Mookuthi Amman

 Mookuthi Amman

2020, Tamil, Disney Hotstar, 8.1/10 IMDB, Directed by RJ Balaji, N.J . Saravanan

A 'cautiously' made satire film, that ends up a tad preachy and not as fun as the director's previous outing in spite of 'Goddess' Nayantara.

The much hyped trailer, dulls the first half hour of the film. As expectation had soared high for Nayantara's entry as the Goddess, RJ Balaji's family drama slows down the pace.

Just when you are resonating the screenplay and the actor with the 1984 'Dhavani Kanavugal' of Director K. Bhagyaraj, there pops the song from his other film 'Antha Ezhu Naatkal', 'Enakkum Unnakkum Thaan Porrutham' as the que song for Nayanthra to appear in front of him.

Navarathri festivities on TV refreshes our childhood memories of Maya bazaar's Ranga Rao and the Saraswathi Sabadham's Savithri. It's reliving those moments when Nayantara eats sumptuously and rages when she sees her small sized photo adjacent to the big Venkatachalapathy photo.

God Vs Godmen is the core plot. It's commendable to see the socially conscious RJ Balaji, attempting to rhyme the names of godmen, to the real life godmen of the south. But the boldness in his previous outing in L.K.G, a satire on the political drama in Tamil Nadu, is missing here as the director plays safe, as the plot treads on the religious forte.

Nayantara, is divine and would have loved to see more of her stroll in those gorgeous attires. Sadly the character's arc is not explored enough.

Urvasi is on an unrestrained spree and does justice to the mom's role. Thankfully her loudness doesn't get on your nerve. Ajay Gosh as Godman, exasperates. His screen space could have been traded with more time for Nayantara.

Firebrand

 Firebrand

2019, Marathi, 5.1/10 IMDB, Netflix, Directed by Aruna Raje

A beautifully choregraphed film, that claims love and sex are two different things by adorning feminism and redefining chauvinism while at it.

A seemingly simple story of a feminist lawyer, Sunandha played by Usha Jadhav, has many layers to it. She is a Dalit rape victim in her school days and her parents had disowned her. She apparently had handled the trauma by herself.

Her dear friend Madhav played by the fantastic Girish Kulkarni, during her NGO days, weds her. The couple are in abundant love but experience sexual problems as Sunandha's rape incident haunts her.

The director reveals later that Madhav had ignored the fact that she may not be ready for marriage. She even warns him that he will regret it. He never regrets it though and is the epitome of a caring husband who understands her completely.

The couple's visit to the psychiatrist helps them to an extent. The exercise of writing about the incident and narrating it in front of the mirror, at some point tires them as a couple.

Madhav infers that the clients Sunandha handles in the family court, might have some impact, in her not 'letting go' of her past. Sunandha, pities Madhav thinking her past disturbs their marriage. Sunandha, insists they get a divorce. They mutually decide to separate for a while.

The story takes an unanticipated turn out of no where. One has to totally give it to the feminism quotient of the Director Aruna Raje's perception. The intention of the maker, poetically transcends the visuals on screen. The film ends with a feeling of content, as the director's mature treatment leaves you in an awe.

Sachin Khedekar plays the husband of a client of Sunandha's. The client accuses her husband of being a womanizer. This aspect, kind of greys his acquaintance with Sunandha. But when the director decodes the implication it has in Sunandha's relationship with Madhav, those moments are a total revelation of the character's strengths.

The list of Sunandha's clients, such as a beauty pageant mom disowning her autistic child blaming her husband for the bad gene, a grieving family of a girl whose husband is gay, shadows the societal issues.

The court scenes give an occasional detached staged feel, but the character's intentions compensate for the lack of personal connect to them.

Putham Pudhu Kaalai

 Putham Pudhu Kaalai

2020, Tamil, Amazon Prime, 7.6/10 IMDB, Anthology Directed by Sudha Kongara, Gautham Menon, Suhashini Manirathnam, Rajiv Menon, Karthik Subbaraj.

An anthology with a common backdrop of COVID lockdown, falls short in creativity. It seemingly strikes parallels to our 'lockdown mood swings' in testing our patience at many instances.

Pooling across an anthology, during testing times of the pandemic, is an event in film history, no doubt. Limited crew should have posed a threat even to these eminent directors. The OTT platform's initiative in making it happen is applaudable. It's a mixed bag of reactions though with each of the five segments.

