‘Putham Pudhu Kaalai’ movie review: A delightful look at life and relationships during lockdown

Lockdown and COVID-19 have hit the movie trade exhausting, with a number of shootings being cancelled in the previous couple of months and several other releases stalled.

However there’s at all times scope for brand new beginnings, be it in movies or actual life.

And that’s the widespread theme in Putham Pudhu Kaalai, an anthology that packs within the works of 5 achieved Kollywood filmmakers in a single lengthy stretch. Amazon Prime has had a couple of common outings with respect to Tamil cinema in the previous couple of months. Nevertheless, they now appear to be making all the appropriate noises with ‘Putham Pudhu Kaalai’. How do the 5 brief movies fare?

Ilamai Idho Idho

Director: Sudha Kongara

Forged: Jayaram, Kalidas Jayaram, Urvashi, Kalyani Priyadarshan

There’s an enormous Mani Ratnam and Alaipayuthe hangover to this, however the easy story thread and leads are charming. If Jayaram rolls back the years in his sequences with Urvashi, Kalidas and Kalyani’s endearing chemistry hits all the appropriate notes. The home conflicts portrayed are all very relatably middle-class and Sudha’s writing of romance is stylish. Ilamai Idho Idho can be an instance of how you can embody small songs in OTT-aimed topics. Composer GV Prakash is in advantageous musical kind, filling within the gaps neatly. Additionally, be careful for SP Charan crooning a lilting quantity. SPB might need gone, however there’s nonetheless hope.

Avarum Naanum / Avalum Naanam

Director: Gautham Menon

Forged: MS Bhaskar, Ritu Varma

MS Bhaskar isn’t the quintessential trendy dad right here, neither is this movie something such as you’ve seen from GVM earlier than. Recognized for his stylish romantic contact in his topics, Gautham does a whole U-turn right here, whereas he units out to discover — with emotional depth — the connection between a grandfather and granddaughter on this brief. MS Bhaskar is a scientist who has received scores of awards, however was he ever a devoted member of the family? This moot query is answered whereas Ritu strikes in with him through the lockdown. With some enjoyable touches of how senior residents have tailored to know-how and a common commentary on the brand new WFH routine amongst IT staff , this brief is likely to be somewhat gradual for an OTT watch, however remains to be fairly stirring.

Espresso, Anybody?

Director: Suhasini Mani Ratnam

Forged: Suhasini Mani Ratnam, Anu Hasan, Shruti Haasan

Adamance is a recurring theme right here. The character of Kathadi Ramamurthy (a well-known face from the Tamil stage), is cussed relating to a medical choice. His spouse was cussed up to now, we study, and so is their youngest daughter (Shruti Haasan), now based mostly in Mumbai. We get a way of what Soundara, the grand previous woman of the home, would possibly have been, however not a lot past that. This brief explores familial conflicts, however the staging and performances are a tad too old school. It tries packing in too many topics, leaving little time to discover them. This espresso might have been somewhat stronger.

Reunion

Director: Rajiv Menon

Forged: Andrea Jeremiah, Leela Samson, Sikkil Gurucharan

If the lockdown can create stress inside people who find themselves household, what about associates who we as soon as knew? How a lot would they’ve modified as time handed by? Reunion, full of some hard-hitting surprises, revolves round how Sadhana (Andrea) rediscovers herself. In style Carnatic musician Sikkil Gurucharan passes muster as a physician, whereas Leela Samson suits completely into the atmosphere of the tastefully-done home. There’s a wise callback to a well-liked music in an earlier movie of the director, and the neat poetic contact within the climax is an efficient sign for brand new beginnings: one of many widespread themes current in all of the movies within the anthology.

Miracle

Director: Karthik Subbaraj

Forged: Bobby Simha, Muthu Kumar

Karthik Subbaraj might need carried out a Rajinikanth ‘mass’ movie, however his skill to pack in plenty of attention-grabbing particulars in a restricted time interval continues to make him some of the thrilling filmmakers in Tamil cinema. He proves this yet again in Miracle. Life for 2 small-time ruffians is difficult because of the lockdown, however they’ve a grasp plan to show that upside-down. Does that occur? Bobby and Muthu have loads going for them on this story that’s set in a radically completely different universe when in comparison with the remainder of the tales. Do be careful for the twist that Karthik Subbaraj is famously identified for.

Putham Pudhu Kaalai will stream on Amazon Prime from October 16