Movie Review – Paava Kadhaigal

A hard-hitting anthology which relies on actors for creating the impact

It’s quite clear from the title as to what to expect from an anthology like ‘Paava Kadhaigal’. Except for Vignesh Sivan, the other directors have some affinity towards violence. Vetrimaran, quite obviously, Sudha, in may be a classical manner and Gautam, in a stylish way. With Gautam stating that he’s wanting to do an anthology with a number of directors, this looked like the right time and things seem to have worked for them. The OTT movies are still in a rebellious phase and directors want to make movies which they can’t showcase in theatres. May be when it settles and directors think about giving the best product outside the rebellious nature, it may grow up to be better. No complaints against violence, in fact I’m a fan of it, but to showcase something just because it looks to be an easier forum is not agreeable.

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Thangam

The opening animation was quite interesting, showing the way of life of women. I thought it’s specific to ‘Thangam’ but it gets repeated for all the shorts. I felt it’d be one such story initially but it turned out to be quite a different one. Sathaar (Kalidas Jayaram) steals the show right from scene one. In fact, the first shot of him is the best shot of entire movie. Throughout the first film, he easily brings a certain warmth in his character. I only wished that his part existed longer. Shanthnu Bhagyaraj too looks like a better actor now, there is some positive change in him which is happy to see. Otherwise, it’s a mundane love story which was made in a hard-hitting way. Wish it dealt with the emotions of Sathaar rather than societal impact. So, in the end it was predictable and Sathaar dying was unacceptable. Just because you use a cuss word it doesn’t become a great ending.

Love Panna Uttranum

Probably the only director who looked out of place in the list. Not a big fan of him and his style of humor but this short was a relief from others. Anjali looked ravishing. I’m already a big fan of her but recently, after watching Peranbu, my fondness for her grew further. It’s the same here too. She was prolific and insanely hot too. It was nice to see an actress from south ready to take up bold roles. A type of role reserved only for the Apte’s and Koechlin’s. Anyways Koechlin was also there but she was as clueless in the film as how she was in Aadhilakshmi’s (Anjali) house. Again, it’s the sidekick Jaffer Sadiq who scores better than others. The climax pun was too cheesy to digest, except for Kalki’s swear. May be a lorry crashing them and Jaffer smiling would have been a more impactful end shot.

Vaanmagal

Probably the weakest story of all. Gautam as an actor is nice but not in his own film where he has to be the lead. He couldn’t handle such a powerful role. Simran, who reminded of ‘Vaaranam Aayiram’ in her get up, too, couldn’t provide much impact with her role because the writing was such. The dialogues were corny and filmmaking was literal. There is nothing much actors could do. The story too was a regulation one. When Simran was getting ready for the trailer shot with that dialogue about ‘women’s pride’, I hated the film for such negativity but when it doesn’t happen, I hated it even more. More so because it was added in trailer to make an impact. That’s just cheap way of making film. At least the other directors should have insisted and not included the scene just for shock value.

Oor Iravu

The newspaper cutting in ‘Vaanmagal’ showed the amount of respect GVM has on Vetrimaran. But I wish it could have been shown in a different way, may be just the wordings, it would have been more interesting. Anyways, thankfully, the film doesn’t play the climax trick like ‘Vaanmagal’ where the heroine gets saved. Sai Pallavi and Prakash Raj were terrific, the last ten minutes was gut wrenching, something like the flashback action sequence of ‘Asuran’. He’s really good at writing impactful scenes and almost not in a cheap manner too. Something which the series aims but may be because of the ‘Sairat’ impact, nothing comes to that level. Also, the final animation spoilt the impact. I was praying for the film to end just like that but it didn’t’.

My rating would be.

