Putham Pudhu Kaalai (புத்தம் புதுக் காலை) is an anthology of five short-film made by renowned Tamil directors, all revolving around the pandemic lockdown situation. While all the stories were good, the first two were brilliant and a must-watch. It’s streaming on Amazon Prime Video. All of them had limited casting in each story which makes us connect to the characters very well. The houses featured in the first four stories were beautiful, literally, I got transported to each one of them, such as the cinematography.
The first one “Ilamai Idho Idho” directed by Sudha Kongara is about an elderly love like in Pa Paandi (2017). Here it is Jayaram and Urvashi, both being excellent actors it was effortless for them to get the emotions across. I was impressed with their younger versions played by Kalidas Jayaram & Kalyani Priyadarshan (from Varane Avashyamund 2020 and Hero 2019) who reminded us through their body language of the older couple. The lockdown mood was communicated brilliantly in this one.
The second was “Avarum Naanum – Avalum Naanum” by Gautham Vasudev Menon and starring M.S.Bhaskar and Ritu Varma (from Kannum Kannum Kollaiyadithaal 2020). It was about the love of a father towards his daughter who has gone away from him, reminded when his granddaughter comes to stay with him during the lockdown. The scene in which Bhaskar, a retired scientist barge in on a video call Ritu was having with her office colleagues was enjoyable. Also, near the end, a balcony window is left partially open to signify the lifting of the lockdown was a nice touch by the director.
The third was “Coffee, Anyone?” by Suhasini Maniratnam starring herself, along with the veteran Kathadi Ramamurthy, Anu Haasan, and Shruti Haasan. It is about the dynamics of daughters settled abroad and their elderly parents. The emotions of a spouse to see their partner suffering in the hospital ICU bed was brought out well and so was the guilt feeling of not being taken care of felt by the children living abroad when their parents get sick.
The next was “Reunion” by Rajiv Menon starring Leela Samson, Andreah Jeremiah and famous singer Gurucharan C, which was about the power of love and affection in handling a person going through drug addiction during the lockdown.
The last one was “Miracle” by Karthik Subbaraj starring his favourite Bobby Simha and Sharath Ravi. This was about two small-time thieves hoping for a big hit during the lockdown.
Overall, a perfect cinema for pandemic days.
புத்தம் புதுக் காலை
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