Baby, that’s the single word Director Charles has built around to give an enjoyable family film for over 2 hours through Azhagu Kutti Chellam (அழகு குட்டி செல்லம்).
The film is a string of 6 individual stories that are not unique but manages to thoroughly entertain us thanks to fast-paced storytelling by Director Charles and great editing by B. Pravin Baaskar. All the stories have “Baby” as a common theme in them. A teenage chess prodigy gets pregnant and expecting an unwanted baby, an auto driver (played by Karunas) wants a boy child after having previous 3 girl children, a childless school teacher (Vinodhini Vaidyanathan) finds it difficult to adopt a child from an orphan, a couple who lost their baby girl in a bomb blast, a couple in divorce proceedings fighting for custody of their boy, and a wife with a newborn abandoned by her husband for his parents.
The selection of actors for each role was perfect, especially the two boys who play the leading roles were outstanding in their performances. I liked the way each of the characters was portrayed, there were no cinematic villains. In real life people are rarely Black or White, most fall in the area in between and in AKC they are all firmly grounded and humane. Even the Auto Driver (Karunas) who displays an uncontrollable desire for a boy child is shown to be a caring father and a loving husband. The little fist fights and treachery are left for the school kids to play with.
One particular dialogue in the film that lingered in my memory was spoken by a local sanyasi (monk) character to the couple who have lost their baby girl in a bomb blast goes like this “The word you are looking for, to heal your pain, unfortunately, is not available in any language. In our Hindu mythology Atma (soul) has no death…“. The title song “Azhagu Kutti Chellam” composed by: Ved Shanker Sugavanam, sung by Shakthisree Gopalan with lyrics by Na Muthukumar was a great BGM for the whole film, I am unable to stop singing the song in my head long after I left the theatre.
Azhagu Kutti Chellam is a film that shows Kollywood is not all about Masala it’s still about the crispy dosas that host the masala.
Azhagu Kutti Chellam (2016)
அழகு குட்டி செல்லம்