2021, Tamil, Anthology, Netflix, 6.7/10 IMDB, Directed by Bejoy Nambiar, Priyadarshan, Karthick Naren, Vasanth, Karthik Subbaraj, Arvind Swami, Rathindran R Prasad, Sarjun KM, Gautham Vasudev Menon
The finest craftsmen of the industry coming together to present the deliberately designed series of short stories to evoke the nine states of emotions in the viewers, ends up a desultory silver screen stargaze routine, except for a few plausible moments. Despite the opera of emotions and the promising ensemble the teaser publicized, the series tugs the ‘theater deprived audience’ in disillusionment.
The nine independent directorial episodes in the midst of the pandemic, initiated to help the daily-wage film employees, affected by covid, stands tall in its cause. The anthology gains mileage in pooling the talents of the southern industry but the extempore allocation of one emotion each of the nine rasas, seemed to have curbed the creativity of the directors.
The anthology strives to showcase novel ideas and some are very well composed for the 30 odd minutes slots. The Revathi and Vijay Sethupathi starrer directed by Bejoy Nambiar, for some reason reminds of the Thalapathi moive’s Srividhya and Rajinikanth sequence in the temple, even though both the plots are entirely different. The sub plot of Revathi’s character, regretting her ego of not talking to her husband for over 10 years, which refrained her from effectively attempting to save her husband from being killed- was a hard-hitting moment. But the director not emphasizing that crux in the initial scenes, is a let-down and doesn’t pay off when she talks about it to Vijay Sethupathi in the temple. The audience are left to wonder- if the couple aren’t talking to each other to an extend that her ego doesn’t bother to caution her husband from meeting the dangerous man, why would Revathi’s son request his mother to convince his dad to talk to his soon to-be in laws. The episode Edhiri’s allotted emotion- ‘compassion’ tries to seep through but unconvincingly.
Shortage of humor storylines in the industry, numbs you, as you whiz through ‘Summer of ’92’- a confused venture of Director Priyadarshan’s. The credit ‘Based on true events’ does more harm than an iota of good, to both the short story and the actor, whose childhood story the director intendeds to capture. Gone are those eras of ‘body shaming’ comedies of the duo Goundamani and Senthil. And just when the actor Yogi Babu is reputed for his choice of characters and his performance in critically acclaimed films, like his recent film ‘Mandela’- the short film not only demeans the actor’s hard work but also rekindles the unsavory reputation of the 90’s comedy from which the audience have been mercifully weaned off.
The voguish ‘Project Agni’, loaded with conspiracy theories seemingly grips you as it is a leap for a Tamil movie to speak such voluminous facts, in a convincing tone. The nerdy conversations and the western inspired making is a welcome change. What meddles the flow is, when the young Director Karthick Naren, tries to cover his love for Nolan in substantiating his theories. The characters argue more than once in the half hour slated film, that the theories and ideas have nothing to do with fan fiction. ‘Time Loop’ explored in simple illustrative sequences in the recent ‘Kudi Yedamaithe’ seems a better alternative to this attempt, as it mimic the mythological best seller’s short route to success, with the characters named after God and his avatars.
The ‘disgust’ that the character of Delhi Ganesh in ‘Payasam’ was intended to evoke, enthusiastically got over-powered by the actor’s seamless deliverance, leaving an awe for the veteran actor’s acting abilities. The elderly worn-out actor, effortlessly cruises through the role of the this ‘green eyed monster’. Elderly do behave childlike as they grow older, and here the jealous that the actor tries to portray, reminds of a naive school kid. The conversation with his dead wife, precisely is his own moral self, but it sure does resonate to the advice of a mom to her child. The actor brings out the untold evil in every human, which involuntarily raise its head in all our lives at some point in time. The authentic Brahminical wedding of the 60’s, was choreographed meticulously and casting is the episodes strength. It gave a pleasure of reading an illustrative short story in a Tamil magazine. Director Vasanth’s eye for detailing and character etching, makes this episode, easily one of the best.
I hoped Karthik Subbaraj, should have traded the Hasya (Humor) rasa, as the director’s love for Ellam saga doesn’t shine through in his attempt and the hiatus in the deliverance of his intended emotion, seems to continue as was the case in his last film with a similar core. The story representing the emotion of ‘peace’, ironically has a story line where a man gets killed, while he tries to thank the military for not firing at him. Conceiving the story seems to has some trouble as most part of the crux of an Elam fighter trying to save a life, be it a boy or a pup, in atonement for not being able to save his mom in the past, doesn’t constitute with the chosen rasa, ‘Peace’. The scene which needed much attention of the audience, happens too momentarily in a negligible screen pace and hence doesn’t pay off the director’s usual ‘final twist’ set up.
The layers of story that inter-twine with the past and the present is seamlessly woven, encompassing some memorable performances. The actor turned director Aravind swami, makes heads turn with his shot divisions and exhibiting human emotions- the pain of some to the contrast of the pleasure of few others. The ‘Pasanga’ boy Sree Ram emotes the title rasa ‘Raudra’ through every facial muscle of his. He distinctly plays the role and is easily the best of the performer in the entire series. The story isn’t entirely novel but the treatment is what makes the episode stands out, making it a complete watch.
The ‘Fear’ rasa travels a ‘revenge path’ pertaining to black magic but surprisingly threads on a never witnessed composition of sequences that intrigues the audience. The ‘fear’ element is effectively interpreted and is choreographed in the disguise of black magic but ends up in coercing the wrong doer to take the life herself- an unique screenplay. Sidharth and Parvathy ace their acts but Ammu Abirami tops them acting as the young Parvathy. As the vital scenes which describe the essence of the story doesn’t portray the lead actors, it doesn’t let you appreciate the concept in its entirety. That seems the only thing that holds you from opting for ‘Inmai’ to be the best of the lot.
Atharva, as the military man and Kishore as the comrade of the Naxals is an extract from few Manirathnam’s film, which supposedly talks the perspective of the antagonist strongly than the protagonist’s The driving forces behind them both is uniformly justified but somewhere along the line, the characters become generic as the open-ended chase ends abruptly, not constituting a closure.
The much hyped ‘Guitar Kambi Mele Nindru’ of Gautham Menon is a pleasant way to end the series, a usual infatuation love at first sight, that turns poetic to an extent. Suriya’s committed acting is commendable but his struggle to bring the character to life is evident. The actor has the same trouble in camouflaging his anxiety in portraying the character of falling in love for the second person in his live, the role that he had done in his decade old Varanam Aayiram. The same goes with Director Gautham as well for his ‘run of the mill’ romance sequence. With the changing times, these stereotypical characterizations apparently point more of ‘Male Gaze’ in them. Prayaga Martin, fails to hold the bold and beautiful character for long, as the shades of manipulation seeps through in the name of boldness.
An outing to sample few good moments, unearth and celebrate few worthy talents.