Putham Pudhu Kaalai Review: Shruti Haasan in a still image from the film. (Image courtesy: Youtube)
Throw away: Jayaram, Kalidas Jayaram, Kalyani Priyadarshan, Krishnakumar B, Suhasini, Anu Hasan and Shruti Haasan, Ananya Ramaprasad, Suhasini, Anuradha Hasan, Andrea Jeremiah, Ritu Verma, MS Bhaskar, Bobby Simha and K. Muthu Kumar
Directors: Sudha Kongara, Karthik Subbaraj, Gautham Vasudev Menon, Rajiv Menon, Suhasini Mani Ratnam
Evaluation: 2.5 stars (out of 5)
The five stories that make up Putham Pudhu Kaalai, Amazon Prime Video’s first Tamil anthology, uses the pandemic and the resulting lockdown as a backdrop. However, they do not directly address the devastating effects of the crisis on the less privileged. Only one of the short films, Karthik Subbaraj’s deviously comedic Miracle, hints at the economic distress caused by the raging virus. The rest focus instead on well-heeled individuals and families grappling with long-standing mental blocks.
These short films are about miracles, second chances and happy endings. The reality of the outside world affects them only tangentially. In one story, a woman goes to find vegetables and toiletries for her father who lives alone. In another, a musician is advised not to risk traveling out of town on a crowded bus.
The segment of Subbaraj, which is the last of the quintet, is a game-changer. After four stories set in cocoons of plenty, Miracle makes forays into the world of a couple of petty criminals reduced to near scarcity by the pandemic and driven into an act of desperation.
It could be argued that turnarounds and fresh starts are exactly what the doctor ordered for a world hit by coronavirus and that narratives that emphasize hope and redemption should therefore be greeted with enthusiasm. It’s not at all hard to relate to these shorts – the workmanship is impeccable, some pretty inspirational writing, and almost all of the performances are splendid. While they are superficially alive, these stories only sporadically engage on a deeper level.
The stories, about 25 minutes each and populated with characters forced inside and forced by prolonged isolation to introspect what is gone and what is happening, are about love, loss, and thwarted aspirations. But these are individuals who can sit back and reduce the obstacles in their path.
Each of the five stories, all set in Chennai and filmed primarily inside homes, bears the distinct hallmark of the director. The various approaches add to the appeal of the experience, although the dividends it pays vary greatly from segment to segment.
The titles of three of the short films – Sudha Kongara’s Ilamai Idho Ido (Youth, here we come), Rajiv Menon’s Meeting and Karthik Subbaraj’s detective film – evoke the possibility of a reversal of fortunes. The other two – Gautham Vasudev Menon’s Avarum Naanum / Avalum Naanum (Him and me / her and me) and Suhasini Mani Ratnam Coffee, anyone? – do not point directly to a rebound but relate to characters who circumvent stumbling blocks.
The key elements of Kongara’s film are scuttled love and lost youth. So what does age have to do with love? The answer that the script formulates is intriguing in terms of substance and utterance. The first 21-day nationwide lockdown is useful when two souls parted ways many, many years ago and are planning a secret date.
Jayaram and Urvashi on the one hand and Kalidas Jayaram (Jayaram’s actual son) and Kalyani Priyadarshan on the other hand capture the present and the past in a continuous flow. They’re all perfectly cast in a quirky drama that carries a heavy Alaipayuthey hangover. Domestic tiffs, the re-flowering of romance, and a daring decision that causes a flutter underpin this largely non-normative love affair.
GVM Avarum Naanum / Avalum Naanum explores another broken relationship in a much simpler style. During the lockdown, a young woman (Ritu Varma) visits her former grandfather (MS Bhaskar), a retired and reclusive nuclear scientist. Music came out of the latter’s life. He still regrets the loss.
The visitor must find common ground with the old man. She goes so far as to play along when the latter not only engage in an online team meeting but also urge her not to use the headphones so that the voices of her colleagues can penetrate a house where silence reigns. Grandpa is ready to learn a new thing or two. The girl is ready to go the extra mile. But are both ready to live a long history of doubts? GVM uses simple, uncluttered methods to draw us into this world and make sure we are invested enough in it so that we are not put off by the overt sentimentality that sets in towards the end.
In Coffee, anyone?, a serious and wordy family drama directed by Suhasini Mani Ratnam, three Haasan siblings – Suhasini, Anu Hasan and Shruti Haasan – team up with Tamil actor Kathadi Ramamurthy and director’s mother Komalam Charuhasan. The cousins play sisters whose comatose mother is about to turn 75. The elder (Suhasini) has a son with a learning disability, the second (Anu) is pregnant for the first time and the third (Shruti), a deceased child, is also emotionally marked to relate to the celebration to come up. Parts of Coffee, anyone? are a bit affected, but a few sequences, especially one in which the youngest daughter sings to her mother during a video chat, is coming home.
Writer-Director-Director of Photography Rajiv Menon’s Meeting takes place in a chic designer mansion of a third-generation doctor who lives with his widowed mother. Carnatic musician Sikkil Gurucharan plays the surgeon, while Leela Samson is the mother. Their life changes when a forgotten friend (Andrea Jeremiah) comes to their door and ends up staying for an extended period.
The bond of the past – built mostly on music and poetry – is rekindled. The stressed girl, a bar singer and event manager, needs help stabilizing. The promise of a better future for old friends hinges on the prospect of music and poetry returning to their lives.
Karthik Subbaraj Miracle is a completely different kettle of fish. Two morons (Bobby Simha and K. Muthu Kumar) are running out of money and food. One of them, working on a trick, hatches a plan that could help them crawl out of the trough. The duo have nothing to lose apart from their divine destiny. There is also a filmmaker stuck with lack of funds and a soft-spoken divine who wants the world to believe in miracles.
Surprises spring from every corner. Besides being the only one of five films with outdoor action, Miracle is also filled with dimly lit shots that reflect the darkness that surrounds the two burglars who think their lives are about to give them biryani, instead of just tamarind rice, on a platter. The final twist is pure Karthik Subbaraj – it lowers the curtain with a striking twist on an otherwise innocuous anthology.
Putham Pudhu Kaalai is pleasing to the eyes and the mind, but largely devoid of any drastic departure from what has been tried and tested.
