Sila Nerangalil Sila Manidhargal

 Sila Nerangalil Sila Manidhargal

2022, Tamil, Directed by Vishal Venkat

We are familiar with the pattern of work of the upcoming debutant director, after viewing the intriguingly cut trailer. And thankfully the premise keeps you invested, solely for its character establishments, leaving you inquisitive.

The four youngsters from different societal strata end up in an 'entanglement', through an incident, in which each of the youngster is correlated in one way or the other. Each character is carefully generated with an unique set of traits and a circle of friends and relatives. The maker kept the curiosity alive as their interaction doesn't happen up until the last half hour of the film. Even though these group of people don't interact, they do share spatial proximity. An individual can't be described independently because he or she is only reacting to the same incident, in a different way, from their own 'retrospection'.

The strength of the maker lies in his attempt to keep the pace and the milieu of these four families as distinctive as possible. The screenplay perfectly percolates through the essence of the story and as a proof we have seamless overlapping incidents from different perspectives.

The seasoned actor Nassar, simply devours, his never seen self restraint 'temperate' role. Since his role is the fulcrum that is essential in showcasing the reactions of the other characters, it ought be at its best and it simply is. The actor brings to life the mind of the elderly who are caged in the name of 'old age', a space that is devoid of anything interesting.

Out of the four protagonists, Ashok Selvan's and Manikandan's characters are the formidable ones as both are convincingly transformative in their respective character arc and are astoundingly performed. The other two characters which interferes with these main characters with their physiological actions are no less to the lead characters, as they are focal as well.

The implicit characterization which makes the viewers relate to similar real life humans and incidents, were the strength of the maker and the convincing actors. The annoying tone and the choice of words by Ashok Selvan's and Manikandan's were spot on.

The 'Retrospection Journey' that every human does in any given ordeal, the endless guilt trips, the undying repentance, especially when we discover that the tiniest effort from our end might have saved a mighty catastrophe- we as viewers could relate to every facet of the story telling.

When we learn to 'Pause' a little, in the midst of our deadline-filled furious lives, when we learn to 'Listen' more than we hurry to 'Speak' every last bit of information that our brain possibly processes, when we learn to 'Own-up' to our mistakes graciously, when we 'Stop scaring' our own lives, trying to burn a strip on our cat-selves and pretend to be tigers, when we learn 'Not to explain' our clean conscience to others around us, we are destined to continue our journey as a responsible race.

A crisp editing would have done more good to the film. The 'dying trend' of repetition of sequences as a call for justification, seemed excessive as the viewers have evolved more the director gives credit for.

The Sahithya Academy Award winning Novel by Jeyakanthan and the 1977 Directorial by A. Bhimsingh based on the novel in the same name, are two big names to live up to and the crew of 2022 did do a genuine attempt. 

Operation Java

 Operation Java

2021, Malayalam, Zee5, IMDB 8.2/10, Directed by Tharun Moorthy

The film's backdrop is extensively based on the cyber cases of the department, the heterogeneity of case presentations and their working pattern. The film opens to a sleepless night's events in the lives of these crime officers while nabbing a suspect. The subtle satire of the felonious officers and their illicit misuse of power during a hunt for an accused, establishes the director's intentions on his venture.

The film's primal knot is an inkling of two engineering graduates, on how the 2015 film Premam's piracy leaked on the internet and establishing that the leaker wasn't based outside the country. The 'novice-duo' are the first choice for a temporary opening at the Cyber Crime Department after solving the Premam leak mystery. Antony George and Vinaya Dasan, played by the fantastic Balu Varghese and Luckman Avaran keeps you engaged through the length of the film.

The gradual transformation of lives of the duo by following their hearts and the contentment that they for a fact do possess a flair for solving crimes are convincingly visualized. The measured romance and the rejection on account of the initial unemployment and later on account of the temporary job, even after Antony had extensively involved in solving his lover's job fraud case- the sequence heightens the despair of these temporary staffs, be it in any cadre.

