Kutty Story

Four different takes on Love by four renowned Directors of the Tamil Cinema Industry, where two of the stories hit the right note, and the rest two spoil the party. Kutty Story begins with 'Ethirpara Mutham' directed by Gautham Menon, which tells the story of Adhi and Mrinalni, two best friends from college, and the platonic relationship between both. The story begins with a young Adhi, a 'typical' GVM hero, well dressed with the Silver Kada on his hand, and then we are introduced to Mrinalini, Adhi's best friend ever since they met in college. While the story progresses, a middle-aged Aadhi (GVM himself), picks us off from the middle who explains an intimate moment between both friends, which is clearly evident from the title of the story. Aadhi's friends decline the fact that they both were 'just friends', conveying that a man and a woman can never be 'best friends'. The story expands this subject in an exquisite and subtle staging, the type of staging that we expect from a GVM movie. Soothful music cues from Karthik pull the audience more and more towards Aadhi and Mrinalini. It is after a long time that the master of urban romance has delivered what we expect from his movies. 'Aadalum Paadalum' by Nalan Kumaraswamy, the last short story of the Anthology, tells the story of Manick and Kuchu, two married couples, and how an extra-marital affair of Manick lands him in trouble. It is an orthodox story with unorthodox writing, which makes it an interesting watch. Vijay Sethupathi and Aditi Balan as the married couple are a treat to watch, especially certain expressions of Vijay Sethupathi that crack you up. With weird lyrics and tunes, the music definitely elevates certain scenes, particularly the one scene where Kuchu confesses to Manick. Apart from these two short segments, Kutty Story has nothing impressive to offer. 'Avanum Naanum' by Vijay, which tells the story of an unmarried couple and how an unplanned pregnancy comes in between them, falls flat on lack of emotional connection and performances. 'Logam' by Venkat Prabhu, a take on Love in the video-game universe, was an interesting concept but would've worked with better homework on the script. Watch Kutty Story for the first story and then skip to the last story.

Another Tamil anthology has (finally) made it to the internet; this time revolving around the concept of love. With the lockdown in effect, big-time filmmakers downplayed their screenplays, characters, and budgets to tell simple but effective stories in anthologies like Amazon Prime's Putham Pudhu Kaalai (which had its moments, though nothing amazing!) and Netflix's Paava Kadhaigal (which I quite liked!). Kutti Story isn't exactly a worthy addition to the list but it's also not downright terrible. A couple of segments work (to an extent), a couple of them don't. Let's break them down one by one:

1. Edhirpaara Muththam - Packed with some aesthetic finesse (a GVM™ signature) and a pretty Amala Paul, this segment offers a not-bad start. It jumps timelines too frequently but GVM has control over his narration and performances. Robo Shankar's witty quips also help. It ain't mind-blowing but I'll take it for what it is.

2. Avanum Naanum - The reason it didn't work for me is writer-director Vijay's (super-obvious) struggle to nail the characterization of his leads, given the emotional heft in the plot and the short run-time. In fact, we see two time cards ('few months later' followed by 'few weeks later') within a span of 10 minutes. Megha Akash does an okay job here, but the writing is what needed to be infinitely better.

3. Lokham - A Venkat Prabhu experiment that didn't excite me at all. The concept (of two in-game characters falling for each other) is pretty unique but that's about it. The characterization is superficial and the tacky dialogues don't help. Venkat Prabhu still has a long way to go before he can write a pure romance film (sans the glossy, peripheral elements). Definitely my least favourite segment in the entire movie.

4. Aadal Paadal - Aptly positioned as the last segment, Nalan Kumaraswamy's story greatly benefits from the presence of Vijay Sethupathi (who can literally do no wrong!) and Aditi Balan (once again, superb!). Nalan's writing adds humour to some emotional/conventionally serious sequences, which the leads pull off to great effect. The way Nalan showcases the fragility of the male ego in an important scene is one to watch out for. The musical score (by Edwin Louis) in this segment is also spot-on.

On the whole, Kutti Story doesn't quite reach its intended highs, but it does let a few sparks fly. The problem is mostly with its uninteresting segments in the middle.

I watch this movie for Vijay Sethupathi and as I expected only his story line performed good enough.

5 stars to the last story: Aadal Paadal. Too bad, it has to share title with three other below average shorts.

Nalan brilliantly exposes the fragile and toxic masculinity of the lead character. Even a fake Jeep is planted in the backdrop to subtly highlight the character's boosted ego.