With an anthology like this there are always going to favourites; for me those were the stroies that Sudha, GVM and Karthik bought to life. Although all the stories did stick with an underlying message that focuses on humans trying to redeem themselves or re-invent themselves into new begginings in the time of such devastation and loss, not all resonates on the same level.
It was a brilliant move by Sudha to tell the love story of 2 middle aged adults through young and older versions. It made me feel connected to a story in a deeper level, even though I am in my early twenties I was still able to feel the passion that brought these two people together. As a viewer it shows how powerful and energetic love makes you feel when you both whole heartedly in it and how it can easily fade with doubts and intolerance - A beatiful contrast, that doesnt say being old means you are automatically unromantic and grumpy, but instead it shows how it transforms you. It was nice to see a natural dynamic of father and son on screen that is required by the story (Jayaram and Kalidas), instead of sometimes forced and cringey duos on Kollywood screen.
GVM on the other hand made me cry for the first time since I watched Varanam Ayyaram as a 9 year old boy, and this time my whole family felt it. Both M S Bhaskar (Seriously under rated) and Ritu Varma killed their performance with ease.
The story at last Karthik S was the real stand out, it had a level of comedic element that karthik worked out flawlessly. Karthik and Bobby dynamic is yet to disappoint me. The characters were naive but yet sensible enough to feel real, while the other stories overwhelmingly focus on people who have structure to their life this focuses on the utter disfunctions of two unemployeed bachelors who are struggling to make ends meet. Even though not alot of us were affected to this extent, it subtly touches on the struggles of humans enough for you to emphathize with them.
The two stories in between by Suhashini M and Rajiv M were bit of a disappointment, they had this disconnect from the viewer that I personally know affected everyone who watched the movie with me. The story tries to tell the story of struggling old parents through the eyes of their daughters, but I feel like it could have been better for the story to be told from the parents presepctive as all three daughters just didnt feel like strong characters or rather they didnt have enought time establish them. Rajiv could have seriously considered toning it down with the cringey reciting of poems, it took me way out of the movie; made it feel more corny and cringey but still not as bad as the "Cringe Sisters" from the Suhashini movie. I really wished they spent more time with Andreas character and her addiction seems like a wasted potential.
Worth the watch just for the 3 movies that worked.