'Illamai Idho Idho' segment by director Sudha, in about elderly Jeyaram and Urvasi being young at heart and in love. The director visualizes the youth in them by casting Kalidassa and Kalyani to make the intimate scenes, less awkward. Similar concept was contextualized with ease in 'Varane Avashyamund' (Shobana a divorcee & an unmarried retired Major, Suresh Gopi). Another such concept was the 'Turtle' segment of 2019's anthology 'Sillu Karupatti' (Sreeram, a widower and an unmarried Leela Samson). The need for casting a young pair in substantiation, disrupts the novelty of a story. A story that's talks about age not being a barrier to seek companionship could have be bolder. The consolation is the feminism angle in the characterization- Jeyaram a widower and Urvasi doesn't have her partner either. They being answerable to their married children was worthy plot that could have been used to milk so much humor. But, the director chose to give it an 'Alaipayuthey' romantic angle.

The Advertisement of Colgate which celebrates 'similar freedom' in less than 35 seconds is still my preferential choice.

'The Avarum Naanum - Avalum Naanum', of Gautham Menon, is an exact copy of the 1985 Fazil movie 'Poove Poochudava. Except for the gender variation of course. The casting, the camera, the music and the props evoke GVMism in your senses but the story falls short. The granddad and grand daughter duo, played by M.S. Bhaskar and Ritu Varma uniquely light up the screens with their subtlety. Initially the story seems engaging apart from the fact that is resembles the 80's flick but the justification of MS. Bhaskar's distancing from his daughter, doesn't hold tight as it ought to, given the mysterious prologues.

'Coffee anyone?' by Suhashini Maniratham, is an ambitious venture that features the Haasan women. The thought behind the story is novel, but the execution lacks finesse and its screams for mentoring. The limited crew might have posed a problem but the director is handicapped in translating her writings to visuals. The struggle starts right from the opening frame when the daughters are on the way home from the airport. The medical conditions are miserably handled and so is Shruthi's character being a rebel. Sob stories are a plenty and melodramatic scenes in places disengage you from the story.

'Reunion' by Rajiv Menon, features, singers Andrea and Gurucharan as schoolmates. Andrea opts to stay in her childhood friend's house during the lockdown. At one point she is revealed to be a drug abuser. Doubts creep in, if there is enough space for such extensive arc in an anthology. The story is determined to travel on the rehabilitation path. Gurucahran helps her beat her addiction by kindling the childhood singing competitor within. The story seems to judge women working in bar and type casting them as substance users. But on damage control, the director chooses to counter it through the dialogues of Gurucharan's doctor character. Andrea moves out claiming- 'addiction is HER problem' and she is to seek professional help- the segment ends seemingly convincing.

'Miracle' by Karthik Subbaraj, opens with the Madurai dialect. It brings in the much needed breathe of fresh air from the glossy glamorous indoors of the previous segments. The director excels in spinning a dark comedy tale filled with suspense and humor. Its hilarious, especially when the characters attempts to burgle a building mistaking it to be an IT firm, . The camera and lighting is spot on. The flashing mobile that rings, lighting the face of the apparently dead man, reminds the director's debut film 'Pizza'. Tamarind rice is compared to be the poor man's biriyani during the lockdown. There isn't a better way to express the pandemic's consequences on bachelors. The characters relish the tamarind rice as sour grapes. It's a slice of reality of many households during the pandemic. The twist in the last scene, the director hitting a jackpot and the Godman's mafia, leaves you light hearted.

The Great Indian Kitchen

 The Great Indian Kitchen

2021, Malayalam, Neestream, 8.4/10 IMDB, Directed by Joe Baby

Moral authorities of patriarchy, de-skinned without much melodrama, through the perspective of a young woman of the 3rd millennium.

The 2020 film 'Thappad' focused on patriarchy that was instilled in the system of young girls, since their childhood. Whereas, the maker of 'The Great Indian Kitchen' approach patriarchy from the 'taming aspect'. An attempt to transform the newly wed brides to fit 'The House Keeper' template.

The husband, played by Suraj Venjaramoodu, is a teacher by profession. The crux of the plot is explicitly captured in the husband's contradicting attitude. He hardly realizes that the lessons he teaches his students, on 'Family', is exactly opposite to his real life. That's sadly the appalling plight of our superficial education system. His table manners at home strikes a total contrast to that of his at a hotel. He is conscious of being socially judged. The director chooses to reiterate through these sequences. The socially conscious perfect male sparkles without a speck of imperfection in the outside world. But he is in fact a 'patriarchal alpha male' at home. He considers it his birth right or believes is a genetic descent.

