SILLU KARUPPATTI (2019)

Critic - No.178

Director: Halitha Shameem
Produced by: Venkatesh Velineni (Divine Productions)
Casts: Samuthirakani, Sunaina, Nivedhithaa, Leela Samson, Baby Sara, KravMaga Sree Ram, M. Manikanden, Rahul
Language: Tamil
Music: Pradeep Kumar
Genre: Drama, Romance

SYNOPSIS:
An anthology of four romantic stories across four agree groups connected by a magical thread called love.

REVIEW:
‘We like only a few things in each other, yet we believe we love a person whole-heartedly. That make-believe factor is love’, says a character from the second story of Halitha Shameem’s Sillu Karuppatti. The film oozes with philosophical lines about love that are placed in a realistic, timely manner in the four stories that depicts situational romance across different ages.

In the first story, Pink Bag, Halitha explores the innocent affection between a teenage ragpicker and a rich girl. Maanja (Rahul), the teenaged ragpicker, begins to crush on Mity (Sara Arjun), a girl from a wealthy household, after stumbling upon her photo in the garbage from her home. Soon, he begins to collect random accessories from her garbage everyday. One day, Mity loses an important belonging that has a strong emotional value for her in the garbage. The film does touch upon the class issue and dreams in a subtle way. Definitely not the strongest given the predictability and lack of layers but it does have some raw performances that make this leisurely paced section quite adorable.

The second story, Kaaka Kadi is an entertaining black comedy about a bond between Madhu (Nivedhithaa) and Mukilan (Manikanden), a meme-creator who discovers about his testicular cancer. The two gets acquainted through a shared cab journey and soon become close friends who share their happiness and deep sorrows. The weighs lightly on subjects and topics that are quite taboo (even has a wordplay with the actress Tabu) and controversial and even doesn’t shy away crafting conversations about semen tests and porn stars. It also breaks away from the beaten to death plot line of sparking cancer in the story after the lead has fallen in love – here, Madhu literally forms the love while she helps Mukilan to overcome the hurdle.  Both Nivedhithaa and Manikanden are terrific here with a strong hold of their characters.

What sounds like a tragedy in paper is presented with hope and humour by Halitha. For example, when Madhu asks him why the wooden face, Mukilan replies, “Cancer.” She thinks about the zodiac sign associated with cancer and says, “Me too...”. Or take the instance where Mukilan goes to the hospital to test whether he is fertile but is perplexed when he is handed over an adult magazine. But it doesn’t end there; it ends with him asking, “Is there Wi-Fi here?”. Painted with so much of positivity and metaphors, the short concludes with hope and love which after all like what Madhu utters, is  “the lump of chocolate you find in the tip of Cornetto ice cream. To get there, you need to excuse the initial vanilla-ness it offers”.

The third story, Turtles is the most purest of form – an unexpected companionship between a 60 year old widower, Navaneethan (Krav Maga Sree Ram) and a single elderly lady, Yashoda (Leela Samson). I am not using the word ‘love’ simply because the bond shown here is beyond that – something that comes without any materialistic or physical reasons. Yashoda is a member of Sea Turtle Conservation, and invites Navaneethan for Turtle Walk. They have a breezy moment on the beach where they open up to each other. Halitha tackles the relationship between them with dignity without suggesting any vulgarity. 

The yearn for the companionship from both sides and the final conversation between them, surprisingly is the most romantic scene of the film. Halitha flexes her dialogue writing skills in it and Manoj Paramahamsa’s romantic mood lighting gives us a GVM kind of love scene.  It doesn’t try to define love but shows us the many forms it can take. Poetic, philosophical and heart-warming, Turtles is my most favourite episode of the anthology. With due respect to Sree Ram’s performance, I just felt that a strong actor like Sathyaraj could have given Navaneethan character the extra oomph!

The final story, Hey Ammu is a fitting ending about a 12 years married couple, Dhanapal and Amudhini realising that mundaneness have taken over their love life. Samuthirakani and Sunaina come out as the best performers of the film with realistic portrayal of a seasoned husband and wife. There are many instances where internal voice/emotions are more expressed than words and in that scenes they score effortlessly. It’s a typical ‘Indian house wife neglected by husband’ story which is enhanced by deeper problems such as a scheduled sex life, lack of compliments at home and loneliness. It is an interesting story shift where Dhanapal buys an bluetooth virtual assistant so that Amudhini will stop complaining that she doesn’t have any one to talk to at home. Followed by engaging banters and realisation, the film tries to depict how important is it to put in effort to keep the spark of love in marriage during the mid-life of it when monotony and drudgery kicks in. 

This short was almost like watching a Black Mirror episode with dehumanising the technology a little. It also helps that the dialogues are strongest in this film, and are flavoured by a lot of situational and dry humour—like when Dhanapal goes on a rant against men who show interest in his wife, Amudhini, or like when she dubs their superficial sex life ‘thookamaatharai sex’ (sleeping pill sex).

Technically the film is sound as well with all four cinematographers (Manoj Paramahamsa, Abhinandhan Ramanujam, Vijay Karthik and Yamini) giving an apt look and feel to each stories. Pradeep Kumar’s soothing score elevates the emotional punches in the narration.
After a fine debut with Poovarasan Pee Pee, Halitha comes back with a strong film that connects with the audience through ideal romantic situations across different stages of life. 

That said, the film also suffers for the same reason as all the characters are shown changing instantly or extremely positive which sometimes come across as one dimensional. That rips away the reality it tries to craft in the film. However, that doesn’t stop the film from leaving a smile in our faces, easily becoming one of the strongest film of 2019. In the age of filmmakers are making extreme ranges of experimenting, staggering to be different, Halitha shows that sometimes simple relatable stories in the society can work too!



VERDICT: 
Sillu Karuppatti is a feel-good romantic anthology that will leave a smile in your face and warmth in your heart.

CELLULOID METER- 3.75/5: