Kirubhakar Purushothaman

Kudumbasthan’s premise taps into an evergreen theme in Tamil cinema, which is the struggles of a middle-class protagonist trying to make ends meet. The film’s title itself evokes memories of classics from filmmakers like Bhagyaraj, Visu, and actor Saravanan, who have explored similar themes in their comedy dramas across generations. The story revolves around Naveen (Manikandan), a typical middle-class youngster from a small town in Coimbatore, who is newly married to Vennila (Saanve Megghana). Naveen works as a designer at a local marketing company, earning just enough to sustain their modest life. Meanwhile, Vennila prepares for the UPSC exams while managing household responsibilities and battling caste-based discrimination from her mother-in-law. Their lives take a turn when Naveen, in a moment of self-respect, slaps a client and loses his job. What follows is a downward spiral of financial struggles, debt, and deception, with no apparent way out.

No one parodies Gautham Menon’s films better than the director himself. A few minutes into Dominic and the Ladies’ Purse, we see a middle-aged married man lying in a hotel room bed with his mistress. The camera captures them from a top angle as he delivers the iconic line from Vaaranam Aayiram (2008), “Inga yaarum ivlo azhaga oru ponna paathuruka maataan." This memorable dialogue catapulted Gautham to stardom, not just in Tamil Nadu but also in Kerala. Seventeen years later, the director transforms it into a self-deprecating joke in his Malayalam debut— a film that is noticeably devoid of his signature style, trademarks, and aesthetics. With Dominic and the Ladies’ Purse, Gautham brings an air of effortless charm, much like the film’s laid-back protagonist, CI Dominic (Mammootty). The usual deliberate effort to establish a distinct voice or tone in his films is replaced by a sense of restraint and candidness, which, at times, makes the film feel a bit flat.

It is tempting to place Kiruthiga Udhayanidhi’s Kadhalikka Neramillai beside Mani Ratnam’s OK Kanmani. Yet, Kadhalikka Neramillai is more radical than the veteran’s take on modern romance. While the aesthetics of OK Kanmani cater to the day and age (like all of Mani Ratnam’s works), the film, which ponders a lot about the conventional marriage institution, ends up on a conservative note. Tara and Aditya of OK Kanmani toy with the idea of living together and defying social norms, but end up finding solace in the status quo of the institution. On the other hand, Kiruthika Udhayanidhi’s Kadhalikka Nermaillai might not share the superlative writing and finesse of Mani’s work, but the film is truly modern in thought.

Vanangaan is another addition to Bala’s list of tragedies that make the audience leave the theatre with a heavy heart. Above all, make them wonder: “Why does Bala do it every single time?" Perhaps, he aims to jolt the everyday people and show them the devastating side of life they choose to ignore. That’s why Bala’s protagonists are strangers. They don’t conform to the ways which are termed ‘normal’. Almost all of his protagonists – Pithamagan’s Chithan, Nandha, and Naan Kadavul’s Rudran–are taciturn and choose to interact less with society as their very existence is odd with the society they live in. Set in Kanyakumari, Vanangaan is about one such anomaly named Koti (Arun Vijay), a deaf and dumb ruffian, who is depicted as this beast with a heart.

It’s been a minute since a rom-com like Miss You was made in Tamil. It is not to say the film is rare or great, but it is just one of those old-school rom-coms that harps just on a straightforward story and drama. A kind that hasn’t been around for a while now. Directed by N Rajasekar, starring Siddharth and Ashika Ranganath in the lead roles, Miss You reminds you of the times when not every single release had to be unique or bearing a USP or having the need to cater to the whole nation. It has low stakes, featuring normal people, cliched songs, and fights that evoke a sense of nostalgia. The strong point of Miss You is that is aware of its limitations and contrivances. At one instance, when a character is forced to narrate the past, he lets out a disclaimer that the ‘flashback’ is going to feature a story within the story. That doesn’t absolve the film of its mistakes, but it is nice to know now and then that the filmmakers aren’t in a bubble.

Watching Soodhu Kavvum 2 makes one realise the genius of the first part and its director Nalan Kumarasamy. More than the delicious dark houmour and wacky texture, the life of Soodhu Kavvum (2013) lies in its sarcastic pessimism. Nalan doled out a cynical comedy about a corrupt society beyond reckoning. Yet, his dark comedy made everyone overlook the philosophical core of his world. The title of the film Soodhu Kavvum (Evil Engulfs) is part of the Hindu god Krishna’s sermon in Bhagavad Gita, which goes: Dharmathin Vaazhvuthanai Soodhu Kavvum, Aanaal Dharmam Irudhiyil Vellum (Evil will engulf the dharma, but the good will always triumph in the end)." Though director Nalan’s film just takes part of it, ‘Soodhu Kavvum’ is a complete statement in the context of the movie. Evil engulfs. Period. The truth doesn’t triumph here, but that doesn’t seem to be a bad thing as it looks at life with a sense of sardonic humour that is soothing and pleasurable.

Identity sets off as a film about Haran Shankar (Tovino Thomas), a boy with an abusive father, who turns him into a perfectionist with obsessive-compulsive disorder. As we expect the film to be about this eccentric personality solving cases, we are thrown into a story of a serial rapist, who blackmails his victims with videos of the crimes. When we think it is going to be about nabbing this criminal, he gets killed by an unknown person (we instantly know who it is). Alisha (Trisha), the witness of the crime, gets a peculiar disease called Prosopagnosia aka face blindness, due to an accident right after witnessing the murder, which renders her incapable of recognising faces. Now, we settle for a concept film about this person with face blindness trying to identify the killer with the help of Haran, who also happens to be a good sketch artist (thanks to his mom). But no. Identity is neither that. It keeps turning into a different film every 20 minutes. You have a gripping flight sequence where Haran tries to stop a collision. Later, we also get an enjoyable Bondish fight sequence in a private jet. Clearly, Identity has an identity crisis.

Shankar has an unrelenting confidence in his socio-political conscience, and he seems to be constantly bothered about the ills around him. Nothing else explains his grip on the anti-corruption ideas, which fuels most of his films. After the disastrous Indian 2, Shankar’s Game Changer, starring Ram Charan, is another addition to his list of political films. The filmmaker not only holds onto his politics in Game Changer but also strongly believes in the old-school commercial entertainer where the film breaks to a song every twenty minutes. In a sense, this familiar screenplay formula works in the favour of Game Changer as you know what to expect from the film at any given point. It doesn’t pretend to be anything more than what it is. Hence, there is no room for disappointment with Game Changer. That said, Game Changer, at the end of the day, is a dated film that would have probably been fresh a decade back.