’96’

2018, Tamil, You Tube Rental, 8.6/10 IMDB, Directed by C. Prem Kumar

Yet another slow paced emotional school reunion, but have to give it to the director for showcasing the talents of the lead pair.

Much awaited and much spoken about reunion movie with a difference, ’96’ by the cinematographer turned director C.Prem Kumar.

The mandatory disclaimer ‘no birds and animals were harmed’, flashes frequently as the movie opens to the hero introduction, projecting him a wild life photographer (yet again), but this sure is painstakingly shot with passion making it stand out among the serious Dhanush’s character in ‘Mayakam Enna’ or the fantasy of madhavan’s character in 3 idiots, all credit to cinematographer Shanmuga Sundaram.

Vijay sethupathi, conquers you for the character that he plays called Ram, a shy, timid, skinny, dark, spineless, diffident teen, grown to become a huge bear bearded hulk, a late 30’s man, but adorably remains with the same naive qualities as of his teens.

Trisha plays his crush during class 10, a chubby, cuddly, singer Janu grown to become a cute, petite and she remains the same pious self that she was in school.

Life plays ‘fate’ and they depart in their individual journeys and are destined to meet in a reunion intriged by the social media avert Ram while he accidently passes his school.

One ought to fight back real hard to curtail our flashbacks of similar storielines of Director Cheran’s forte where he captured pre marital acquaintances in ‘Autograph’ and ‘Pokkisham’ and Director Thankarbachan’s beautiful portray of such stories in ‘Azhagi’ and ‘Pallikoodam’.

However, the characters here are more balanced that we inevitably substitute the faces of each with our own classmates and when Vijay loiters the empty classrooms, staircases and veranda, the viewers are relentlessly rewinding thier own school corridor, prayer hall, assembly, biology class (I could hear my own distress sigh that mine was an all girl school). At times the class 10 version seems to be painfully slow but some inclination makes you sit through the interval.

The two elobrate versions of what went wrong in separating them for life were dragging but the third version of what Janu would have wanted Ram to have done differently was cleverly visualised.

The supporting casts for the grown up version leave thier warmth in the first half of the movie. You are teased to await what’s in store in the second half and you are not disappointed.

The lead pair’s exquisite combination scenes of varied emotions, all in just the right proportion, is what makes the movie stand out of the crowd. Both Trisha and Vijay have been conferred with meatier rolls and both have pulled it off with such charisma..

The naive love that they share as teens has been captured spot on in the adult version. The teen singer Janu who sings during free hours at school and Ram who wants to hear her sing Yamunai Aatrile, and she turns it down throughout even in the reunion after 22 years by not singing that as he doesn’t voice his request himself.

You are prepared to hear that song in the climax, but never expect it to happens in the dark power cut house of his and palpitation in your heart is escalated many folds seeing Vijay’s fluttering reaction in the dark to get a candle from his room. You get a very poorly lit Vijay rushing to and forth of the room but his reactions are priceless. There are many such arousing intense emotions which both Trisha and Vijay emote with elegance.

The scene where Trisha finds Vijay to be as ticklish as he was in his teens, she asks him if he is a virgin, Vijay bashfully brings out his unassuming adolosent self in a visually contradicting XXL body of his.

They get to spend a few hours in the solitude of the night just before her early morning flight and I can hear a friend of mine condemning the director for masking behind sainthood and making the viewer a pervert for expecting something physical between the two, and the director strictly denies us even a sensous hug between the two that we eagerly wait for till the end credits roll.

Another friend of mine says they both may not have this kind of divine soul stirring affection if they were destined to be together, which is true and the director celebrates this quotient as his strength by showcasing the sacred teen love that’s alive even after 22 years of disconnect.

Theatrical moments are plenty with subdued BGM and soul stirring songs from music director Govind Menon of Thaikkudam Bridge Band fame.

The climax with her covering his eyes from not looking at her cry and steps away to catch the flight, you are left heavy hearted and a drop of tear does roll down in awe for the warm civility in the direction.