Director Arisil Murthy messes up and pulls from a simple premise that lacks both focus and interest
did i catch Rame Andalum Raavane Andalum (rare) Instead of a show held for the press on Amazon Prime Video, I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t have gotten past the 10-minute mark. This is the kind of film where the director’s ability to handle the (in)subject is consistently evident from the start and I say it in the least snob-ish way. Consider the opening sequence and you will understand why I am pledging my case.
Read also | Get ‘First Day First Show’ our weekly newsletter from the world of cinema delivered to your inbox. You can subscribe for free here
Kunnimuthu (Mithun Manickam, struggles at times but mostly gets off to a good start) has come to a police station to file a complaint about his missing children. Police are unaware that children rareThe reference is to Kunnimuthu’s cattle, asking him to wait for his turn. And the irony stands out quite nicely: some party cadres ask the police for an update on their leader’s missing dog. We see all this from the point of view of Kunnimuthu. To survey How The director establishes Kunnimuthu’s alleged innocence: he finds a spot and sits beside the suspects; The prison follows them inside the station, when a constable takes them to the cell and locks them up.
Rame Andalum Raavane Andalum
- Cast: Mithun Manickam, Ramya Pandian and Kodangi Vadivel
- Director: Arisil Murthy
- What is this about?: The quest of a couple in a small village in search of their missing bull exposes years of abuse of political power.
When the constable in attendance calls for Kunnimuthu’s name, he replies from inside the room and the officer says something like: “Why have you gone there?” Now, what’s the whole point of this scene? Is it to understand how naive and harmless Kunnimuthu is? Or is it some kind of dry humor that doesn’t come off very well? Something tells me it is neither. rare So full of nostalgic writing and lazy moments that tell one thing for sure: a lack of interest and attention.
lack of interest comes into play because, notice How The director establishes Veerai (Ramya Pandian), Kunnimuthu’s wife, a love for cattle. After the police station scene, we cut to Veerai, who is staring at the dried dung of her cattle. When someone asks her what happened, she says something like, “I’m trying to console myself by looking at their dung.” Now He Really funny. Hope Veerai doesn’t mind.
rare Begins in the present, but has a flashback about the missing cattle and how they came into the lives of Kunnimuthu and Veerayi. It is not the central conceit that is an issue here. What does the director do with it? And everything is either rushed or hangs in the air like a thin thread: the way Kunnimuthu and Veerayi’s marriage is fixed, the way he finally finds out about the cattle.
Coming to the second part: lack of focus. Near the endpoint, we get a “twist” that makes Kunnimuthu wonder if his cattle were missing or were kidnapped. This is revealed to a journalist (Vani Bhojan) who has come to the village to ‘film’ a crying story. Apparently this is the director’s view of media ethics.
ambiguity for rare Reads: The film is a social satire around a village and its oddities, offering a prime mix of humor and drama replete with human emotions. The word that caught my eye the most is: sarcasm or lack thereof.
The Arisil statue makes a mess and pulls from a simple premise that could very well have been a solid, satirical Peepli Live Or Oru Kidayin Karunai Manu. But he seems to be able to fill the film with several issues taken from YouTube videos. The movie tests your patience so much that you wonder if a certain milk advert on TV felt more organic.
rare Currently streaming on Prime Video
.