Panni Kutty begins with the voiceover of Utharavathi (Karunakaran) who shuts down a ringing alarm clock and introduces us to his enterprising family. We have seen this opening in our films, but there is a difference here. He is not getting ready to go to work; he’s about to commit suicide. This might seem like dark territory, but Anucharan’s sophomore effort is anything but. He is fascinated with human emotions. Just like with his debut, Kirumi, here too, we see stories of the everyman unfold in a rather nonchalant way. There is a lot happening, but it doesn’t really amount to much.
Panni Kutty has a rather simple premise. Utharavathi, who is down on luck, turns to a seer (a hilarious Dindigul I Leoni), who advises him to steal a bike to change his fortunes. This leads to an accident that involves Varahi, the titular piglet that is also connected to the life of Thittani (a rather restrained Yogi Babu). While Utharavathi and his motley group of friends (Thangadurai, Ramar and Singampuli) want to get hold of Varahi to recreate that accident, Thittani has to safeguard Varahi to ensure his upcoming marriage isn’t jeopardised. This seems like it can make for a delicious comedy of errors, but the film doesn’t try to bring something new. It is a largely safe film, and the lack of novelty in many scenes acts as a deterrent. The earnest performances breathe life into mundane scenes, and the short runtime ensures that we don’t delve too long into any particular sequence.
What adds more levity to proceedings is K’s quirky soundtrack and some enjoyable montage songs. Both Karunakaran and Yogi Babu’s respective love tracks are dealt with a lot of sensitivity. We often see how the love stories of comedian-turned-heroes are treated with disdain and disrespect. Here, Yogi Babu’s story is rather cute, and it is nice to see this side of the actor without him resorting to shenanigans. However, we do have the garden-variety body-shaming jokes from his end. Nevertheless, Panni Kutty works well as long as the makers keep things light without resorting to shoeing in a message or two about superstitious beliefs.
The first song of the film talks about how society and superstition go hand-in-hand. Towards the end, we also see a half-hearted message about the need to believe in ourselves instead of blind superstitions. While this is well-served in a slice-of-life film like Panni Kutty, it needed a more holistic view of the topic rather than getting relegated to just a footnote.
It is also refreshing to see the normalisation of the portrayal of pigs in our films. After years of these beautiful animals getting shown as something ‘dirty’ and ‘impure’, this is a small progressive step in breaking an untold rule of cinema. We saw this in Nagraj Manjule’s Jhund, Mari Selvaraj’s Karnan, Arunraja Kamaraj’s Nenjukku Needhi, Thamizh’s Seththumaan, and now, Anucharan’s Panni Kutty. We don’t see the animals as a novel entity but just as a way of life, and that is the beauty of right representation. It isn’t about the grand and showy gestures but good portrayal seeping into our collective consciousness.
Panni Kutty is largely harmless and is glad to just coast around aimlessly and elicit a fair share of laughs. It is definitely not the kind of film one would expect from the filmmaker who made the brilliant Kirumi, and recently directed four episodes of Amazon Prime Video’s impressive Suzhal. But it is still a reminder that at times, even serious filmmakers could drop their guards and have some fun. That this results in a rather tepid film is another matter altogether.
Paani Kutty
Director: Anucharan
Cast: Yogi Babu, Karunakaran, Ramar, Thangadurai
Rating: 3 stars