Directors Raju Murugan, Balaji Sakthivel, Krishnakumar Ramakumar, Akshay Sunder, Bharathiraja and Thiagarajan Kumararaja, offer you a platter filled with different shades of love in this six-episode Tamil series.
Streaming Platform– Amazon Prime Video
What happens when six bright minds come together to paint the different shades of love? You get an alluring, diverse cinematic world that has its heart in the right place despite a few rough strokes.
Episode 1- Lalagunda Bommaigal (Dolls of Lalagunda)
Cast: Sri Gouri Prasad, Vasundhara Kashyap, Vasudevan Murali, Bakkiyam Sankar
Director: Raju Murugan
DOP: Nirav Shah ISC
Music Director: Sean Roldan
‘Attraction! Abortion! Is this what you call love?’ Raju Murugan’s Laalgunda Bommaigal opens up on grim note where we learn that a biscuit-maker Shobha (Sri Gouri Prasad) has got cheated and dumped in love. Meanwhile, her folks assume that she has been possessed when she goes into a shell after her bitter experience.
“We can’t live with men, we can’t live without them,” exclaims one of her friends who has had her share of heartbreaks and self-inflicted pain in the past. However, wary of getting conned by men, Shobha finally decides to take charge of her life. Amidst this, a godman’s strange prediction about Shobha’s love life comes true. The racing dove (Shobha) falls for a North Indian pani-puri seller Nathuram (Vasudevan Murali). Has our girl finally found the man of her dreams?
Easily one of the best picks from the anthology, Raju Murugan’s Laalgunda Bommaigal explores the idea that wounds inflicted by love can only be healed by another love. Laced with quirky humour and an engaging narrative, the film has more hits than misses. Sri Gouri Prasad is a total revelation as the feisty Shobha while R Prasanna Ramkumar leaves you in splits. The gentle-faced Vasudevan Murali lends a certain amount of innocence to Nathuram. Vasundhara who plays Shobha’s spirited friend Vaijayanthi gets some of the best lines.
Sean Roldan’s music especially the ‘Jingarthathanga’ song is a burst of fun. Overall, Laalgunda Bommaigal leaves you with a smile in the end just like Shobha’s teeth-exposing grin!
Episode 2- Imaigal (Blur)
Cast: Ashok Selvan, TJ Bhanu
Director: Balaji Sakthivel
DOP: Jeeva Sankar
Music Director: Yuvan Shankar Raja
A pretty girl gazing straight into the frame, a boy proposing to her. Isn’t that a cute introduction? However, a few years later, their dreamy world almost collapses when the girl in question, Devi (TJ Bhanu) reveals that her vision is slowly deteriorating due to a medical condition called retinal degenerative disorder. However, her beau Nithya (Ashok Selvan) pledges to stick by her side and seals their love with a kalyanam. Soon, the couple gets blessed with a baby girl. But is it all so easy?
Balaji Sakthivel’s Imaigal showcases how even the most perfect-picture love can have a ‘blurry’ spot. The beauty of this film is that it dwells on the simplicity of moments. However, the timelines are a bit distractive. Also, the way the conflict in the narrative is resolved, comes across as contrived. Nithya’s remorse never hits you hard.
TJ Bhanu lets her large expressive eyes do most of the talking. In comparison, Ashok Selvan is a little less effective. Yuvan Shankar Raja’s music blends well with the ambience of the film. To sum it up, Imaigal has most of its love in its eye (TJ Bhanu’s performance).
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Episode 3- Kaadhal Enbadhu Kannula Heart Irukkura Emoji (Love Is A Face With Heart Eyes Emoji)
Cast: Ritu Varma, Pawan Alex, Siddharth Babu, Vaibhav Reddy, Akilan SPR, Aniiruth Kanakarajan
Director: Krishnakumar Ramakumar
DOP: Nirav Shah ISC
Music Director: GV Prakash Kumar
In one of the scenes in Krishnakumar Ramakumar’s Kaadhal Enbadhu Kannula Heart Irukkura Emoji, a blue-shirt clad film critic quotes Jean-Luc Godard’s famous saying, ‘Cinema is the most beautiful fraud in the world.’ The film’s protagonist Mallika (Ritu Varma) is a victim of this fraud and so are most of us, ain’t we?
Mallika’s search for a happily ever after begins right from her school days where she imagines to catch the eye of her crush by recreating the ‘Poopol Poopol’ song from Minnale. Sadly, the boy loves his ‘egg puff’ more than anything else. Mallika’s quest to find a man straight out of the movies continues in college and office too. Will she ever find her own Sakhthi/Rajiv?
Not just for inspiration, Mallika seeks solace in films for her heartbreaks as well. When her college romance goes kaput, she rushes under the shower to get her own ‘Vaseegara’ moment, only to discover that the tap isn’t functioning. At one point, she even exclaims that Tamil cinema has let her down when it comes to soup songs for women. She binge-watches Alaipayuthey and Kushi in matters of the heart.
Krishnakumar Ramakumar’s Kaadhal Enbadhu Kannula Heart Irukkura Emoji makes for a light-feeted watch despite taking the cliché route. Ritu Varma is effervescent as Mallika with her infectious smile and bubbly charm. GV Prakash’s music is frothy and you soak in all the silliness of the film.
Kaadhal Enbadhu Kannula Heart Irukkura Emoji shows that love is all about learning to laugh your heart out and dancing in the rain even when there is no music!
