Movie Review – 5 Sundarikal

Tad too much, Tad too ambitious

Anthology films are always fun and entertaining, especially when a number of directors collaborate. ‘Lust Stories’ was a prime example of that in recent times, which superbly took a topic which would surely sell and the film being an OTT release, the makers had more liberty with the content. The very title gave a scare that it’d be feminist film but luckily it was not. It was about five different females and what happen in their life. With few, the idea was good but execution was bad. With others, making was good and story was poor. Few had done both right and few had both wrong.

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Sethulakshmi

By far the best of the short stories. Eclectic acting by the kids as well as the photographer (Guru Somasundaram). It starts in a feel good way with a hint of sadness like Iranian films. Sethulakshmi (Baby Anikha) and her close friend (Chethan Jayalal) go to a photographer to take photos of themselves. Sethulakshmi has a weird habit of collecting couples photos from newspaper, which was a great touch by the way. Kids are always up to stupid things and have these weird habits. So, it was nice of the director to make use of that. Guru Somasundaram as photographer was terrific with villainy just oozing out of him. The last shot was an epic one.

Isha

With the titles appearing after ‘Sethulaskhmi’ my expectations of the movie increased a lot. It’s only after ‘Sethulakshmi’ does the title appear. ‘Isha’ had a plasticky opening and the story too was kind of far-fetched. No matter what she does, Isha Sharvani always reminds me of ‘David’ and “Kanave Kanave” song. And, her role here too was similar. Jinu/Santa (Nivin Pauly) is a thief and Isha (Isha Sharvani) seduces him. Until the climax part, it was a great story but the climax twist spoilt it. Nivin was fabulous as a hesitant lover boy. His blushes would make any girl go weak in her knees.

Gauri

It’s quite unclear as to what the film tries. There was a bit of sadness in the film right from the start and hesitance in their daily life. Gauri (Kavya Madhavan) and Jonathan Antony (Biju Menon) are couples who supposedly married without the consent of their parents. They seem to be living a fairy tale life. The servant (Shine Tom Chacko) looks kind of weird right from the start. Was that a hint that he had done something to his master? It’s quite unclear. But, anyways the whole film didn’t work. It was just too showy.

Kullante Bharya

The film has a ‘Rear Window’ kind of theme, like a tribute to the film. Dulquer appears as a nameless person with cast and does not have any dialogue to utter but holds our interest through the narration. The story gives an ‘In the Mood for Love’ feel but unfortunately, the making is not good. Partly it has to be attributed to bad setting. If the place and lights had been used more efficiently, this story could have been a great mood piece. Both Kullan (Jinu Ben) and Kullante Bharya (Reenu Mathews) were really good in their roles, especially Reenu Mathews. Again, the melodramatic end was something which spoilt the film. It was all too sudden and unnecessary. This was the only part, I wished, could have been an entire feature film.

Aami

An overdone Fahadh Faasil story. It is a one-man show and everything relies on him. His look was different and he does a typical psycho, which has now become overbearing. Good that the morality check was not done for this part of the story but I sincerely feel that he’d die the next day. It tries to give a punch with the storyline but feels too plasticky in the end.

A film, which almost all the top stars and famous directors in it, ought to have been greater than this. If not ‘Wild Tales’ level at least it should have been ‘Silu karupatti’ level but it falls short of it severely. If not for the first film, ‘5 Sundarikal’ is a disaster. And my order would be Gauri < Aami < Isha < Kullante Bharya < Sethulakshmi

Movie Review – Sillu Karupatti

Love in the time of pollution

I read a series of short stories some time back and was thinking why a collection of short stories never work like a novel does. In fact it should work better because the author has conveyed so much in so little pages. Similarly I think why anthology films never get appreciated like feature films even if they’re interesting. The answer would be, whenever we read a novel or watch a full length feature film we compare it with other novel or films and come to a conclusion but when it comes to short stories or anthology films we compare it with each other and get disappointed with one or the other. Only if all the short stories or all the short films are good, only then we’ll be amazed by it, otherwise we’ll end up only being underwhelmed. So it’s a rarity to be amazed. Until and unless it’s a Sujatha story or a film like ‘Wild Tales’ it’s really tough to be truly amazed.

So with all these skepticism I went to watch Sillu Karupatti but what a pleasant surprise it turned out to be. Pradeep’s voice makes you sit back and relax first up, if you haven’t already done yet. The opening is a little bit wannabeish trying to find love in the dumps of waste but it soon suits. A little bit of over the top acting by Baby Sara but that’s how she’s even in reality. The story unfolds seamlessly. The dialogues were tougher to understand due to the slang and fast pace. I don’t know why but ‘Kakka Muttai’ dialogues where loud and clear but here it wasn’t. Anyways there was a bit of humor and a lot of feel good factor. Except for the one scene where the protagonists mother says that someone had got a disease because of broken syringe, there wasn’t any sense for sympathy. They live in their own life happily.

The next story was better than the first. It had a certain ‘Before Sunrise’ feel. It had everything which could make a soupy love story. A cancer diagnosis, a marriage break up and cash crunch. In spite of all that it evolves into a beautiful story between the two leads, Manikandan and Nivedhithaa. What a terrific actor Manikandan is turning out to be. I liked him in Kaala but here he was even better. Especially the crow scene where he says to Nivedhithaa that it must be put up in Guinness. The scene was so real. Superbly written and astonishingly acted.  Nivedhithaa on the other had was truly sexy and suited the role to the tea. Another terrific actor whom I spotted in ‘Magalir Mattum’. Instead of being a tear fest, it was a mild love story which brought a smile out of everyone.

The third story was for me the most disappointing one. That felt like something which was forced. Having handled a kid’s story and a youngster’s story, the director somehow wanted to fix an elderly love story too which didn’t work. Was the VTV house intentionally used? Anyways that was a good touch. Making Leela Thompson a miss rather than a missus made me cringe. I didn’t expect a toast of morality in this film. Why not Leela could have been missus and Sree Ram be single. It’d have added some dimension. The director could have her own logic for it but for me it was a drawback. The romance too didn’t work and so were the scenes. The acting and situation looked forced. Except for that one ‘dignity’ scene I could hardly point out any glimmer of hope.

The director has reserved her best for the last. A great story of a family of five, not four. I liked that welcome change first up. Sunaina looks lovely after a while. Samuthirakani could do this role even if he’s drugged. I don’t like his style of acting but he keeps the audience in splits. There are of course few jokes which were written keeping men in mind but its Sunaina’s part which was more intriguing. Especially her dialogues in kitchen on how she keeps hearing only the water droplets and clock ticking sound was horrifying. Like the climax of ‘3’. It was something very scary. The quietness of the scene hallucinated for a while in theatres.

It was a tough task to pick up the best of the lot. On any other day I’d have liked the second story best but not sure whether it’s because of the situation or the directors finesse I liked the last story best. So my order would be Turtles < Pink Bag < Kaaka Kadi < Hey Ammu