Conflict between Nature & Technology in the movie ‘Vanamagan’
“The
Enemy of Art is the absence of Limitations”
says George
Orson Welles; a famous American actor, director, writer and producer, who
worked in theatre, radio and film. But, I would say that, the absence of
limitations actually broadens the scope, for the forms of art, apart from Literature.
This is because, I believe any art that conveys some message for its observers
or reflects the typical harsh reality emphasizing for a change/ representing a
change, is art. It can be analysed, interpreted, appreciated or criticized. So,
I started to interpret this Tamil movie ‘Vanamagan’ directed by A. L. Vijay; that
once again opened my eyes on the struggle, that is prevalent in between the
Nature and Technology, whenever, either of it is tried to be modified by the
other/ modifies the other, that later leads to some form of great destruction.
Apart from its unbelievable scene sequences and other technical effects, I
thought that the director of this movie had a great interest to emphasize the
wide gap between the human beings and Nature, made by the Technology.
The plot of this film centres on an ‘uncontacted tribal group’ of
Andaman and Nicobar Islands; whose land inside the dark forest is taken by a
corporate company, to establish their industry, destroying the forest area and
the tribal people who is staying there. Jara is an inhabitant of that tribe,
who in an attempt to save his tribe from the Police, meets with an accident. He
is hardly hit by the car of Kaavya, who with her friends enjoys the trip in
Andaman, thereby driving in high speed, in the restricted forest area. Jara
becomes unconscious and taken into the care of Kaavya, the Managing Director of
Kaavya Group of Industries, one of the Richest Entrepreneur, who lost her
parents in an accident and taken care of by her money-minded uncle Rajasekar and his son Vicky. The way in
which, Jara regains his memory and saves his tribe, with the help of Kaavya,
constitutes the rest of the plot.
As this movie portrays two extreme characters: Jara, a tribal inhabitant
completely influenced by Nature and Kaavya, a rich girl highly influenced by
civilised technology. Though, Kaavya is not portrayed as a techy-freak in the
movie, the influence of technology is evident, when she seeks freedom as a
girl, in her song. Initially this conflict between Nature and Technology starts
when Kaavya and her friends in their Andaman tour, tend to break the rules, to
enter into the restricted forest area. The quest for thrill and adventure, that
is prevalent in the twenty-first century, technological era, plays an important
role in their act. This leads to the first problem that they face with Nature’s
people, the tribal inhabitant, Jara. Only because of their illegal trespassing,
they hit Jara hardly, who tries to escape within the forest. After taking Jara
into her care, Kaavya tries to tame him like an animal, who in her eyes tends
to be uncivilized. In that course, it is Jara who finds it difficult to adapt
to the civilized and technological environment. But in the climax of the movie,
there comes a situation, when Kaavya realizes that these people who tend to be
uncivilized are more humane than the people who are civilized.
Initially , when
Kaavya finds Jara in her home back, Jara tends to eat all the raw vegetables,
nothing left for them even to make a simple dish. For the first time, Kaavya
encounters with hunger. This is symbolic of the fact that if people continue to
curb Nature’s prosperity for their own advantage, then finally there will be
nothing left with Nature, to provide for humanity. This would make humanity
starve to death, for which now-a-days scientists warn that, within two decades,
there will be scarcity of food, so that people would take tablets, to sustain
themselves. Jara’s brutal attack on
Vicky, when he misbehaves with Kaavya symbolizes that; when Nature becomes
furious with disasters, then it becomes uncontrollable and dangerous to the
humanity, to the extent that none can escape from the destruction.
Since Jara and
his people are greatly influenced by Nature and live with Nature; they tend to
be the embodiment of Nature. All the selfless attitude of Nature is found in
them. Nature tends to be selfless because, in spite of man destroying Nature
for his selfish purpose, Nature tends to give him all that he wants; food,
water and shelter. The same selfless attitudes are found in these tribal
people. They shared their food that is hunted among everyone equally and they
tend to accept people as they are. They hunt only for their necessity. As the
comedian says in one sequence, they don’t need money to live, but the heart to
live together. Kaavya and her people in the modern world are greatly influenced
by civilisation and technology, which made them selfish. Kaavya’s friends are
evident of this selfish attitude, when she is in trouble they don’t tend to
help her, instead they find ways to escape from her, for their own safety.
Kaavya, the only master of her lavish residence, needs all varieties of food,
among which she will eat any one; whereas the rest will be wasted in the
dustbin. She consumes less, whereas waste a lot of resources. Kaavya in her
uncle’s care believes that, money is the only need of man to live in the modern
world. This is evident, when she forges the tickets to Chennai, with her
twenty-five lakhs worth Diamond ring, which is again for a selfish purpose.
This selfish and inhumane attitude of the people of modern era and the selfless
and humane attitude of the Nature and its people; serves to be the basic
essence of all the conflict between Nature and Technology.
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