Episode 4- Margazhi (December)
Cast: Sanjula Sarathi, Chu Khoy Sheng, Srikrishna Dayal
Director: Akshay Sunder
DOP: Vikas Vasudevan
Music Director: Ilaiyaraaja
What happens when a girl from a broken home, on the cusp of teenagerhood, feels the first pang of love? Akshay Sunder’s Margazhi explores this theme in a free-flowing way.
After her parents’ divorce, Jazmine (Sanjula Sarathi) who lives with her father, withdraws into a shell and hardly socializes with anyone. Her father enrolls her in a choir class at a local church where the arrival of a Delhite boy named Milton (Chu Khoy Sheng) sends her ‘love hormones’ into action.
Akshay Sunder slowly pulls us into the world of the self-conscious, brace-sporting Jasmine with Balaji Tharaneetharan’s meticulously-crafted screenplay as we see the young girl transform into a beautiful swan when she slowly realizes how love has filled the void in her heart. One of the biggest highlights of Margazhi is Ilaiyaraaja’s intoxicating music. Each time, Jazmine hits the button to play ‘Thendral’ on her music pod, you feel a warm rush of feelings in your veins.
Sanjuli Sarathi is terrific as Jazmine. Be it portraying the anticipation of catching a glimpse of her crush or the declaration of her feelings, she gets everything on point. Lending her ample support is Chu Khoy Sheng as Milton.
Margazhi depicts how seasonal love can be healing too.
Episode 5- Paravai Kootil Vaazhum Maangal (Gazelles That Live In A Bird’s Nest)
Cast: Kishore, Ramya Nambessan, Vijayalakshmi
Director: Bharathiraja
DOP: Jeeva Sankar
Music Director: Ilaiyaraaja
A small misunderstanding in a metro train sparks off a romance between a married Ravi (Kishore) and a divorced Rohini (Vijaylakshmi) in Bharathiraja’s Paravai Kootil Vaazhum Mangal. As these two hearts slowly draw closer to each other to the tunes of ‘Yen Iniya Pon Nilavae’ from Balu Mahendra’s Modu Paani, another heart awaits to get broken at Ravi’s home in the form of wife Revathy (Ramya Nambessan). Soon, Ravi comes clean about his affair to Revathy and asks for divorce. In turn, Revathy invites Rohini home to discuss the further events which might change their life forever.
Bharathiraja’s Paravai Kootil Vaazhum Mangal is a hat-tip to Balu Mahendra’s Marupadiyum which also revolved around the theme of love, loss and identity. In fact, the characters here are named after the actors in Balu’s 1993 film.
Like Marupadiyum, Paravai Kootil Vaazhum Mangal also questions the fragility of the institution of marriage and whether it is possible to fall in love more than once. In one of the scenes in Bharathiraja’s film, Ravi’s father reminds him of his love marriage with Revathy and asks him if he might dump Rohini for some other woman in the future. To which, the latter replies, “The one thing we have never understood for thousand years is the heart.”
Bharathiraja’s sensitive gaze makes Paravai Kootil Vaazhum Mangal refreshing in many ways. There’s no shaming of the other woman in the equation. Barring for one vulnerable moment, Revathy accepts the situation with grace san any sob stories. While it is debatable whether this is possible in real world, Bharathiraja stays true to the film’s title at least on screen. The ‘selfie’ scene which appears twice in the film and the last shot which flickers between the end and the beginning depict beautifully the change in relationships.
With Paravai Kootil Vaazhum Mangal, Bharathiraja shows us how love is also about learning to let go.
Episode 6- Ninaivo Oru Paravai (Memory Is But A Bird)
Cast: Wamiqa Gabbi, PB
Director: Thiagarajan Kumararaja
DOP: Jeeva Sankar, Nirav Shah ISC
Music Director: Ilaiyaraaja
The last film in the anthology is Thiagarajan Kumararaja’s Ninaivo Oru Paravai where Jeeva Sankar and Nirav Shah’s neon saturated, orgasmic-inducing visuals offer you a puzzle of love and lust. The film is eccentric, but it also holds your attention.
Sam (Wamiqa Gabbi), a starlet and K (PB), an aspiring filmmaker discover love and sexuality in their low-lit world, but eventually end up with a heartbreak. Tragedy strikes when K suffers from temporary amnesia while Sam who is struggling to keep her sanity intact post their breakup, has to step in to fill the gaps in his memory. As the estranged couple go through their ‘Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind’ moment, the lines between reality and imagination blur not just for Kumararaja’s characters but also for the audience.
Thiagaranjan has his signature touch all over Ninaivo Oru Paravai. Knowing his love for sci-fi, there is even a Matrix reference (red and blue pill) in the film. Wamiqa Gabbi is all things sexy as Sam. PB also pulls off a good job. Ilaiyaraaja’s music adds madness to Thiagarajan’s genius world. To be honest, Ninaivo Oru Paravai works more as a celebral film than a film with emotional depth. It’s cold yet full of surprises. The filmmaker feeds you memories and leaves it up to you to interpret your own thing. For he is also someone who believes, ‘If we lose our innocence, we are no longer artists.’
Towards the end of the last film, Ninaivo Oru Paravai in Modern Love Chennai, Wamiqa Gabbi’s Sam holds her beau in a tight embrace and says, ‘This is our ‘and they lived happily ever after moment.’ It is for the audience too as the curtains fall after a wonderful assortment of love stories.
