Hey Ram

"Vengeance is an act of emptiness, that leads you to an endless cave of horror disguised as justice" Violence. Revenge. Morality. Love. Turbulence. Hostility. Cinematic themes that have been explored in the past, but have never been so dark, gritty, and introspective. The Partition in 1947 left a scar so deep in India's glorious history. This part of our history was never explored in Indian cinema. Hey Ram is one such film that delves into the topic of partition and questions whether vengeance is an act of justice or an act of self-satisfaction. Is the "truth" that we see the only side of the story? Kamal Hasan was not one to shy away from these. After dominating the 80s and 90s with timeless classics like Nayakan (1987) and Mahanadhi (1994), a question arises. The dawn of the 21st century saw the rise of a new generation. The change in audience was bound to be met with a change in cinematic standards. Hey Ram is one such film that pushed the standards and explored new territories of storytelling.  

The film starts with Saket Ram Jr., grandson of Saketh Ram(Kamal Hasan) He says that his grandfather never narrates a story from the first person point of view, he always narrates from the third person point of view. A beautiful anecdote given by that character, "He never says, Once upon a time there was a king, instead narrates as, Once upon a time when I lived, there was a king " This is the basic narrative style of Hey Ram, freedom movement, the murder of Gandhi, and Partition are all real incidents. But in those incidents, the writer Kamal Hassan pens magic by introducing a fictional character called Saketh Ram. Ram, is an ordinary man, whose life was turned upside down by the horrors of riots during the partition period. That horror scars him for life and fuels him to kill the reason for all this horror, and he is made to believe that there's only one person who's the reason for it and decides to kill him. And that is The Father of our Nation, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. The film progresses to show Saketh Ram's journey after the Calcutta riots This film shows two timelines One shows the hatred that Saketh holds for Gandhi and his need to take up violence and extremism. The other narrative, which happens during the Babar Masjid demolition riots, shows what extremism can do to a common man. Both narratives have a journey, one journey is to kill, and the other is to be alive. In both the journey, Ram fails to reach the destination. But Ram reaches even more a holier place, which is Truth. In the past Ram was an assassin, who wanted to kill Gandhi, only to discover there's always another side to violence, that is death and sorrow. After this discovery, he wished to apologize to Gandhi for choosing this path. But another extremist like him kills Gandhi and makes Ram live with guilt, the guilt of killing so many people, the guilt of killing himself. In the present, he runs for his life amidst the riots of Babar Masjid demolition on December 6. In this journey, his time was over. Even he couldn't escape from the extremism that once he took up as his ideology. Even though he failed to run for his life. He gets a chance to meet Gandhi and now he can apologize for his sins. 

Now let's talk about the technical aspects of the film

 Hey Ram boasts an extraordinary technical and cast A holy text for film enthusiasts Every actor puts their A game in performances Not just actors, Artwork by Sabu Cyril transports us to the beautiful city of Calcutta before partition; Madras, and many other historical places. He won a national award for his work. Cinematographer S. Thirunavukarasu uses his brilliant techniques to show the mood of the film, a warmer tone for showing Ram's life before partition and a cold tone for the aftermath. The film metaphorically uses black and white to show the present and the fire and bomb blasts during the same sequence in color. Metaphorically telling the viewer that even though incidents may change, violence has always been relevant. The costume design by Sarika beautifully blends historical accuracy and the background of the film. The director Kamal Hassan shows how to use foreground, background, and super background, each having a life, giving details in every shot. This vision was made a reality because of Sabu Cyril and S. Thirunavukarasu

The music director of the film is the legend Ilayaraja. He transformed the viewers to a new world with his use of music. He made us feel love, revenge, sympathy, and every emotion that the visionary wanted. Surprisingly, the initial choice for Hey Ram was another music director L. Balasubramaniyam. But due to creative conflicts, both parted ways, and then came Raja Sir. Raja sir composed music on the songs and already shot videos with fresh music, syncing with the actor's lips, Once in an interview Amitabh Bachchan recalled this incident and said “I’ve never seen something happen like this”. This reduced the financial burden of the producer. Such a genius was Raja. Starting with the title, Raja sir composed the title track Raghupathi Raghav, but, for a change, he composed it like a mosque prayer, as the film talks about the Hindu-Muslim conflict. This song simply shows how art can make peace in dispute. The BGM transitions in the movie are done gracefully. One of such transition includes the heartfelt conversation between Saketh and Mythili. Ram is on the verge of moving on from his past. As a symbol he puts the metti of Aparna(first love) to Mythili. So, Raja sir composed a BGM that starts from the pianos of “Nee partha” when Saketh sees that metti, reminding him of his past. And transitions to a fresh BGM when he removes it from his finger and wears it to Mythili and hence symbolizing that Mythili is more than a friend to Ram now. Such a genius was Raja sir. The film’s sound designer, S.K. Srivastava, recorded sound effects in real-time, capturing gunshots and action sequences authentically. Each gun used by the characters had unique sound effects, which posed risks to production but showcased the filmmaker's commitment to detail. Although the innovative sound techniques went largely unrecognized, the sound designer made the sounds of the film as beautiful as the composition done by Raja sir, making it a treat to hear.

All these magic worked so well. But the unfortunate thing is that, the film bombed in the box office, it did win three national film awards but the damage was done already

The was criticized by politicians and butchered by censor board.The film spoke about Gandhism and drives the audience to understand nonviolence and harmony. The director and crew, pulled off this beautiful yet painful tale of partition, a forgotten history of India.