An educated girl, born in a diasporic family, is married in to a traditional family in Kerala. Played by the fantastic Nimisha Sajayan, she wishes to pursue a career in teaching dance. While the father-in-law smilingly says a 'No', the husband genuinely 'postpones' for the time being, with a false hope smile. The mother-in-law seems to say a secret 'Yes', while she is at a safe distance at her daughter's place, abroad. This young women is bound by an invisible shackle.

The newly wedded woman subtly hints, she is not ready for intimacy, due to lethargy after a heavy dinner. This is a perfect set up by the director for a scene later on. She gains confidence, to speak out the discomfort due to lack of foreplay. It pays off, when she is ridiculed by the husband. The viewer gets a glimpse of the husband's chauvinism paired with his demonic patriarchy.

The film closes with the theatrical representation of a girl bound in iron shackles. One realizes, these shackles are like the ones that tie down the mighty elephant. The elephant is tamed to believe that, it is not mighty enough to break free. Women are no less powerful than these gentle giants and have been conditioned to believe that breaking free is impossible. Even sadder, most of the time, she is made to believe it is forbidden.

We witness the film succeeding in setting the spirit of womanhood free. It gets better, when the female lead, addresses the very core of the issue. She realizes the significance of nipping it at young. She insists her younger brother to fetch the water for himself instead of asking his mother. Accolades for the effortless solution. It will not only will keep alive the dreams of million young girls. It will also make them feel safe, as the society would be made up of responsible adults. 

Soorarai Pottru

Soorarai Pottru

2020, Tamil, Amazon Prime, 9.3/10 IMDB, Directed by Sudha Kongara

An ambitious fictional version of a revolutionary biopic, showcasing some intense acting. A worthy attempt, but for the tiresome monotone, that irks a disconnect.

The story credits it's inspiration to the book, 'Simply fly' A Deccan Odyssey, by G.R.Gopinath. Its partly a dramatized version like any other biopic films. The core of the plot is about the revolution in the aviation industry- a villager's dream to make every Indian, fly, at a low cost.

The movie opens to a rough landing of a passenger plane. As access had been denied for it's landing at Chennai airport, Nedumaran (Suriya) forcibly arranges for its landing in the army base and rushes to the landing site in his motorbike. Nedumaran meeting Sundari (Aparna Balamurali), through a marriage proposal springs up next. The contrast transition, from the adrenaline rushing opening scene to the crowded train, surprisingly doesn't charm the way it was intended. The fierce dance number when Sundari meets Nedumaran doesn't help either, except when he walks in with a haircut to hint his acceptance to the proposal.

Suriya has his heart and soul in the project and it does translate onscreen. Every frame that captures him, has him in some kind of an emotional high. The rebellious and military backdrop, flashes back his 'Vaaranam Aayiram' days. The actor is back with a vengeance to overthrow his recent hiatus and seems geared up for another innings.

Aparna brings to life the bold and budding entrepreneur, through her confident body language and expressions. The cute gestures of the couple are poetic and G.V. Prakash's music work compliments those sequences. The locking horn choreography, to represent the muscle match of the couple, is interesting, as Sundari refuses to marry him and rather pursue her dream.

The story goes back and forth with chronological overlapping, that it dilutes the character's emotions in places. The editing should have gone haywire or the film had been mutilated badly.

It's quite hard not to be reminded of the ace director Manirathnam. The distinct rounded characterizations with strong dialect is a classic copy of his films.

Biopics often ride on a curiosity factor. To solve the real life puzzle, by fixing the less known missing pieces amidst the familiar facts. On the contrary, a less known biopic like the Telugu film 'Mallesham', on revolutionizing the weaving industry also leaves an impact. It was a tedious win for the lead character as well in Mallesham. But as it's core revolves around putting an end to the miseries of weaver's physical pain, it makes you root for the character.

That's the prime reason for the mild disconnect in Soorarai Pottru. His idea is worth a revolution, no doubt. An ambition of an air force personnel to build a business model to make, travel affordable to all section of the masses. But the lack of nobility of doing away anyone's sufferings, keeps the character's efforts at bay. You end up not rooting ardently for Nedumaran's success, which you know he will eventually do anyways. The airport scene where he alms for cash to travel to visit his dying father, just reiterates Suriya as a talented actor rather than the audience sympathizing with the character 'Nedumaran'.