Vaanmagal < Oor Iravu < Love Panna Uttranum < Thangam

Movie Review – Peranbu

A film which makes you appreciate life

Gone are the days when Ram made these ferocious loud subject movies, he’s one of the makers with a lot of stuff but often gets carried away due to too much personalization and anger. It worked in ‘Kattradhu Thamizh’ (which I still prefer calling Tamil M. A.) but had an over the top name changing scene. ‘Thanga Meenkal’ was so beautiful but had a bad money borrowing scene, over the top acting and literalism. ‘Taramani’ was almost there but again we could see the protagonist as only another version of Ram himself but look at ‘Peranbu’, it’s a near flawless movie, almost in every aspect. And the fact that it has a good actor, it only manifolds the experience.

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It’s one of the films where even his literalism worked. The very first dialogue of the movie is how one should appreciate the life one has. Taking a cue from Avvaiyar, one must appreciate life for everything we have, ‘Peranbu’ talks about life of an individual who’s in close contact with a person with disability. So, it’s not a disability film per se. It’s something more accessible for human beings who are not them. That’s why the movie is so special. Even the suffer suffers less than the one who sees the sufferer suffer. That’s more painful than suffering. Ram beautifully narrates the story in poetic fashion.

Even though the “Maghalkalai petra appakaluku mattum than theriyum, Mutham kamathai sernthathu illai endru” (Only a Father, who has a daughter, would know, that there is nothing sexual about a kiss) words adds a bit of literalism before a beautiful ‘Anandha Yazai’ song, the effect between that and what Amudhavan (Mammooty) says here is drastically different. We see so much anger even in a sweet song there but here it’s so soothing and that first line of the movie sets the tone of the movie and makes us appreciate the movie once it ends. May be even the voice has something to do with it. With Ram, it was a hoarse strict voice but Mammooty is every so calm in his approach. May be even voice of great actors can act.

Not only that, the whole film has a sense of calmness and earthiness because it has Mammooty in it. in ‘Thanga Meenkal’ the desperation would be so evident even though he tried to act calm. It’s an angry man trying to refrain but here Amudhavan is a man who is a near saint, he knows he can’t do anything. In most of the situations all he does is remain calm and accept fate. When he’s threatened to sell his property, when he signs the petition, when he takes his daughters clothes back home. All we see is a calm man, so much so that its irritating to watch. But the same person scolds a naïve Meera (Anjali Ameer) when she sees him at his home. Is it because she’s a transgender, is it because he really thinks as he says, that she and her boss were involved in some sexual act, or is it because she couldn’t talk to her wife about asking her to take care of Pappa, or is it because a culmination of all the above factors or is it just plain powerfulness in front of Meera because he hasn’t felt a surge of power in front of anyone other than her. It’s open to interpretation.

Ram has matured tremendously as an actor. When I heard of him making ‘Taramani’ I was in my worst phase of work so I thought it’d be lovely to watch the film to vent out my anger but how fascinating the movie was. Especially the role of Andrea’s. It’s a dream role of any actress. Peranbu takes in one notch higher with it almost being a perfect film. There were absolutely no scenes with shock value but the entire film makes you heavy. Something totally opposite to how Bala makes. Bala with a subject like this would have totally spoilt it. And only Ram can ridicule a Mundakanni Amman and a Jesus with such ease. And what a lovely scene it was when the room boy in first lodge comes up running to tell them about another lodge. It’s scenes like these which makes the film so life like and attachable.

Like Amudhavanan says, if his daughter could change the pad by herself its equivalent to seeing her climb the mount Everest. How true it is, isn’t it? When you are an affected person, the whole world seems to be against you, the mere posters in the wall, a good-looking guy crossing the road and just about any simple Tamil song. How can a man protect his kith and kin against all these negative routines? That’s where Amduhavanan scores. I’d have hated it if the movie had ended with both of them dying. I still hate him for even making that move, because it looked like the only possible solution. Even though it ends with a cliched feel goodness, it still was lovely, because with a near saint Amudhavanan who’s coupled as a writer, now everything feels romantic.

Oh, and how beautiful Anjali Ameer was… especially when she put her face out of the window in the “Setthu Pocchu Manasu” song. Special mention to Yuvan and Theni Eswar for doing a great job in music and cinematography respectively, without going over the top at any place.