Say “A bridge to nowhere”, each old-timer in Chennai is aware of precisely what you imply. Overseeing the Adyar estuary, this wasn’t a half bridge when it was constructed in 1967, initially helped fisherfolk journey from Adyar to Srinivasapuram. It was meant to be their shortcut. However, nature had the ultimate phrase in 1977. A a part of it collapsed into the estuary on account of a powerful present, by no means to be repaired once more. It is no riddle, after all, the Broken Bridge.
Since then, the construction has lived extra in tales than in operate. Many chilling tales encompass the bridge due to its deserted look and the crime charges ran excessive; it’s typically feared by the general public and unwelcome too. Yet, its very vacancy and previous familiarity turned it right into a sought-after taking pictures spot for a lot of filmmakers. Notably, the 1971 movie Rickshawkaran featured a track Kadaloram Vaangiya Kaatru the place MGR and Manjula dance on the standing full bridge. For an entire technology of millennials, this bridge is etched because the stage of the long-lasting showdown in Aayutha Ezhuthu(2004), the place Michael(Suriya) and Inba ( Madhavan) sq. off towards one another, a confrontation that escalates right into a brawl, all on that slim strip of a bridge.
The bridge is a metaphor and has lent itself to each narrative in films from newfound relationships to bitter clashes. For Uma Vangal, a filmmaker, movie professor and Associate Dean, School of Media at Sai University, the damaged bridge is extra like a logo of damaged ties, a bridge between the current and the previous. “In terms of visual appeal, this is well constructed for confrontation, beginnings and endings. There are so many narrative purposes for this bridge, it can either be a rupture or meeting point for three different stories,” she says.
In many movies, the damaged bridge typically makes a fleeting but memorable look. Song sequences like ‘Oh Sona’ in Vaali (1999), Aaru (2005), Yaya (2013) and others, the bridge seems for its aesthetic enchantment and its picture now laced in a way of nostalgia.
The bridge turns into extra symbolic in Chennai 600028 (2007), the place the age-old trope follows: enemies to pals. In one in every of its scenes, Raghu (Jai ) approaches Karthik (Shiva) and tells he wants to talk privately and so they discover themselves on the damaged bridge. In the background, in the far distance, fisherfolk keep it up with their work. Here, there’s a sense of stress as a result of the characters have at all times been hostile to one another, what may have escalated right into a tussle ends in a hug, all on the bridge, when a secret shatters the hostility.
However, to cut back visitors congestion, GCC has initiated steps to assemble a cable-stayed bridge throughout Adyar, connecting Srinivasapuram and Urur Kuppam to exchange the damaged bridge. A personal advisor was roped in for designing the idea. And but, damaged bridge has develop into immortal in a manner, via cinema.
