‘Putham Pudhu Kaalai Vidiyaadhaa…’ overview: Three hits and two misses on this anthology of hope

Mugakavasa Mutham

Director: Balaji Mohan

Forged: Gouri G. Kishan, Teejay Arunasalam, and extra

How love blossoms between two younger cops as they assist one other youthful couple throughout a lockdown.

That is the one-line story of Balaji Mohan’s Mugakavasa Mutham. Romance is Balaji’s sturdy swimsuit. He doesn’t over-sweeten it, however retains it mild together with his attribute humour. However, regardless of the jokes, the feelings of the characters (at the least the primary characters) in his movies don’t appear frivolous.

Nevertheless, the quick feels cloyingly cute and painfully generic. For instance, we get to know that Kuyili (Gouri G. Kishan as a junior cop) is a pleasant particular person as a result of each time she sees an ambulance, she instantly mutters a prayer.

The roughly 25-minute movie spends half its time exhibiting the on a regular basis travails of cops and different frontline employees throughout the pandemic. Or at the least that’s what it intends to indicate. As an example, Murugan (Teejay Arunasalam as the opposite junior cop) flings his lathi in frustration and says, “What a thankless job!” when two folks in a automotive argue with him for not letting them roam free. However at no different level within the film can we see him or Kuyili or the opposite frontline employees in a demanding state of affairs. They hardly look weary and principally appear to have an excellent time, joking and laughing.

Even the plot of the opposite younger couple feels trivial. The boy desires to satisfy the lady, who’s going to get forcefully married by her dad and mom. However we don’t really feel their desperation to satisfy one another. Therefore, we don’t get why Murugan, Kuyili, and a few different frontline well being employees, abandon their obligation to unite the couple.

As a result of this can be a ‘feel-good anthology’, we get a fairytale ending with a kiss coated in surgical masks (as a result of, properly, the title is… Get it? Get it?)

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Loners

Director: Halitha Shameem

Forged: Lijomol Jose, Arjun Das, and extra

Loners begins with Nallathangaal (Lijomol Jose) getting an sudden meals supply. Seems that her ex-boyfriend has ordered the meals to her place by mistake. He sends an apologetic voice-note, requesting her to eat the meals because the supply agent is not going to take it again. The break-up gash remains to be recent for Nallathangaal. As she hears his voice, she recollects her good recollections with him, which wallop her again into the land of ache. She hate-eats the meals whilst she breaks down.

A couple of moments later, nonetheless, we see her attending a web based marriage ceremony, decked up in a saree. However when the digital camera exhibits her location, we see that she has simply draped the saree over her pyjamas. It’s an evocative picture that conveys the stark distinction within the lives we lead on-line and offline. There may be extra such social commentary and commentary in Haleetha Shameem’s quick. For instance, the consumerist culture-driven poisonous positivity, our unusual ease in sharing our troublesome emotions with strangers, and the way lockdown has made it onerous for us to grieve. However most of those are mentioned reasonably than proven.

After the marriage, the place Nallathangaal meets Dheeran (Arjun Das), the quick turns into a collection of conversations between them. Although there are a number of events when one looks like Halitha is forcing traces of social commentary via Nallathangaal, Lijomol and Arjun’s efficiency hold issues natural. Halitha’s story of two damaged folks serving to repair one another finds the proper stability of melancholy and sweetness.

Mouname Paarvayaai

Director: Madhumita

Forged: Nadiya, Joju George and extra

Mouname Paarvayaai is the opening line of a track from the Anbe Sivam soundtrack that didn’t make it to the movie. The track is a few couple in love, and talks about how they converse in silence. Phrases aren’t crucial for speaking with one another; their eyes are sufficient.

Madhumita’s Mouname Paarvayaai splendidly subverts this romantic track. In her story, too, the couple don’t use phrases. However the silence right here isn’t candy. It’s a disconcerting-yet-familiar silence that signifies a fractured relationship. As an example, Murali (Joju George) simply clears his throat to ask his spouse, Yashoda (Nadiya), for his morning espresso. She, in the meantime, writes on a black board the record of groceries he must get.

Even the little pleasures of life are amiss of their family due to their strained relationship. There’s a scene the place Yashoda smiles after sipping a espresso she brews for herself, however it’s momentary. Murali rings the calling bell to convey that he’s stepping out for groceries.

By means of a poetic flashback, Madhumita exhibits how the music of their marriage is all of a sudden silenced. Joju George and Nadiya are improbable as a middle-aged couple who’re within the midst of an estranged marriage, and their refined expressions convey a variety of feelings. The story can be about how a illness that required distancing between folks, melts the frigid egos of a pair that saved them aside.

The Masks

Director: Surya Krishna

Forged: Sananth, Dhilip Subbarayan, and extra

Within the opening scene of Surya Krishna’s The Masks, we see Arjun (Sananth) talking in hushed tones together with his lover. He tries telling the particular person on the different finish he wants extra time to inform his dad and mom about their relationship. His father is a stereotypically-strict Tamil cinema father. The mom, in the meantime, ribs him about his secret calls.

Solely once we see Arjun’s associate can we realise that his relationship is extra difficult than we had assumed. Simply as we expect this relationship could be the crux of this story, Surya introduces Velu, Arjun’s college good friend, who’s a gangster. And the narrative abruptly shifts into the dialog between these two associates, who’re catching up after 15 years. The 2 plots someway don’t cohere.

The movie additionally suffers from an inconsistency in emotional logic. As an example, at first, we see Arjun casually breaking the fourth wall to joke about his life with us. However the dialog together with his gangster good friend will get intensely emotional. Velu tearfully reveals how the dying of his beloved spouse has modified him. He tells Arjun that he desires to finish his lifetime of violence and get a good job that may make his son really feel pleased with him. This, someway, conjures up Arjun to disclose his relationship to his dad and mom. The concept maybe sounded attention-grabbing on paper. However even with a rousing Kaber Vasuki track enjoying within the background, it falls flat on display.

Nizhal Tharum Idham

Director: Richard Anthony

Forged: Aishwarya Lekshmi, Nirmal Pillai, and extra

Richard Anthony ’s Nizhal Tharum Idham lies within the reverse spectrum of Balaji Mohan’s sunshiny quick, Mugakavasa Mutham. It begins with the information of dying and seeks to discover grief. It exhibits how recollections and ideas can hang-out us, and the way the emotional partitions we construct round ourselves to guard ourselves can stifle us.

The movie is about intangible-yet-relatable emotions. There may be not a lot of a plot, and there’s not a lot occurring. We see Shobi (Aishwarya Lekshmi) texting her father that she’s going to name him later as a result of she is busy. That is her typical reply to him. She then proceeds to chop greens. She cuts her finger. As she washes the blood, she receives the information of her father’s sudden demise. The remainder of the movie exhibits the therapeutic of her recent wounds.

Shobi initially desires to recover from her father’s dying as shortly as potential and get again to her on a regular basis life. However at one level, grief hits her. Her ideas and recollections begin haunting her. The grief adjustments how she appears at herself, her father, and life. Aishwarya beautifully portrays this emotional turmoil, particularly in a protracted take, that includes Shobi’s intensely emotional soliloquy. It’s maybe essentially the most difficult shot for an actor in the whole anthology, however Aishwarya pulls it off beautifully properly.

The movie’s remaining two photographs seize the essence of this anthology.

Putham Pudhu Kaalai Vidiyaadhaa is presently streaming on Amazon Prime