up with a film that is different in treatment and presentation. Kanjeevaram,with all pretensions of an art film,takes us back to the pre-independence era and to Kanjeevaram (or Kanchipuram),known for its silk and silk sarees. The focus is on the weavers’ community,with Vengadam (Prakash Raj),a weaver,being the pivotal character. Happily married to Annapurna (Shriya Reddy),he’s one of the most skilled weavers in Kanjeevaram. He is blessed with a daughter,and on her birth,he makes a promise in the customary manner,whispering it into the child’s ear. He promises that he’d drape her in a silk saree on the day of her wedding. Owning a silk saree is something that any member of the much-exploited silk-weaving community cannot even dream of. But he sets off to make his promise come true. He smuggles out silk threads from his place of work by putting it in his mouth in such a way that nobody ever suspects him. And he begins weaving the saree that would be completed in years,by the time his daughter is grown up. In the meantime a communist thinker (P Sreekumar) comes to the village to propagate communism and sow the seeds of revolution. Vengadam becomes a disciple of this communist. And from here develops the plot.

Technical Expertise
Prakash Raj gives a really good performance as Vengadam while the others in the cast too have done justice to their respective roles. The film is technically brilliant,with excellent cinematography by Thiru,good editing by Arun and spectacularly striking art-work by Sabu Cyril. The background score by M.G.Sreekumar suits the mood of the film. The story of the film is presented in a very touching manner with Priyadarshan re-creating the past in a very spectacular manner. The film is really good and worth a watch but it would be wrong to call it an outstanding work. The makers seem to have been decided that they were going to make an arty kind of movie and that seems to be evident in each and every frame of the film. Kanjeevaram cannot be called Priyadarshan’s best,simply because he is best at making the full-fledged commercial films. Still,Kanjeevaram is an appreciable film and deserves to be watched.
Verdict
Two stars,for the subject and the treatment and performances.