Putham Pudhu Kaalai Analysis

Putham Pudhu Kaalai (2020)

Directed by: Sudha Kongara, Gautham Vasudev Menon, Suhasini Maniratnam, Rajiv Menon and Karthik Subbaraj.
Streaming on Amazon Prime Video.

The filmmakers were saying that every story is about hope, but some of these shorts only loosely interpret that theme. It's because the anthologies that we've seen in Indian cinema - Bombay Talkies, Lust Stories and Ghost Stories - have similar tonal or thematic elements. I absolutely loved Karthik Subbaraj's short and GVM's short - the remaining were good too. It was interesting that except for Karthik Subbaraj's short - every short was set in upper class houses, with great interiors - probably because that's one of the only few production values that they can get in, in the conditions that they shot.

Karthik Subbaraj's short: This had a stark contrast from the other shorts in terms of tonality - and this short worked very well - both in writing and in the execution. I was laughing out loud throughout. It's the absurdity that he captures on screen, which creates the dark humor. This short felt more respectable towards the form of shorts more than the others - the other shorts felt more like segments of a feature film and this worked - as a standalone piece of art. I would love to see more of Karthik's shorts!

Gautham Vasudev Menon's: I think this film had GVM up his game. This short felt more profound, intimate and poised, a lot more than his other work. P. C. Sreeram's images were beautiful - where they have an entire background filled with white light and we see Ritu filled with light in high contrast, in front of that background - it was such a serene image. Ritu Varma is GVM's new muse, she gorgeously fits as the GVM woman. GVM's world is always good to see, because he always strikes a balance in the individual vs family conflict, which is almost like a dream for any person.

I liked the other shorts too, they felt like a pat on the back and they definitely served their purpose - during these tough times but it's just that the setting in the remaining other shorts felt a bit similar - and the film buff me, didn't have much to look forward to in them.