Link to Part 2: COVID-19, WFH, and Virus Attack Movies

COVID-19, doesn’t seem to be slowing down yet. India has extended the lockdown for 2 more weeks till May 3, 2020. If you are WFH, make sure you stick to fixed time. With commute time saved, great opportunity to spend time with the family, and do things you have been postponing to later time (assuming they don’t need you to step out of the house). If you worry about your health, stay away from news channels. No, you will not miss anything by not watching them. This time decided to shift the focus from virus attack movies to engaging Kollywood thriller movies from last 3 years. All these 5 movies have few things in common.

• Director’s movies. What I would call, director has full control of how they want to tell the story. No need to worry about satisfying hero’s egos, no hero intro shots, no punch dialogues
• Taut screen play
• Solid detailing. Events that happen in the background enriches the viewing experience
• Stretches of scenes that lead to big pay-offs
• You leave the theater with a smile on your face
• Yes, few compromises have been made for commercial reasons. Like obligatory songs in few of these movies which slows down the narrative. Love angle that doesn’t fit. But these are minor quibbles considering what they have done with rest of the movie

1. Maanagaram: A hyper-link movie. 4 story threads that crisscross each other. Once you buy in to the coincidence premise, what are the odds of 3 guys wearing the same red colored check-shirt in a bar where hoodlums are waiting outside to beat a guy wearing a …..red-check-shirt, this movie is a great fun with its twists, and surprises, and there are few hilarious sequences. Director effortlessly pulls off the scenes, goes to show amount of hard work and detailing that has gone in. So confident that, we get to know the names of the two main characters only towards the end and we don’t even realize it till then.

Official Trailer:

• Kurangu Bommai: Another hyper-link movie that relies on coincidences, with so much randomness, there is always a probability of two events getting connected. It is not too hard to buy in to the premise. Non-linear narration, one the current timeline and another with flashbacks catching up to current timeline, technique is brilliantly used to drive the intrigue. Director keeps you guessing on what is inside the duffel bag. This movie has lots of background details that expands your movie watching experience – broken clock in Ganja Karuppu’s house, Cat with its kittens in police station, a baby girl belting an elderly person. Watch out for beautiful stretches, Eakambaram intro scene, police station sequence leading to an unanticipated end, Sundaram telling his story to Sekar. Stand out performances by P.L.Thenappan, Bharathiraja, and Elango Kumaravel.

Official Trailer:

• 8 Thottakkal: This is an existential thriller. More than the story, which is good and gripping, one got to watch this movie just for M.S.Bhaskar’s and Nassar’s outstanding performances. This is not your regular thriller. Children get killed in crossfire. A juvenile delinquent boy gets beaten by a cop (boy needs to feel the pain). Maybe first time in a Kollywood movie hero is the weakest character by design – Mudhugelumbu illadha nallavan (a good person with no backbone). Only quibble I had with the movie is with two misplaced songs. There are few sequences which are magnificently setup – the canteen sequence, interrogation with a gangster, the final showdown in a locked room. And a dreamy sequence with MS Bhaskar throwing money bills in the air with exciting YSR’s background score. Most of the characters are well written with their arcs. Even a minor character like a warden who gives a laddu to a little boy gets etched in your memory.

Official Trailer:

• Suttu Pidikka Utharavu: The movie hooks you with a great opening stretch. You are inserted in the midst of a bank robbery. You are not shown the bank robbery except for the blank screen with audio background. It starts with what happens afterwards. A shoot-out,  chaos in the mall and the parking lot, a car getaway and the robbers get holed up in a crowded neighborhood with its narrow roads, and crammed buildings. The movie sets you up beautifully for the following police and thief game. Director keeps you interested and engaged with tight screenplay and a fast-paced narration. Plus, thankfully no songs which would have slowed down the narration. You keep guessing what is with that dog that runs away from the owner, or the girl who runs in to the chaos. But with the final twist, the loose strands come together. Yes, not every strand comes together nicely though. But while watching the movie you are sucked in to the movie so much that your logical side of the brain stops working and right side takes over.  Watch out for Mysskin’s performance as a cop with his trademark Mysskin-isque movements and cheesy one-liners.

Official Trailer:

• Dhuruvangal 16: This procedural crime thriller is done with style and finesse. Movie opens with a crime scene sometime somewhere in the past. Then the story unfolds from the present. Past is told in flashbacks. You try to keep up with revelations in the beginning. You want to be ahead of the director. There is the crime scene. Interrogations. Video footage. Director packs in so many details. As the movie progresses, you give up the effort to put together the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle. Like I mentioned above, you give the control to right side of the brain, go in for feel and experience. This is a movie from the director who knows his craft. Hard to believe this is his first movie. Director maintains the mood throughout, some may feel the movie is detached, emotionless, and cold. As a crime procedural drama, it worked perfectly for me. You may need to watch the movie multiple times to put together the puzzle.

Official Trailer: