After what is the best scene of Kottukkaali when the film and its cast’s emotions hit a crescendo, a passive Meena (a brilliant Anna Ben) climbs into an auto, waiting for her time to come. Her eyes brim with tears, like a dam operating at the brink of its capacity, but not a drop jumps out to soothe her thwacked cheeks; in her books, that would mean conceding defeat. This is one among several endearing moments in director PS Vinothraj’s sophomore feature which is even better than his debut Koozhangal — India’s entry for the Best International Feature Film at the 94th Academy Awards — showing us that all the critical acclaim that came his way was no flash in the pan.
In many ways, Kottukkaali shares multiple parallels with Koozhangal: both are, in a way, travel films, capturing the trials and tribulations of a family, and both films start bang in the thick of the action. Just like the travellers moving from one place to another, the story expands to share more details with us as the film progresses. In a long montage, we see Meena’s family getting ready for a short trip; water bottles are filled, a scooter is rented and a man preps his auto for the long haul. As the family embarks on the journey, we learn that they believe Meena is ‘under the spell’ of her lover who we never meet. Said to be someone from an oppressed caste, this enrages the entire family, especially Pandi (an explosive Soori), whom she is betrothed to and this leads to her being dragged to a shaman to ‘deal with it’.
Anna Ben in a still from ‘Kottukkaali’ | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Akin to Koozhangal again, there is blatant sexism and chauvinism distilled through generations of patriarchy and filtered through centuries of caste pride. But unlike the earlier film which took its time to deliver the core message, Kottukkaali is flagrant about what it wants to put out. What makes Vinothraj a voice to reckon with, just like his contemporaries like Pa Ranjith and Mari Selvaraj, is how brilliantly he uses his prowess over cinematic language to write a story with which he evokes a myriad of emotions within us. Apart from the basics like the red rooster being a parallel to the red dress-sporting Meena — both want to escape and enjoy their freedom but are tied down to sacrifice themselves — Vinothraj lets you connect the dots and read between the lines. Neither does he want to provide a solution to the issue at hand, nor does he take cinematic liberties that would have pulled us out of this masterpiece garbed in reality.
Kottukkaali/The Adamant Girl (Tamil)
While most of the films’ first slides thank the makers’ kins or the almighty, Vinothraj thanks Nature and his film shows you why. Apart from being a silent spectator to the happenings within Meena and Pandi’s families, it provides wonderful metaphors for the filmmaker to drive home his crucial points. In a scene that is equal parts hilarious and heartening for us, a fierce bull blocks the road and the men have no luck going past him; finally, a young girl lures the bull out of the way with words of affirmation. Like the rooster and the bull, Meena is nature personified, unwilling to yield to the demands of mortal men.
Vinothraj does a splendid job of explaining how this group of men and women, with their own problems to deal with, come together in the name of family to solve what they think is a bigger predicament. Right from one person dealing with an insect bite while relieving himself in the morning, to another coping with a runaway father, their personal problems sound insurmountable. But somehow, they all converge on the idea of having everything in their control and taking brute measures if things go haywire. The film accentuates this with a fantastic scene where the men flex their brawn to lift an auto. They are so naturally disruptive, that even to ring the temple bell, they would rather shake the very pole the bells are attached to.
But thanks to the writing, this fragmental display of masculine arrogance gets thwarted with ease as they are shown to be those who can’t even control their bladders, start an auto, or deal with a fly in the eye; that is when the family’s women rise to the occasion with comparatively amicable and saner approaches. But despite their voices being silenced by that of men whose rules dictate that a menstruating woman can’t enter temple premises, the women also end up being the flag-bearers of regressive beliefs. Vinothraj even takes humorous digs at the men’s crumbling egos as nature does everything it can to delay their journey; there’s a hilarious throwaway line on how a character attributes his friend’s immense growth in life to the time his father shed his trousers.
Soori in a still from ‘Kottukkaali’ | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
The technical choices the makers have opted for also make Kottukkaali an experience to remember. With no background score, the camera work, at times, makes us one among the family members with its super-tight shots, or turns us into a mere spectator with its static shots as the characters whiz through the frames. I couldn’t help but muster a chuckle when the film, produced by Sivakarthikeyan, uses the ‘Othaiyadi Pathayila’ track from Kanaa, another film bankrolled by the actor, in a pivotal scene.
Apart from an intriguing plot accented by a terrific supporting cast, it is Anna Ben and Soori’s career-best performances that elevate Kottukkaali into one of this year’s best films. Both their characters have to carry the burden of resentment and exasperation, a product of multiple quarrels that would have unfolded before the film’s happenings, which explains the wrath of Pandi and why Meena is the ‘kottukkaali’, the adamant one. With just one piece of dialogue in the entire film, Anna pulls off the steadfast nature and unwavering spirit of Meena admirably; Vinothraj shows how she always has a way of getting things to work, with a quick shot of her loose ring that’s made to fit by looping a little thread through it. On the other side, Soori is anger personified as the black-shirted Pandi whose volatile nature comes to the fore for the smallest of things.
Without being pompous about its themes, Kottukkaali excels at showcasing a day in the life of a dysfunctional family doused with patriarchal norms. While the open-ended climax might feel divisive, it also opens a realm of possible outcomes that the filmmaker generously lets us pick one from. In an industry where directors suffer from the sophomore curse, Vinothraj delivers a more well-rounded second film, and proves that he’s here to stay... and win.
Kottukkaali is now running in theatres
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