The 1996 movie ‘Gokulathil Seethai’ explored this intriguing question in a fairly convincing way. In this post, let me draw your attention to an extraordinary musical moment in it — ‘Gokulathu Kanna’.
At a high level, this song considers the scenario in the title. Nila (Suvalakshmi) is the stand-in for Sita and wonders what she is doing in Gokulam (actually referring to Rishi’s (Karthik) house). By the second stanza, she describes Rishi’s womanizing and drinking habits (with a secret admiration for him). Let’s pause for a moment on these two lines:
போதையிலே நின்றானவன்
பூஜைக்கின்று வந்தானவன்
This is the exact time when Rishi enters the frame of the celebration and guess what? He is carrying a glass of alcohol (a perfect sync!).
Rishi then launches onto the next stanza and now it is obvious that he has feelings for Nila. But still there is an air of indecisiveness, which is cleared when Manivannan (playing Rishi’s dad) launches into the next stanza. In particular, he asks him to leave all his bad habits (see the following lines), reassuring that Sita is the right one for him.
கோகுலத்து கண்ணா கண்ணா
லீலை விடுவாயா
கோகுலத்தில் சீதை வந்தால்
நீயும் வருவாயா
Overall, this song shows us three things:
- Nila’s respect and admiration for Rishi, hinting that it could turn into love.
- Rishi’s feelings for Nila and his indecisiveness, since he is portrayed as a Man-Child.
- Manivannan’s approval for Nila and Rishi’s togetherness.
This, indeed is the crux of the movie (from what-we-saw-so-far to what-we-will-see) and is causally tossed off as yet another song. Unsurprisingly, this is what makes this song endlessly fascinating to analyze!
Code for Food 