The cinema landscape is witnessing a spate of new stores being told with a surge in innovations around production design, screenplay and new-age editing. The genre of a classical family drama with some powerful performances almost seems like an old-world category.
ASHOK’s FIVE reviews #VaanamKottattum, directed by #Dhanasekharan and scripted and produced by #ManiRathnam. The film is now available on #MUBI.
#RSarathKumar has been around in Tamil cinema for several decades now and has been a bit of a mystery to me. His talent is quite obvious and yet he is always shy of delivering a superlative best. His Wikipedia page is even more intriguing “Ramanathan Sarathkumar is an Indian film actor, politician, journalist and former body builder and former president of the South Indian Film Artistes' Association. He has acted in more than 130 Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu and Kannada films. He is fluent in all South Indian languages and is quite proficient in Russian”. His role as Bose Kaalai, a father who avenges the murder of his brother and after struggling a prison sentence struggles to be accepted by his own family is almost tailor-made for him. He is at ease along with his real-life soul mate #RadhikaaSarathKumar as Chandra is also at ease in her role as the mother who puts bringing up her children at the top of her priorities and moves away to Chennai. Years later, when the father comes back to see his now-grown up children, the interaction with his wife is interesting. He says “Unna thotten pesartha, illa diorama ninnu pesartha nu therilla”. Very #ManiRathnamish and very 90s style drama.
#Dhanasekharan manages to assemble an excellent cast that includes #VikramPrabhu as the son Selva and #AsihwaryaRajesh as the daughter Mangai. I think where he has got it wrong it the inordinate time spent in developing the characters of the rest of the cast including the love-interests of the children. One one hand, there is Preetha (#MadonnaSebastian) who is going through a similar trauma that involves loss of one’s father. On the other, there is a triangular love story around Mangai that is not just difficult to comprehend; it throws the narrative off-course for a while.
Then there is the son Bhaskaran waiting to avenge the death of his father but that track after promising much fails to deliver and could have been dealt with differently.
At the end of the day, the moot question about how time can act as a barrier to a family is the key pivot. Will Bose be accepted back by his children. How does he overcome the issues created by his attempts to fit in and act as father? His children have moved on – the son runs his small business and his daughter is studying to be a lawyer. Do they take accept him and his flaws into their stride?
No gimmicks in #VaanamKottattum. Powerful Story although told many times. Excellent cast. Acting gravitas. Great music. And the #ManiRathnam signature style including countryside and Chennai shots. A potent package!
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