KUTTY STORY (2021)

Critic - No. 198

Director: Gautham Vasudev Menon, Vijay, Venkat Prabhu, Nalan Kumarasamy

Produced by: Vels Film International

Casts: Gautham Vasudev Menon, Amala Paul, Megha Akash, Amitash Pradhan, Varun, Sangeetha, Sakshi Agarwal, Vijay Sethupathi, Aditi Balan

Language: Tamil

Genre: Drama, Romance

Music: Karthik, Madhu R, Premji Amaran, Edwin Louis

SYNOPSIS: 

Kutty Story is an anthology of four short films which revolves around the theme of love and romance.

 

REVIEW:

Kutty Story marks the third anthology that Tamil cinema has put together successfully and each time the combinations are quite interestingly laced. This time we are putting together 4 directors who are known for their slice of life stories and who are capable of injecting romance into them seamlessly. All four directors involved have proven that they have gotten hold of the pulses of the audience successfully by their hit romantic films.

So let’s take a dive into each story looking into the thematic and cinematic succession of each.

Edhirpara Mutham (dir. Gautham Vasudev Menon)

When I mentioned earlier about anthology films in Tamil cinema, I noted that Gautham Menon is the only constant in these 3. But this time, he has taken the genre he is the most comfortable with and the one that made him who he is today. And you can clearly see that strength and grasp in this story. The story begins with Aadhi (Vinoth Kishan) and Mrinalini (Amala Paul), the college besties. After a brief introduction, the film fast-forwards to decades later when Aadhi (now played by Gautham Menon) recounts to his friends and wife about a lunch he threw for Mrinalini that ended with a kiss. That spark then translates to a scene of the college besties reuniting for a cup of coffee where revelations and feelings are poured over. Gautham picks up form in this and for me (and GVM fans) this is his best of all the 3 anthology shorts he has been involved in thus far. 

GVM shows that he is a romance master once again by visiting the same genre tropes that we have seen in his films previously and recrafting it to make it still pleasant. He is one magician in romantic films that can make long conversations so deep, beautiful, and emotionally striking. Amala Paul fits perfectly as Mirnalini and Robo Shankar’s brief antics are memorable. Karthik’s soothing music and Manoj’s breezy visuals aid in building a perfect GVM romance world! That said, given the packed plot (with momentary character arcs), one might feel that this film is more like a prelude to a feature film than a proper short film. 

Avanum Naanum (dir. Vijay)

As the (common) title suggests, the film is a cliche love story that explores pre-marital pregnancy and abortion that a young couple, Preethi (Megha Akash) and Vikram (Amitash) goes through. From the word go, the film feels outdated, artificial, and soulless. Be it the acting, dialogues, or the plot twists, nothing really goes deep. There are so many problematic plot developments and logical gaps one might wonder whether it is the same director who gave us classics like Madrasapattinam (2010) and Deiva Thirumagal (2011). 

Even though the lead pair share good chemistry, due to the lack of naturally staged romance or character arcs, their performances stay at a surface level. Watch out for the melodramatic climax that might just console you that director Vijay might be paying homages to the 80s classic of directors Balachandar or Visu. 

Lokham (dir. Venkat Prabhu)

Venkat Prabhu is one director who has an interesting filmography with many types of genres. Trying a new concept is like Prabhu’s trademark and be it a miss or hit, he always tries. Through Lokham, Venkat Prabhu has built a love story about two gamers (Adam and Eve) who are interacting through a game.

Telling the love story through the video game makes the metaphors easier to build, but more importantly, stark in impact. It offers layers that would have been challenging to build without a fictional setting - like a game. For instance, when Eve is introduced in the game, she’s already way ahead of Adam in her journey — a subtle reference to her age that comes beautifully together later. It’s the kind of film that we might get more layers in repeated viewings. That said, due to the setting, the film feels emotionally cold. Varun shines with his earnest performance as a hard-core gamer.

We have to commend the animators who have built a decent-looking game world (with a limited budget) which sometimes look better than the magnum opus, Kochadaiyyan. Premji’s score is fun and energetic that suits the game world. He even infuses filmy folk music during a fight scene in the game, almost playing out like a parody. It even reminded me of an over the top, a parody fight scene that Venkat Prabhu had in Goa (2010) with Premji. Overall, though simple and thin, it was an interesting attempt.

Aadal Paadal (dir. Nalan Kumarasamy)

In Nalan Kumarasamy's Aadal Paadal, a couple's marriage comes under stress when the wife (Aditi Balan) catches her husband (Vijay Sethupathi) cheating on her. Though sounds simple at a synopsis level, the amount of layers, character arcs, and depth of dialogues Nalan has given is simply astonishing. Aditi Balan is terrific as the ‘silent killer’ wife while Vijay Sethupathi is perfect as the misogynist and manipulative philanderer. In his usual casual style, Nalan gives us an intense yet playful drama that sometimes enters the black comedy territory before ending off clearly as a sharp social commentary.  A couple of dialogues hit home hard (also the silences), and the quirky music by Edwin Louis Viswanath adds to the flavour.

I liked this film the most as Nalan paces and packs his ideologies and plot points in the given 30 minutes neatly. Again, the trend of short film graduates like Nalan and Karthik Subburaj walking away with the most claps in anthologies continues with Kutty Story. The only sore thumb I felt was the final dance scene that came abruptly though Nalan might have a symbolic meaning to it.

My Ranking of the 4 films based on the overall cinematic experience -  Aadalum Paadalum, Edhirpara Mutham, Lokham, Avanum Naanum

 

VERDICT:

Kutty Story is a mixed bag of simple romantic tales with directors GVM and Nalan in top form. 

 

CELLULOID METER- 3/5: