Super Deluxe

 Super Deluxe

2019, Tamil, Netflix, 8.4/10 IMDB, Thiagarajan Kumararaja

A testingly slow series of screenplay- interestingly embedded in an array of puzzles, ranging from sheer existence of life, to perceptions on sexual orientations to spiritual beliefs. All this morality is wickedly preached through immoral means, coined as 'futuristic evolution'.

The director, Thiyagarajan Kumararaja, what we know of him from his previous outing, eight long years ago, in Aranya Kaandam - he is a person who is detrimental to pick his characters from the most immoral background and try to voice out our morally insane life's philosophy through those characters, leaving us to ponder about our own deceit self in today's scandalous world.

Contrary to what the trailer promotes, it's not just Vijay sethupathi who steals the show, as the entire muster fights the battle for the best performances, starting from the adorable Tiny Tot Ashwanth.

The characters are not what director Balachander dared in his movies, not that of Mani Rathnam's charaded dark world, but of the infidel world that parallels our pious, god-fearing, genuine life, which we loudly proclaim that we are not part of and discard it as filth. Thiyagarajan kumararaja's morale is unique and new to us tamil movie goers. He is to us, what the two legends were, when they crafted such daring epic movies ahead of their times.

A toddler craving for his father's presence and a transgender reaching out to his son, an infidel wife with her naively loving husband and dead body of her ex-boyfriend, the porn star mom ironically with her porn-craving son and friends along with his confusingly converted father with his religious PRO, crook bisexual cop and his civil constables, an alien who talks about cell division and evolution, a porn movie which concludes 'what is wrong now, may not be so in another 100 years' and this is inevitably called 'Evolution'.

Is that even remotely close to any characterisation that we have heard of in Tamil cinema? Nope. But this is universaly unique if taken in the right context and coming from us, one of the oldest civilization on earth, does make the rest of the world turn their heads towards us.

Selvaragavan's Aayirathil Oruvan and Irandam Ulagam were never understood in the entire context of it's maker's perspective and that was the case with this director's debut movie as well. At least the opening for this movie is big with promising casts and wish the movie is acclaimed better this time.

It's the brain child of many creators say, Nalan kumarasamy, Mysskin, Neelan. K. Sekar along with Thiyagarajan. It needs loads of decoding before one can like or dislike the movie. Unless watched many a times with a critic eye, one is left handicapped to commend or malign the maker.

The efforts and years worth of preparations on such a shadowy screenplay, in a contemporary movie, laying foundation to a whole new set of logics, which we weren't aware of, shouldn't be left unappreciated.

Unda

 Unda 

2019, Malayalam, Amazon Prime, 8.1/10 IMBD, Directed by Khalid Rahman

Up close and personal on the plight of the Armed Forces and their Sub inspector who go on an election duty to a Maoist area in Uttarakand.

They are forced to guard the booth with minimal ammunition amidst the fear for their life. You are often reminded of the Hindi flick Newton, where the story threads from the election officer's point of view. But here the situation is from the perspective of the police men and their hardship.

Mamooty is phenomenal in playing a 50 years odd sub inspector who has never used his gun much. The veteran actor shines through in many instances where he is responsible for the lives his men yet being helpless to do so.

The state government bickering with each other on whose responsibility it is to provide the ammunition, metal detectors to detect land mines, life jacket vest, when it is needed the most to guard the booth, you do feel a churn in your stomach, on the plight of the officers that you often see on duty during tense situations. The skills and training are near zero as none of them have any exposure to real life scenario to handle any emergency situation like the Maoist for instance.

The next time you see a police patrol on any public gathering, I am sure you are going to stop a while in respect for the sacrifice they do without even recognizing the amount of danger they are put through by the system.

What the movies like Arrambam with a huge budget involving multiple start casts, overloaded with masala elements can't do, Unda does. It insists that the lives of the police men are not valued enough by the government by not providing quality life jackets amongst other things. Unda does all this with its Simple yet Realistic making with some Quality Performance invariably by every single artist casted in the movie.

Must watch.

Sujata

 Sujata

1959, Hindi, YouTube, 7.3/10 IMBD

The cruelty of untouchability seen through a rare lens of an orphaned lower-class girl baby who is chanced to grow up in a Brahmin household. Based on a Bengali short story by Subodh Ghosh, its Bimal Roy’s directorial touch that brings the best in his artists, especially the female lead, Nutan.

The villagers bring a new born baby girl, whose parents have died, to the house of Upen and Charu who themselves have a new born baby girl. When Upen is uncertain, his wife Charu reluctantly asks the maid to take care of the baby for the time being. While Charu's lullaby makes her daughter sleep inside the house, the same lullaby makes the untouchable baby Sujata, falls asleep outside the house. Humanity overrides untouchability. That’s the fine line the story is targeting to address and obliterate. 

Plans to send ‘Sujata’ to an orphanage turns futile as Sujata’s love for the family over-powers them and she continues to live with them. Education is refused to her but naively yet righteously she fights for it. Upen’s soft corner for her is made evident through many instances, like the one when he insists, Sujata be taught as well by the tutor at home along with his daughter.

The effects of ‘societal burden’ on an educated individual like Upen who tries to shed discrimination by birth, is efficiently pictured by the character of his aunt, a pious lady who reinforces untouchability back in to the family’s subconscious every time Upen and Charu attempts to get over it.

 Sujata (Nutan) grows to this smart young lady who is dutiful and affectionate. The family’s relative boy Adheer (Sunil Dutt), falls for her and is determined to marry her. Upen’s pious aunt who had adopted Adheer after his parents had died, is obviously against his love for Sujata, a low born. The film takes few dramatic twists and ends on a happy note.

The film stands apart for its subtlety in surfacing the pain of girl who is being loved yet not accepted and the conscious choices of the couple who seem to be caught between their beliefs and that of the society’s. The director is justified to go to the bottom of the problem by bringing in blood compatibility between the Brahmin mom and the low born girl in the last couple of scenes, as the heinous roots of untouchability demands such primal treatments to grab the attention of the viewers.

Lyricist Majrooh, Music composer SD Burman and Nutan’s powerful expressions are a treat to watch, as the trio along with the director, makes us the viewers experience what it feels like to be addressed- “She is like my daughter" instead of "She is my daughter”. The mise-en scene of the film enhances the visuals and it is a treat to watch the magical song sequence, ‘Jalte Hai Jiske liye’  by Talat Mehamood- the irony being, the usage of a telephone, a modern advent of those time, by the hero to sing to the heroine, in a plot which houses a core theme of an age-old caste discrimination.

The harbor's sound signals echoing Sujata’s every sorrow, the silent weeps of hers, the pain of her wailing heart, the hangover of love every time her eyes meet Adheer’s, the innocent reminder to give an umbrella to protect him from the scorching heat, every time her father steps outside house - The doyen director has packaged it all, that makes it a 'Memorable Watch'.

Kaatrin Mozhi

 Kaatrin Mozhi

2018, Tamil, Disney Hotstar, 7.3/10 IMDB, Directed Radha Mohan

Jothika's best in her 2nd innings, playing her own hyper expressive self, bearable this time as the character is such, a true comeback with vengeance, talking all that she couldn't in her grumpy speech-impaired character in 'Mozhi'.

The winning combo of director Radha Mohan and Jothika is back with a remake from Hindi, 'Tumhari Sulu', in a similar melodramatic apartment lifestyle story like that of Mozhi, with familiar artists playing familiar characters in familiar backdrop in a familiarly titled movie. The first half is full of RadhaMohansim. The second half and climax is a let down by psychotherapy sessions, but saved by few tear jerking scenes from Jo.

The chirpy +2 failed bubbly housewife with a not so gutsy, pussy cat husband and a 11yr old son, living in a rented apartment happily ever after life with a dream to become affluent like Jo's sisters. They do this by day dreaming all possible floppy business ideas.

Adore every bit of the loving couple dominated by Jo and Vidharth behaves more with a brotherly respectful body language beside his bold wife, don't know if he is scared of actor Surya or actor Sivakumar. You even miss and feel for it in the second half where the late night RJ job as an 'agony-aunt', tosses the peace in the family and it even makes a stay at home wife like me feel proud of being one.