The multitude of cyber crime cases that the duo are faced with, entices the viewers and the solutions are both emotionally and intellectually appealing. The case where a mother is falsely framed in a porn clip that defames the family but the makers insightfully steer the screenplay with the uneducated husband who staunchly believes his wife and stands beside her, even when their own daughter disowns her mom. The sequence sure does emancipates the innumerable girl children involved in such extortion and the non melodramatic revelation of Vinaya Dasan's sister's story was well placed and well executed.

The noteworthy supporting casts played the Binu Pappu as Officer Joy, who identifies, believes and motivates the youngsters with his own story of appearing for the exam, to officially enter the department, is the 'light at the end of the tunnel' kind, for many such lost, disoriented, skillful and unemployed lots.

Another noteworthy instance is, where Jacob Mani, an Inspector played by Shine Tom Chacko, in whose murder investigation the boys stake their own lives in nabbing the criminal after a night long chase. The warmth that translates to the audience, when the inspector asks for the names of the boys, just before taking leave, is again an instance where the team recapitulates the essence of the tale.

The maker's set ups on bringing to light the stigma of transient jobs, pays off when the youngsters have the right attitude in accepting the quantitative mismatch of the number of actively job seeking employable youths, to that of the number of actual openings in the job market.

The acceptance of reality and the endurance of the work force in constant chasing of opportunities are mightily summarized with the 'Official Stamped Intern Certificate' and the long shot of the duo walking the bike with the credits rolling - A metaphor to the long path that awaits the duo before any 'permanent happening' in their lives.  

Minnal Murali

 Minnal Murali

2021, Malayalam, Netflix, 8.6/10 IMDB, Directed by Basil Joseph

The down to earth superhero movie takes its time to set the premise in the small village with subtle establishment of its characters. The prologue of the drama troupe of Saint of Pallikannu played by the senior Tovino Thomas, a real life savior of many lives during a fire that breaks out in his drama watching crowd, teases the viewers aptly of what the plot is about. Jaison, a village tailor played by junior Tovino Thomas, engages the viewers with his MJ moves and his character being the naivest of all the characters that he had played so far, steal our hearts straightaway.

A superhero story without a super evil character to combat with, can never accomplish its purpose. The trained theater artist Guru Somasundaram playing the character of Shibu, does that so captivatingly, rubbing the distress of the character on to the viewers.

The makers decide to unravel the lead roles using extensive narratives. The revelation of the super powers of both the characters are done quite illustratively. While Tovino's is done with a lighter hilarity, Guru's super power revelation had darkness seep all through it and the actor pulls it off with ease using his expressive eyes and evil smug.

The subplots over stretches the screenplay, making the viewers restless to witness the clash of the good Vs the evil. But it does arrive with a bang in the last 40 minutes of the film, in its full glory, with the original gothic gargoyle effect and all. The sensitive version of the homegrown super powers, both the village 'super hero tailor', who stitches his own costume and the gunny bag masked lungi-clad 'super evil-commoner', backed with the flashback of a righteous father, leaves the viewers content.

Surprisingly the graphics were not a let down. The film needed a good trim but nevertheless was an original in many ways, be it the nephew who educates his uncle about the super powers or the cute martial art teacher female lead played by Femina Geroge or the true love of the Shibu's, Usha, played by the beautiful Shelly Kishore.

Jai Bhim

 Jai Bhim

2021, Tamil, Amazon Prime, 9.7/10 IMDB, Directed T.J. Gnanavel

Yet another story in the lines of Mari Selvaraj's Karnan, that rips the masks off the brutal bureaucratic faces with an authentic real event to back it up. Any attempt to bring to light, the plight of the marginalized is noble. The sequencing of the nearly two decade old incident, paradoxically reminds the 2020 custodial death at Thoothukudi district of the state. It only proves one needs no reason to welcome with open arms, such movies that voice the insignificant souls, keeping aside its technical movie-making impediments.

Mankind had witnessed numerous external forces that had decided on what constitutes 'History' and what doesn't, as it was either conveniently hidden with ulterior motives or was indisputably manipulated. The 'non-social media era' of the 90's, is no exception, as it witnessed many human rights violations, discriminations and social injustice. At the outset what is saddening is that these kind of incidents that happened 26 long years back, is still surfacing with more brutality just 16 short months back in the state, right in the middle of the ever powerful social media era. This thought was eating my mind the whole time I watched the film.

