‘Gunaa’: How a twisted tale conjured by the greatest minds of Indian cinema has stood the test of time

With the Malayalam film ‘Manjummel Boys’ focussing the much-deserved spotlight on the cult Tamil classic ‘Gunaa’, we look at what makes the thirty-plus-year-old script resonate even today

It certainly seems impossible to scroll through Instagram without seeing a reel video carrying the ‘Kanmani Anbodu’ track from the Tamil film Gunaa. Unless you were living under the gigantic rocks of Guna Caves, you are likely to know that the placement of the track in the sensational Malayalam hit Manjummel Boys. — which is about a tragedy that befalls a group of friends visiting the Guna Caves — has brought back the 1991 Kamal Haasan starrer to the centre of attention. But ask the cinephiles and they will vouch for how Gunaa, which was criminally under-appreciated during its release, has always been a cult classic set in stone.

The story of how Gunaa came to fruition calls for a film on its own. When Kamal was 19, he was not satisfied with the monotonous work he was getting in Tamil films and that’s when his mentor figure Ananthu (remember this name) asked him to give Malayalam cinema a shot, an endeavour that garnered him huge success apart from rejuvenating his thirst for the craft. His last film as the lead in Malayalam was Chanakyan (1989) helmed by National Award-winning filmmaker TK Rajeev Kumar in his directorial debut. It also marked the debut of writer Sab John and his first collaboration with Kamal.

The following year, the duo, along with director Sibi Malayil and cinematographer Venu, decided to team up for a film on insurgency in Sri Lanka, an idea that was shot down by veteran Cho Ramaswamy citing the feathers it might ruffle. Sab John found another plot from his childhood, which was about this man who would be seen frequently in his neighbourhood and was called by everyone ‘Pottan’ (a derogatory term for a person intellectually slow to learn and follow). Kamal, intrigued by the idea, gave his nod. Malayil was not available by the time the film took shape and Kamal’s longtime friend and filmmaker Santhana Bharathi (who in 1987 made the Sathyaraj-starrer Kadamai Kanniyam Kattupaadu which Kamal produced) took over the direction reins. When the team started with recce works near the Berijam Lake, Kodaikanal, they spotted a milestone for the national park named Mathikettan Solai (the forest of the lost minds) and Sab John recommended that as the title. But because of the negative connotation, the makers went with the name of its primary lead; and thus, Gunaa was born!

Gunaa, condensed into a one-liner, is the story of a newly released psychiatric patient who kidnaps a heiress, believing it’s their destiny to get married. The plot might sound similar to the Spanish film Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! by auteur Pedro Almodóvar that came out just a year before,but John had earlier clarified Gunaa had nothing to do with it; the layers John, Kamal and Bharathi add to Gunaa would prove that. For starters, the initial portions of Gunaa are set in Andhra Pradesh and the very first shot introduces us to Gunaa standing atop a building in the pose of Nataraja as the camera moves along showing how he’s the only man in a brothel managed by his god-fearing mother. As the story progresses, we learn that his uncle, unaware of his mental health issues, used to tie him up to a Gunaseelan temple from which he escaped, sought medical care and was diagnosed with Obsessional psychoneurosis.

In a fantastic 150-second arc shot that has become synonymous with the film, Gunaa explains how he’s waiting for his ‘Abirami’ with whom he wants to escape from this god-forsaken world. His abandoning father became a villain he never knew and the repercussions that led his mother to take up sex work are all “impurities” for him. He wants to settle down with Abirami atop a cold “Pentothal hill,” far from this ugly world that’s cold enough to lie that his mother has died to get him out of hospital.

Immediately, we cut to a montage song in which the film’s composer Ilaiyaraaja lends his voice to the ‘Appan Endrum’ track and Vaali pushes home the point of Gunaa’s need to purification with lines like ‘kuppai aga vandha udambu’ and ‘endha Gangai aatril indha azhukku pogum’. The ‘Unnai Naan’ track deserves a special mention for how, visually, we get to see both Gunaa’s mother and Rosy, the only two souls that care for our titular hero, take turns pacifying him. Just like Chanakyan, John’s Gunaa is also about a love story that does not end on a positive note, and Rosy’s unrequited love towards Gunaa is also an underlying motif that’s carried throughout the film.

Gunaa finds his Abirami when another fantastic track, ‘Paartha Vizhi,’ plays; the song is from Abhirami Pattar’s ‘Abhirami Anthadhi’, a Tamil collection of poems sung on goddess Abirami, and in the film’s context, the lyrics coincide with Gunaa finding the almighty in Rohini (Roshini) who he believes to be Abirami. The song is also when Gunaa goes into a dream sequence featuring the lead pair dancing together dressed as gods. In fact, Gunaa is laced with many such religious references from both Hinduism and Christianity — The heist sequence in which Gunaa inadvertently stabs a thief with a trident, the church sequence, and Abirami, dressed in white, compared to that of an angel are some examples with a personal favourite being the shot where blood from Gunaa’s injured hand unwittingly lands on Rohini’s forehead resembling smeared vermillion.