Avinash Ramachandran

Eternal. There is so much positivity to the idea of something being eternal. But is it always a great thing? Experiencing a love that transcends time and space is a beautiful feeling, but what if it comes with the pain of separation, the angst of yearning, and the burden of repetition? In fact, the nameless protagonist (Nivin Pauly) of director Ram’s latest, Yezhu Kadal Yezhu Malai, is an immortal being who has been walking through the sands of time for over 8,000 years. He is worldly wise, weary, and anything but winsome. But one can’t blame him for his irritable demeanour because, as Kamal Haasan wrote in Uttama Villain, “Saagavaram pol sogam undo…” (Is there anything sadder than being immortal?) What keeps him walking on the face of the earth? Love. So an immortal falls in love with someone (Anjali); he has met her five times over 8,000 years, and between each meeting, he craves her and lives his life searching for her. Now, this timeless love story has all the makings of a… let’s say timeless love story. But even with the backing of a whimsical idea, it is perplexing to see Ram try to ground his film in a moving train that, unfortunately, chugs around in circles.

Acceptance. What makes one accept others? Is it their magnanimity, or education, or sensibilities, or simply empathy and compassion? Well, director Karthik Subbaraj’s Dorothy gives another reason as to why one might accept others. Because some people crave acceptance. Between this acceptance and rejection, two young boys, forced to be something they are not, somehow find what they think is… home.

Desire. Almost every relationship is based on a desire of some sort. It can be a desire for companionship, touch, love, family, respect, and of course, lust. But at the base of it all is a desire to feel desired. Wanting someone to want you for who you are is a high that many go through life without ever feeling. It is in pursuit of this uns that people give their all. Vishnu Edavan’s Hi is about one such guy, Mayilsamy (A wonderfully understated Kavin), who has everything but love of the romantic kind. He meets a down-in-the-dumps woman, Devayani (A superb Nayanthara), who has nothing but the belief that love is destined for the more fortunate ones. No prizes for guessing where the movie goes from here, and the best part? Vishnu isn’t interested in making you play the guessing game, and just wants you to sit back and enjoy a simple, cheery romcom that hits you right at the feels.

Ideas. Every piece of art is built on an idea, upon which various layers are laid before it reaches its final version. Even if the idea is enterprising, the same can’t be guaranteed for the finished content. Just like how it isn’t enough that a film has its heart in the right place, one can’t really bat for a film just because it is an experiment, or a ‘brave’ attempt. That is the problem that plagues debut director Ramachandran Kannan’s Ram and Leela: neither does it have its heart in the right place, nor does this experiment yield promising results. It tries too hard to play around with the form only to end up as a convoluted mess.

Legacy. Not everyone’s story becomes one for the history books. Not everyone’s actions become part of everyday conversations, right? But many a time, many sections of society reduce legacy to progeny, and this includes even the top 1% of the top 1%. What they leave behind matters as much as who they leave behind. The Vishwanaths are no different. When we first meet Sanjay Vishwanath (Suriya, turning back the clock), the protagonist of Venky Atluri’s Vishwanath and Sons, he has just won an Olympic gold medal for the country. He is a super-successful businessman who does god-knows-what, earns god-knows-how-much money, and lives in a god-knows-how-palatial bungalow. And yet, the needs in the Vishwanath household are simple: Sanjay’s long-pending marriage. His mother Nirmala Devi (A show-stealing Radikaa Sarathkumar) is worried about her 42-year-old son, who is well past the ‘marriageable’ age. While he does look a million bucks, there’s a very good reason why he has been evading marriage. But when the legacy of the Vishwanaths comes up again, Sanjay, a doting son, relents to his mother’s wish that he start a family. He finds a surrogate mother, gets himself a son, and bam! Legacy levels completed. But when the baby falls sick, the surrogate mother, Maddy (A terrific Mamitha Baiju) enters their lives, and bam! Everyone’s world turns upside down.