The director chooses to narrate the story, through the eyes of the tribal villagers through a glimpse of their livelihood in the initial sequences. Later the film moves towards establishing the character of an activist- turned Lawyer, Chandru, played by actor Surya. He eventually becomes the savior of the falsely accused tribal people, in cases that has no lead to the real offenders.

The story could have easily been a heroic venture for the actor which he could have savored upon, to reinstate his stardom, but both the makers and the actor, realize their responsibilities to the community in not making it a project to 'up' their personal accomplishments. The plot is of course commercialized, but strikes the right balance and doesn't go overboard by not presenting it as a jingoistic propaganda.

The actors do justice to their roles, especially Lizomol Jose and K. Manikandan, who play the lead. Like any other movie, Jai Bhim also threads on the usual 'set up' of a happy couple in love, just to secure a 'pay off' later, but the innocence that the characters send forth, pays off reasonably well.

The shots where the custodial brutality is unleashed, you cannot be without thinking of Vetrimaran's film 'Visaranai'. But when the sequences flash more that once in different parts of the movie during each one's perspective, it does become repetitive. However, the story moves forward on its plane and one is kept fairly engaged.

From the highly dramatized court scenes of the 90's to the family courts in 2016 'Andavan Kattalai', it sure is a giant leap to Tamil Cinema.

Here we are heavily prepped with a disclaimer that the court proceedings are visualized in native language in contrary to the real life scenario, as the arguments are in English at the High court. Expectations mount for a realistic argument, but the smirky counsel Surya's and the prosecutor Guru Somasundaram's were a let down.

The premise being the one that is based on true events, the realistic quotient in few instances seems to have fallen prey to the commercial phenomena. Nevertheless, given the seriousness of the story in hand and the truth that unravels one after the other in the near-perfect screenplay, compensates for all the petty mishaps. Frequent revisits to the violent scenes in the intention of influencing the audience to empathize with the characters, were not required, as the shot compositions kept the audience invested in the film already.

It is unquestionably a welcome change to see actor Surya commit to a serious script such as this, 'sans' romance. Kudos to the makers for choosing to tell the tale, that needs to be told, to bring forth some changes in the system as a whole.

Varane Avashyamund

 Varane Avashyamund

2020, Malayalam, Netflix, 7/10 IMDB, Directed by Anoop Sathyan

A star-studded potpourri of stories revolving around malayali families, in an apartment at Chennai.

The director loves actress Shobhana just like any of us and a special kudos to him for bringing her on screen after so long. The last we saw her in Tamil, if I am not mistaken, was in Ravanan movie, choreographing Aishwarya Rai's dance sequence.. She steals your heart right away and you fall in love with the character she plays as well.

The story is distorted with too many characters with too less depth and arc resulting in kinda clumsy screenplay to begin with.

It was a surprise to see Kalyani, playing Shobhana's daughter taking a voluntary plunge into the groom hunt, herself. The story behind it does come much later, but it such a bliss to watch girls giving a good shot at arranged marriage proposals..

You are hinted there is a flashback to substantiate the hero's backdrop and Dulquer's character lacks depth up untill much later in the second half.

Suresh Gopi as an ex-military officer with problems managing his anger, is such an apt choice and you can't think of any one else playing that role except for him. The way he clenches the school labeled note book, with cute innocence overloaded on his face, it was just adorable.

The senior's love story between Suresh Gopi and Shobhana, had been carefully sequenced with care and director remained true to his promise made to shobhana before roping her in to the project I guess.. Absolutely no cliché what so ever. Loved it.

Kalyani plays her character with ease and she seems to be a natural.

Bonding through the time of floods was a nice tool. The only drawback was the characters were too many. There seems to be some problem in establishing emotional connect amongst all of them.

Some real funny moments but not as hilarious as it ought to have been, given the plot had too much scope for the same.