Hi members.I am sampath,a new member to this group.First thing I did after joining was to read all the previous mails and I am fascinated by the amount of knowledge this group members possess.
In my first post I would give my views on what made PS great.I have read many epics in English and Tamil and in my opinion Ponniyin selvan can sit at par with any epic in any language in the world.The closest competition to Ponniyin selvan will come from another tamil epic kambaramayanam.
I have read most of shakespheres works and have always wondered what made them great.Most of them were ordinary movie stories,for example Romeo and juliet was nothing but a love story.Plain ordinary love story.What made it great?
Its only the way in which the story was presented made it great.The words and the play writing skills of shakesphere made it an epic.If I can use a parallel from cinema,its not the story that makes a movie succesful.Its the screenplay that makes the movie succesful.We have seen great writers transforming ordinary stories into great epics by just presenting it in a beautiful way.
Similiarly Kalki has made this ordinary fight for asendency to throne between 3 heirs a mega epic by presenting it in a beautiful way.But the only pity is that it can be understood only by people who know Tamil.Even if we translate it into English the charm goes away.If we picturize it also the charm goes away.
Another aspect I love in Ponniyin Selvan is characterization.The way Kalki has created each characters has been magnificient.But in this aspect I would place him a bit lower than Kambar(Sorry hardcore Kalki fans,but I'm sure Kalki will agree with me.If we say he is next to kambar he will feel proud)
The reason I say is as follows.I would like to compare both on characterization.Kalki's creation of characters like Vandiya thevan, Ponniyin selvan,manimekalai was great.Even though he worshipped arulmozhi in the novel it did not look artificial.Tamils have worshipped MGR and know what hero worship is.Kalki also made the Hero worship worthwhile.He made us believe that Arulmozhi deserved the hero worship he had.
Kambar also had limits and he also had to hero worship. But within this limits what a beautiful job he performed?What a characterization he created for everyone?For example when Rama shot vali hiding behind a tree valmigi writes as if vali abused Rama and in that scence made rama appear as a villian and vali as a hero.But kambar changes that.
Vali calls rama as "Why did you shoot me from behind?Kathir mathiyam pol mugathoye.."--Is this abuse?Even when Vali is down in earth he couldnt stop admiring rama,who killed him.So kambar hails rama in valis words.Will anybody hail his killer as "kathir mathiyam pol mugathoye.."(Im not sure about exact wordings here,im sorry)
In every abuse of vali Kambar adds a praise for Rama.There he glorofies Rama better than even valmigi.
And Valmigi wrote as ravana lifted seetha by his hands.But Kambar couldnt tolerate the thought that anyone can even touch seeta.So he wrote as "Ravana lifted the hut along with the land and carried seetha without touching her".He upholds tamil culture there.
The way he has characterized Bharatha makes us wonder whether Rama is the hero of the epic or bharatha is.See the way in which he builds the Bharatha character.
When Dasaratha tells Rama that Bharatha will be the king,Rama goes and tells his mother kousalya that bharatha will be the new king.See what words Kambar puts in kousalyas mouth.
"Bharatha is three times better than you to rule this kingdom".
See this.Even after hearing that her only son is being robbed of his throne the words that come from kousalyas mouth are hailing bharatha.See further how Kambar builds bharathas character.
When Bharatha goes to forest to meet ram he meets Guha.After hearing why Bharatha has come to the forest Guha is fascinated.He hugs Bharatha,cries and says "Even thousand Rama's are not equal to you".
See this.Now Bharatha is hailed as 1000 times better than Rama,the hero of the epic.But the climax is the pinching one.
When Rama doesnt return after 14 years Bharatha is about to jump into fire.Then kousalya prevents him and says "Dont do it my son.I can live without Rama but not without you.PALAKODI ramnum unakku iniyavano?"
Here Bharatha is portrayed as better than "Palakodi Raman",the hero of the epic.This is how Kambar built each character with the limited freedom he had.
I'm a member of this group and i was enjoying the greatness of tamil in everyone's mail. This particular mail made me to reply. I heard of kambar as the "kavignar - the great" but i truely understand why so in this "kambaramayanam trailer mail".
Let me keep enjoying tamil's greatness in this group.