An anthology is a collection of short films held together by a common theme. Each film can be made based on a different story, by a different director and in a different style. That's not the issue. When the theme is the nine rasa or emotions, these are the very emotions that we portray in life as we react to different situations around us. Life is dynamic and ebbs and flows because of these emotions; without them we would be static and machine-like. In a sense, the rasas are therefore fundamental to life itself. And the interpretation of any one emotion can be widely varying. Take for instance, Anger. How would you interpret it? The take here is that anger can be life-long; it is passed on through generations. Now that's a very unique take on the emotion. Contrast that with the take on Compassion; a murderer could be pardoned in special circumstances. And herein lies the complexity of this new anthology on #NetflixIndia - this is a very refreshing, very contemporary take on the nine emotions; needless to say this is targeted at an evolved audience and can be quite polarising.
Put that remote away. Pass_Me_The_Remote reviews #ManiRatnam’s #NavaRasa, streaming on #NetflixIndia. My personal favourites are the stories on Bheebatsa and Raudra - Payasam and Roudhram. In the former, #DelhiGanesh stands out for his portrayal of a discontented villager who resents the success of his nephew. A simple thread of a story worked up so well by Director #VasanthaSai. The other one is a complete surprise; Raudrham is #ArvindSwami’s directorial debut, and reflects on how anger as an emotion can not just be momentary but can in fact stay with you for years, passed down across generations. This is the story of a single mother who can go to any extent to take care of her children and how the children exact revenge from the man who antagonises her.
Each of the nine emotions has a short film dedicated to it. I was taken up by the manner in which each story is worked up basis a unique life insight to the emotion. The other three stories with potential are the ones on Veera, Sringara and Bhaya. The film on Veera is titled #ThuninthaPin and is centered on a young officer’s trial by fire as he is tasked with the job of transporting a wily captive to the police headquarters. #GuitarKambiMele has superstar #Suriya paired with #PragyaMartin and has potential about how a musician finds love; Director #GautamVasudevMenon is in his elements but the screenplay ends up a little abrupt; the music in this film is brilliant! And #Inmai has Director #RathindranPrasad weaving a gem about fear with #Siddarth and #ParvathyThiruvothu in the lead.
#KarthickNaren has a standard new age sci-fi plot that has come in for a fair bit of harsh criticism but I did think that this was a novel experiment in spite of some obvious faux pas. #ArvindSwami stars in this tale that is a tribute to #ChirstopherNolan with an Indian take. The three leads are names Vishnu, Krishna and Kalki!
With a star cast that boasts a huge line-up of stars from the Tamil Industry, #Navarasa has acting heft at its disposal. The names include #VijaySethupathi, #Revathi, #PrakashRaj, #SaiTamhankar, #YogiBabu, #NedumudiVenu, #RemyaNambeesan, #ArvindSwami, #DelhiGanesh, #AditiBalan, #Rohini, #BobbySimha, #GautamVasudevMenon, #Siddarth, #ParvathThiruvothu, #Atharva and of course #Suriya and #PragyaMartin. Producers #ManiRatnam and #JayendraPanchapakesan have created this in aid for the daily wage earners of the Tamil Industry.
#BharatBala has created the title montage and the camera team includes stalwarts like #PCSriram, #SantoshSivan and #SujithSaraang. Music is the other hallmark of this set of nine short films, Watch out for some stunning work by #ARRahman, #SanthoshNarayanan and #VishalBhardwaj.
#Navarasa has some interesting experiments and is definitely worth a watch. Some are of course very laboured but like I said, you will enjoy how a simple thread has been worked up. The list of heavy-weight directors include #GautamVasudevMenon, #Priyadarshan, #VasanathaSai, #ArvindSwami, #BejoyNambiar, #KartickNaren and #KarthikSubbaraj.
