Kuttram Kadithal (Tamil, 2015)

The ‘thriller’ genre is Tamizh Cinema’s most loved genre after Love. While crime-thrillers occupy a majority of all thriller movies, a social-drama thriller remains an untouched area. In his tryst to make a film in that particular genre, writer-director Bramma has scored bigtime. The themes he has chosen range from Faith, Religion, Relationships, the need for sex education, scandal-hungry media and most importantly ‘Everyone is right in their own perspective’. The film in essence is how people from various classes are joined together by a single event & exhibit different reactions to it.

Given that most of the actors are new to Cinema, it is a tremendous achievement to see such polished performances without any trace of artificiality. The frail mother of the effervescent kid Ajay (as Chezhian), the headstrong Uncle Pavel Navageethan (as Udayan), the pained teacher Radhika (as Merlin) & the calm-yet-principled Headmaster & his teacher-wife add wonderful color to the drama on screen. Not to miss the performance of the kid Chezhian’s mom, whose frail comportment gives out the feeling of helplessness without any dialogue.

Radhika Prasiddha, a debutant who has played the role of the teacher, Merlin is outstanding, be it in showing her love for her husband or in maintaining a strict demeanor inside class or squirming under guilt. Coming to ‘Comrade’ Udayan, right from styling to his body language, the man exudes an unmistakable aura. But for Simhaa’s magnificent performance in Jigarthanda, Pavel (who played the role of Viji in Madras) might have certainly had a chance at landing the National Award for Best Supporting Actor. Such was the intensity he was able to radiate on screen.

Converting the storyline rich in social drama into a thriller is certainly due to the brilliant screenplay by Bramma. The amount of effort he must have invested in creating each & every minute character shows. Take for example, the IT friend of the lady reporter who has a miniscule part but still raises vital questions which the audience themselves have on their minds. Similarly, the truck driver, Merlin’s religious mother, the affectionate Punjabi friend, the brave husband Sai Rajkumar (as Manikandan) who stands up for his wife, the vengeful auto driver friend of Pavel and so many more.

The dialogues too are drenched in reality & never melodramatic. Some of the scenes where the dialogues seem to be perfect are, when the headmaster & his wife rebuff Pavel, the way the Policewoman speaks & handles the situation wisely, the way Pavel’s character is established through his words on his introduction accident scene, the way Merlin’s mother reacts to Pavel’s accusation, the education officer’s immaculate reply to media and the way the apathetic parent asks to conceal the truth. These instances show that we have a true writer-director on show.

The music & sound design play an important part in the film being able to reach out effectively to the audience. Bharathiyar’s ‘Chinnanchiru Kiliye’ & the English rhyme ‘Sing a Song’ have been filmed wonderfully and their placement too is perfect. The cinematography by Manikandan is again exemplary with the placement of shots & the deliberate focus on objects adding valuable subtext to the flow. In fact, for the first 20 minutes of the film when characters are just being established, the inherent grammar in shots and sounds (film opens with just audio in background) makes us invest in the story.

We feel hard done by at the limited screen-time given to the brilliant police-woman whose shines in her matter-of-factly tone of dialogue delivery even in a tight situation. Similarly, the kid around whom the whole film is centered has very less dialogues/screen-time. Wish for an uncut version to be released in the DVD.