Film: Kuttram Kadithal
Director: Bramma
Cast: Radhika Prasidha, Sai Rajkumar, Sathya, Master Ajay, Pavel Navageethan, Kulothungan
How an incident snowballs into a major issue and causes disharmony and distress in the lives of a group of people from different strata of society are brought out with sensitivity and sensibility by director Bramma, who has a few short films and documentaries to his credit.
With this one film, Bramma has established his credentials as a filmmaker to watch out for.
The actors are mostly from stage plays and carry no excess baggage. Well cast, each fits suitably in the character, infusing life into their roles. The crucial players in the plot are introduced to us briefly in the early part.
For instance, Manikandan and Merlin (Rajkumar, Prasidha) are newlyweds, enjoying their honeymoon period in the marriage. He is a software engineer, and she is a school teacher. There is Chezhiyan (Ajay) — a Class 5 student, cheeky and mischievous. He is raised by a single mother, an auto driver (Sathya). His uncle Udayan (Pavel) is an activist taking up cudgels whenever he sees injustice perpetrated. When his nephew is at the receiving end, Udayan is around making sure that the school and the teacher responsible don’t get away scot free. And there is the school principal and his wife — a distressed couple — who, after calamity hits them, are hounded by the cops and the media. It begins when Chezhiyan’s teacher needing to take time off, requests her friend Merlin to take her class. And this inadvertently triggers a chain of events.
The distress of Merlin, guilt ridden by her act touches a chord. The attitude of the principal who tries to ensure that no disrepute comes to his school due to the incident, is natural and understandable. The relevance of sex education in schools and corporal punishment are all touched on.
The director has tried to balance both sides of the issue without taking sides, and without being judgmental. And though there was enough scope for melodrama, Bramma doesn’t indulge in it.
The emotions of all characters, like that of the mother and the teacher, are portrayed so beautifully, that they feel real and honest. Human beings are resilient and our individual strength is different in difficult situations — this is highlighted well in the film. Though her husband was supportive in her time of distress, solace for Merlin would come from an unexpected source. The technical crew has coordinated well to translate the director’s vision on the screen. Even the songs in the background have innumerable montages and shots incorporated.
Before its theatrical release, Kuttram kadithal had won awards and accolades at the national and international level. Dealing with a universal subject, it is a film that everyone can relate to.