The callers on her late night show, if they make you uncomfortable, imagine what it would do to Vidharth and Jo's family is left with no other choice to react bad and I felt it was justified. The husky (whisky they proudly call it) 'hello' was sure an invitation for trouble.

When things get our of hand, and Jo reverts back home quitting the job with a catering contract instead, a true chauvinism, you do feel suppressed as a woman but hey that's not the passion she worked hard to achieve and the opportunity just landed on her hand and she loved doing it. So no worries quitting the job and anyways she is not qualified to do that either. The character is established well when she easily moves on and her expressions does borders the overboard mark but she does make your eyes cloud, proving she is a fine artist.

Wonder why the radio house didn't think of accommodating her in to a regular show instead of biding a talent good bye. She could have been given an assurance at the least that she might been called back by creating a slot in the morning, considering the fan base in less than a month which even leads to vikatan awards. Why cling on to the job that is problematic to the family. Wonder if her dream to turn into a psychologist can't come true in a noon time show?

Lakshmi Manchu, fares well as the boss and her voice seems so husky, she herself could have done the late night show.

I haven't seen the Hindi version, but didn't want to. Jo can start choosing characters that needn't be women centric with a dummy male lead. She does convincingly score with her hyper yet bubbly old self but with these kind of characters she doesn't leave much an impact.

The climax is a mere fix with a 360 degree turn in the family acceptance for the late night show once again against all odds, simultaneously when she is flourishing in her catering career. All this only to over burden her family more I guess, and that might burden us with Kaartrin Mozhi 2 may be.. God save us and send our super performing directors in the likes of Ram Kumar, Prem Kumar, Karthick Naren and Mari Selvaraj to expose her to the fresh cinema that we are witnessing today. May be a Vijay Sethupathi starrer would do the magic.

Vada Chennai

 Vada Chennai

2018, Tamil, Disney Hotstar, 8.5/10 IMDB, Directed by Vetrimaran

Log book of events on destiny of a youngster to become a humble savior of North madras, documented too raw, that after the movie we feel like walking out of prison ourselves, making Vetrimaran a winner.

A much hyped movie for it being an epic, is sure going to fall prey to tough scanner and criticism. The director got carried away, way too much that we end up being uncertain at times with how he wants us to emote, as his choice of real life characters are shown in the real creepy world of the underprivileged.

Vetrimaran's screenplay with permutations and combinations of characters, juggled between different time period does fatigue you with equally confusing array of similar faced and accented characters each with a distinct name. It's like preparing for a history exam to remember the characters, what they were up to in that particular time period, how their looks change back and forth (detailed to infer how with age they have become either pious or arrogant). Appreciation goes out for the subtle detailing that fits apt for the realism the movie tries to capture.

Danush's versatility has been too frequently explored in his previous flicks that every change in his look is not new to you. He reminds of the Myanmar youngster character of 'Anegan' and '3', the dense beard character from 'Kodi' and by now we are way too familiar with his acting and dialogue delivery in similar backdrops. There are few exceptional expressions that only he could culminate with a flair.

Aishwarya Rajesh is introduced by mouthing bold swears that's surprisingly new to our ears paired with an applause echo from the audience. It goes for all characters as they inevitably speak the local language and the crowd keeps funnily cheering up every time a character mouths a swear.

Ameer is the ' Padagotti' MGR of the harbor slum and he does convince you with his compelling performance and complexion. He is the prototype that Dhanush is revealed to replicate later on, and the transformations are done in real time effect that we start seeing the movie as another history lesson and we start making notes for part 2 of the trilogy.

Andrea is an unexpected choice for such a game changing character, but she proves us wrong with her dreamy eyes when around Ameer and the apparent depth in the same eyes while in revenge, emoted as plainly as in real life scenario without mixing an ounce of cinematic layer.

Samuthrakani does convince you that he can show versatility. Daniel Balaji doesn't create much of an impact. Kishore scores better but not his best.

The cinematographer Aadukalam's Velraj does what he is good at in bringing the reality check in all frames with his creepy lighting.

Santhosh Narayanan's music remains under utilized even in the BGM, as the story's complexity stands tall putting everything under the radar, gracefully down.