Paava Kadhaigal review: "Impactful as expected!!!"

A couple of months back, "Putham Pudhu Kaalai" was released on Amazon Prime which saw a host of talented directors coming together for an interesting Tamil anthology. This time around Netflix has come out with an anthology of four stories in the form of "Paava Kadhaigal". However, unlike the previous one; this looked pretty grim & deals with topics that has consistently shaken our conscience. These include the trauma that transgenders go through, honour killing, caste based violence etc & these are not incidents confined to any particular part of our nation. Hmm... so does the maverick directors deliver what we expected???

So as mentioned earlier, this is a compilation of 4 stories which are as follows

Thangam

Sudha Kongara has set this story in Kovai in the 1980s where Sathar (Kalidas Jayaram) who has been saving money to perform his transgender surgery is in love with his childhood friend Saravanan (Shantanu Bhagyaraj). However, his hopes of marrying his friend was shattered when the latter tells him that he was in love with Sathar's sister Sahira (Bhavani Sre). Though heartbroken, Sathar does whatever was possible in his power to get the two together but the price that he had to pay for was much more than what any of them had expected. 

Love Panna Uttranum

The next segment was directed by Vignesh Sivan who draws our attention to a feudal land lord Veerasimman (Padam Kumar), who portrays himself as someone who believes in caste equality. This was merely a facade to boost his political career since in reality he despised interactions with the lower caste which included slaughtering of couples involved in inter caste marriages that he himself endorsed. Just like the public, even his daughter Aadhi (Anjali) believed in the broad mindedness of her father & opened up about her affair to their driver. Will her father be able to accept her daughter's wishes???

Vannmagal

Gautham Menon has been on a roll in recent times & he has come up with yet another winner about a family that goes through the trauma of their daughter being raped. Satya (Gautham Menon) & Mathi (Simran) tries to deal with the tragedy in their own ways while the brother, Bharath (Aadithya Bhaskar) bayed for revenge. Amongst all these flood of emotions, will their daughter ever have a normal life???

Oor Iravu

The director that I looked forward the most to in this group was Vetrimaaran & he has rocked as always with a movie that is disturbing yet not gruesome. This also deals with a girl marrying against her families' wishes to a guy from a different caste.  The couple in question was Sumathi (Sai Pallavi) & Hari (Hari Krishnan) who were well settled & expecting the birth of their first child. It was at this juncture that her father Janakiraman (Prakash Raj) manages to locate them & invites them over to the hometown for the baby shower. However, will her relatives be able to keep aside their animosity???

All the segments were picturized well & had an interesting tale to convey, though Vignesh's part did not quite have the effect that the other three had. In terms of performance, pretty much everyone has done utmost justice to their roles of which Kalidas & Simran definitely stood out. It was heartening to see Kalidas being offered a meaty role & he was able to convey the nuances that the character required aptly. Similarly, Simran was spot on as the anguished mother who braves the storm in her daughter's life resolutely.

Verdict: This a is type of movie that will give the audience a couple of uncomfortable moments. It makes us realize that whatever might be the case, families need to stick together at all times rather than sacrifice happiness for the sake of the society. Of course we have to survive in a society, but nothing is more important than the happiness and welfare of our loved ones. The movie doesn't quite have light moments, so if you are looking for some light entertainment; this is definitely not the one for you or else dont miss it!!!

Rating: 3.25/5

Regards...Ben

AK vs AK review: "Kapoor rocks though the movie doesn't quite!!!"

Seems like most of the establishments are back on their feet though the film industry is still waiting for the day when the public will flock back to the theatres. Until then, OTT platforms will remain their only option to showcase their wares & this Christmas season,  Netflix released Vikramaditya Motwane's "AK vs AK". Ever since I saw it's trailer a couple of weeks back, it certainly aroused my curiosity as it was a meta movie & from the looks of it, both Anil Kapoor & Anurag Kashyap has gone all out in this experimental flick. But will the audience warm up to the concept after the initial thrill.

Anurag has been chosen as the subject of a documentary titled 'Best of Indian Cinema' which was shot by an aspiring film maker, Yogita. Her assignment starts off with Anurag attending a talk show with Anil in which they get into a war of words which eventually resulted in the latter being thrown a glass of water onto his face. As expected, Anurag's actions were slammed by many in the industry & he gets professionally sidelined. This is when Anurag along with Yogita hatches a plan to kidnap Sonam Kapoor & put her father through a world of pain. 

It's been quite a while since Motwane had called the shots but he has been involved on the production side of some interesting movies like "Cargo", "Manmarziyaan" in the recent past.  His latest directorial venture is truly an experimental meta movie that has real & reel being played out in equal measure in front of the audience. Scripted by Avinash Sampath, it is an interesting movie with many of the dialogues being acerbic yet humorous . However, the glitzy life of the stars, their insecurities, privileges' as well as troubles that they have to take coz of their profession has been shown in fair detail. In terms of the plot, it certainly had a suspense element to it but it lacked the thrill & the twist in the end, kinda missed its mark. On the technical side, Swapnil Sonawane's camera work, Bunty Bhansali's editing and production designs were spot on with the mood of the movie

This is undoubtedly one of the finest performances from Anil Kapoor in the last decade or so. He was completed invested in the role & it's hard not to appreciate the effort that veteran has put in at this age. In comparison, Anurag seemed average especially in the latter half of the movie while the rest of the cast which were mostly cameos seemed ok with Harshvardhan seemingly outlandish. 

Verdict: First & foremost, kudos to Motwane for taking the effort to create a different type of movie. However, the script could have been much more tighter as it fails to keep the audience hooked until the very end. In short, Anil was brilliant & though the movie doesnt quite match upto its potential, it's still worth a try !!!

Rating: 2.75/5

Regards...Ben