Putham Pudhu Kaalai

2020, Tamil, Amazon Prime, 7.6/10 IMDB, Anthology Directed by Sudha Kongara, Gautham Menon, Suhashini Manirathnam, Rajiv Menon, Karthik Subbaraj.

An anthology with a common backdrop of COVID lockdown, falls short in creativity. It seemingly strikes parallels to our ‘lockdown mood swings’ in testing our patience at many instances.

Pooling across an anthology, during testing times of the pandemic, is an event in film history, no doubt. Limited crew should have posed a threat even to these eminent directors. The OTT platform’s initiative in making it happen is applaudable. It’s a mixed bag of reactions though with each of the five segments.

‘Illamai Idho Idho’ segment by director Sudha, in about elderly Jeyaram and Urvasi being young at heart and in love. The director visualizes the youth in them by casting Kalidassa and Kalyani to make the intimate scenes, less awkward. Similar concept was contextualized with ease in ‘Varane Avashyamund’ (Shobana a divorcee & an unmarried retired Major, Suresh Gopi). Another such concept was the ‘Turtle’ segment of 2019’s anthology ‘Sillu Karupatti’ (Sreeram, a widower and an unmarried Leela Samson). The need for casting a young pair in substantiation, disrupts the novelty of a story. A story that’s talks about age not being a barrier to seek companionship could have be bolder. The consolation is the feminism angle in the characterization- Jeyaram a widower and Urvasi doesn’t have her partner either. They being answerable to their married children was worthy plot that could have been used to milk so much humor. But, the director chose to give it an ‘Alaipayuthey’ romantic angle.

The Advertisement of Colgate which celebrates ‘similar freedom’ in less than 35 seconds is still my preferential choice.

‘The Avarum Naanum – Avalum Naanum’, of Gautham Menon, is an exact copy of the 1985 Fazil movie ‘Poove Poochudava. Except for the gender variation of course. The casting, the camera, the music and the props evoke GVMism in your senses but the story falls short. The granddad and grand daughter duo, played by M.S. Bhaskar and Ritu Varma uniquely light up the screens with their subtlety. Initially the story seems engaging apart from the fact that is resembles the 80’s flick but the justification of MS. Bhaskar’s distancing from his daughter, doesn’t hold tight as it ought to, given the mysterious prologues.

‘Coffee anyone?’ by Suhashini Maniratham, is an ambitious venture that features the Haasan women. The thought behind the story is novel, but the execution lacks finesse and its screams for mentoring. The limited crew might have posed a problem but the director is handicapped in translating her writings to visuals. The struggle starts right from the opening frame when the daughters are on the way home from the airport. The medical conditions are miserably handled and so is Shruthi’s character being a rebel. Sob stories are a plenty and melodramatic scenes in places disengage you from the story.

‘Reunion’ by Rajiv Menon, features, singers Andrea and Gurucharan as schoolmates. Andrea opts to stay in her childhood friend’s house during the lockdown. At one point she is revealed to be a drug abuser. Doubts creep in, if there is enough space for such extensive arc in an anthology. The story is determined to travel on the rehabilitation path. Gurucahran helps her beat her addiction by kindling the childhood singing competitor within. The story seems to judge women working in bar and type casting them as substance users. But on damage control, the director chooses to counter it through the dialogues of Gurucharan’s doctor character. Andrea moves out claiming- ‘addiction is HER problem’ and she is to seek professional help- the segment ends seemingly convincing.

‘Miracle’ by Karthik Subbaraj, opens with the Madurai dialect. It brings in the much needed breathe of fresh air from the glossy glamorous indoors of the previous segments. The director excels in spinning a dark comedy tale filled with suspense and humor. Its hilarious, especially when the characters attempts to burgle a building mistaking it to be an IT firm, . The camera and lighting is spot on. The flashing mobile that rings, lighting the face of the apparently dead man, reminds the director’s debut film ‘Pizza’. Tamarind rice is compared to be the poor man’s biriyani during the lockdown. There isn’t a better way to express the pandemic’s consequences on bachelors. The characters relish the tamarind rice as sour grapes. It’s a slice of reality of many households during the pandemic. The twist in the last scene, the director hitting a jackpot and the Godman’s mafia, leaves you light hearted.

Good watch.