Official Trailer: 

Similar to Kadaisi Vivasayi, Koozhangal is a movie hard to describe in words and has to be experienced. If you love cinemas that are about life and closer to reality don’t miss this. The storyline is a simple one, a young boy travels with his violent and alcoholic father to bring back his mother, who has run away from home due to father’s abuse. But there is so much to unpack from how the director, P.S.Vinothraj, narrates the story. In the hands of Vinothraj, we see and feel the beauty of the medium. Without dialogues (for a 75mts movie, the total dialogues may not go beyond an A4 page) we sense the emotions the characters feel, visually and through actors’ performances. The frames kindle our emotions and thoughts. There is always something fresh in repeat viewings. Koozhangal is visual storytelling at its finest. Full appreciation for the director and the creative team.

We get introduced to Vinothraj’s style of storytelling, unforgiving nature/landscapes/animals/sound design, from the opening sequence itself, where we follow Ganapathy, the father, as he walks towards the school with sweat dripping on his face (it is a hot day), interrupts the class, and looks for his son. As the camera searches through the classroom, we see Velu getting up with fear in his eyes. Velu is pulled out of the classroom. As they walk towards the bus stop, Ganapathy stops to ask Velu, who is following him maintaining a distance, Do you love your mother or me? Velu just stares in silence and the question is repeated. He knows better not to answer that question. So many details get highlighted in this introduction scene, scorching heat of the land, condition of the school and classrooms, father’s alcohol addiction, his abusiveness, and much more. This is the style deployed throughout the movie. Director effectively uses the landscapes to amplify the harshness of the situation. The scenes are prolonged enough to give the breathing space and delve into emotions.

We never get to see Velu’s mother. But we do get to see her life through other characters on the way till the end. The women with child in the bus, wife of the brother, wife’s mother, Ganapathy’s mother, and ladies waiting to fetch water from the pit. We see her in those women. After the fight in the bus, we expect the guys who fought to get out of the bus when the bus stops. But no, the women and the child get down from the bus and from the follow-on scene we get to know why. When the son and the father reach wife’s hometown, by the buildup of anger we know there is going to be an explosive showdown between the father and wife’s brother. We get a down to earth realistic payoff. Scenes like these capture how the women suffer by the toxicity and abusiveness of men.

While Velu is in fear of his father, he does rebel in his own ways. When he does rebel, it is so beautiful, innocent, and brings a cheer in otherwise a grim story. The scene that is going to be etched in my memory is when Velu picks up a broken piece of mirror and reflects the sun rays on this father’s bare back while sucking on the pebble to quench his thirst. By the way, when this pebble gets added to the collection of pebbles towards the climax, we get the full impact of what Velu is going through. This journey is not his first time, and it is not going to be the last. When we see the last frame where an old lady is inside the pit to collect a pot of water while other women, young to old, wait, we are flooded with emotion. There is a Tasmac in the village but no drinking water supply. Generations of women are stuck in this vicious cycle. Is there any hope for them to get out of it?

Excellent cinematography and sound design add to the vision of the director. I would say they are the major highlights. We hear the ambient sounds of the wasteland – feet stomping on the ground, trees rustling, baby crying, birds chirping, airplane, bike, bus, snake sliding across. We feel immersed in that deserted landscape. Add to those, flawless performances from Karuthadaiyan as Ganapathy and Chellapandi as Velu. Both nail their characters. Hard to believe this is their first movie. Vinothraj has raised the expectations for his future movies. A welcoming and hearty applause to Vinothraj 👏