Theater-artist turned film-maker G Bramma’s Tamil movie “Kuttram Kadithal” (2015) bears an English title “The Punishment”, although the literal translation means ‘daring a crime’ (see Wikipedia page for the movie). The crime in the movie isn’t pertained to a particular individual, but the entire system – from education to media – that trains its people to either run away from truth or embrace half-truths. “Kuttram Kadithal” was screened at various film festivals, including Goa and Mumbai and went on to a National award for ‘Best Tamil Feature’ (although it was only recently released in theaters). The film has little thriller elements, but it is mostly a sublime, nonjudgmental character study about different people, hailing from various socioeconomic class.
The movie opens in the house of a newly married couple. The assortment
of personal photos on the cupboard plus their names – Merlin and Manikandan -- and
religious icons refer to the fact that it’s a love marriage, while the slightly
forlorn expression of Merlin (Radhika Prasidhha) states that their marriage
didn’t have parents’ approval (in this case, Merlin’s mother – a devout
Christian). When she sits in front of the mirror, before getting reading to start
her day as the school teacher, Merlin is in a dilemma about following whose
faith. She asks her husband (Sai Rajkumar) to place the sindoor on her
forehead, a decision which shows that she is ready to embrace both faiths. Merlin,
who is afraid of rat and a more sensitive woman, wears the mask of a strict
teacher amongst the students.
She goes as a substitute teacher for a lower class (5th
standard) and sees a birthday girl crying. She discovers that a boy named ‘Chezhiyan’
(Ajay) from the same class has kissed the girl, on account of her birthday. The
harmlessly jubilant boy makes a humorous remark when Merlin asks about his
behavior. She gets infuriated by the remark and slaps the boy, who falls down
and slips into an unconscious state. Merlin is asked to immediately leave the
premises of school as the principal advises that it might become a large issue.
The narrative moves between Merlin experiencing the crisis of faith and the boy’s
mother, an auto-driver, who has lost her husband. The boy’s uncle, Udhayan
(Pavel) – a headstrong man and the agitated school principal makes up for some
of film’s most intriguing characters.
“Kuttram Kadithal” is one of the most subtle and vividly
detailed Tamil/Indian movies in the recent times. In an interview to Hindu, writer/director
Bramma states how a film should not only have content, but also aesthetics that
could appeal to universal audiences. Indian cinema is often pockmarked with
movies that have relevant social messages, but savaged by film-makers with a
hypocritical moralist stance. Bramma infuses effectual characterization rather
than treat the actors as caricatures or set properties. Except for the
portrayal of corporate media, the characters are multi-dimensional, each
behaving in a manner that isn’t cinematic.
Spoilers Ahead
The director repeatedly alludes to how the characters make decision from
their previous experiences or from their socioeconomic perspective. The high
principled head-master (a loving husband, an agonized father; he is seen following
the rule of wearing helmet) immediately asks the teacher to run away rather
than facing the consequences for her mistake or crime. He has taken this
decision, which isn’t limited between right or wrong. The head-master fears his
fellow people of the society, whom he thinks might do something rash, out of
anger. His thought process might not be an exaggeration, but then this choice
transcends the dimension of the crime and feeds off creatures that thrive on
some sensation. Self-willed Udayan, in one earlier scene, stops a rich man in
the car, who has knocked down a fragile old man, riding in a cycle. The rich
man without a second thought hands over money as compensation and wants to run
away from the situation. But, Udayan makes the rich guy to take the old man to
hospital as compensation. Through this little sequence as well as Merlin’s
fleeing, Bramma points out how the society has taught its people to run away
from the erroneously perpetrated crimes by taking few shortcuts.
Despite portraying Udhayan with a headstrong, the writer has
shown good judgment in never making the character to do some dramatic things.
Udhayan is also shown as a reasonable guy, who knows when to back off. The
total lack of sexual education (or the way it is perceived even among adults)
is also one of the chief plot elements. The words the Zoology teacher uses on the
reproduction class to the giggling students makes up for one of the
well-written dialogues in the film. Apart
from being a staunch societal drama, Bramma also weaves the movie as women’s
journey through crisis of faith and as a tale of mothers. Mirror, the symbol of
both physical and spiritual reflection, is used on couple of occasions by the
director to showcase Merlin’s faith crisis. After the disastrous incident in
school, Merlin goes to a Church and watches her face in a two-Wheeler rear-view mirror. Her bewildered face in the mirror is juxtaposed with the
symbol of cross and in a fleeting moment, she comes to a decision that her
current predicament is related to her previous choice of abandoning the faith.
She immediately rubs off the sindoor on her forehead. Through her short trip,
Merlin comes across different kinds of religious (Christianity) icons that also
gradually stabilizes or makes her to do the right thing.
In his landmark novel “Mother”, Maxim Gorky wrote “Mothers
are hardly ever priced”. Director Bramma, apart from repeatedly referring to
this novel, has designed the script to be a tale of working class women or
mothers. The decision of head-master and his wife to protect Merlin seems to be
a parental instinct; the struggles of Chezhiyan’s mother are distinctly
portrayed; and the levelheaded policewoman is seen picking her son from karate
class amidst her pressurized work. The other significantly commendable aspect
of Bramma’s direction is the way the songs are amalgamated into the narrative. The
great Tamil Poet Subramaniya Bharathiyar’s magnificent song “Chinnanchiru
Kiliyae” was well orchestrated (music by Shankar Rangarajan) and an earlier
song in the school impeccably brings the sense of being in an actual classroom.
The movie has its own set of flaws like trying to be a thriller or the
melodramatic contrivances towards the end. A brief judgmental view of media doesn’t seem
to fit into the movie’s environment. The director imbues the idea of media
being a stalker with sinister intentions (as if yellow journalism is the only
kind). But, these few
missteps don’t affect the subtlety of the movie’s social message.
“Kuttram Kadithal” (120 minutes) is a skillfully designed
social issue drama that might inspire Indian film-makers on how to tackle such
subjects without getting into the preachy mode.
Trailer
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