Kallachirippu (Web Series) Review
Suhansid Srikanth
Kallachirippu revolves around four characters.. A girl who is forced into a marriage.. A guy who is gay, pushed into a unsettling marriage life by his parents.. Another guy (played by the director Rohit himself) who holds an affair with this girl.. And one another guy who wants to get back to Ram, the man he is in love with.
Am leaving the plot and happenings for you to watch. But Kallachirippu is Amrutha rocking it all the way. She splurges out a performance that effortlessly grinds a hatred for the character out of viewers. The adamance and arrogance gnaws in every word she says. Like to many, she resembles a lot of Vidya Balan. But it is a delight to see an actress in Tamil, who knew the language and play a role with her thought process involved. We get that she means every line she said and not just reciting it from the paper.
The dialogues are interesting. Like one when asked why she means so much to him, we get a question back.. 'Have you ever had sex with yourself? It is worth a life!'. Rohit Nandakumar's strength is in this sneaking realisms and day to day perversions that we don't get to see in our films a lot. After Selvaraghavan.. It is with Rohith I get to cross moments where the sex is stripped down to its mere animalistic traits.
The thing I loved the most about the series is how the angle of homosexuality is conceived within the story. At one point, we see Ram getting beaten with belt by his mother for still being a gay. He is forcibly expected to have a child. Even a hint of Section 377 is thrown as a threat, citing his love as illegal. Ironically.. contrary to the public belief..the man - woman affair is treated as one with sex driving it for the major part. Whereas, the love the guy has for Ram is portrayed as that of pure matter of hearts.
Vikas as Ram comes strongly convincing. With rigid reluctance to almost everything.. his chemistry with the other guy comes off hitting one like a sucker punch. The moment where we get to see him pleading to not leave him has some brilliant performances by both actors. Vignesh Shanmugam plays a character that's too cynic.. like a psycho killer he laughs a lot.. and hence we put him into the shoes of antagonist. I love the naivity and longing he could bring in to the character. After a huge emotional argument, he asks whether Ram want to see his appointment order and takes it from the bag. The excitement and child like act he does is so pure. It adds so much to the character and the relationship without actually telling us his backstory.
The parents and in-laws pop out with staged - serial acting. Somehow it does make up for the old school, conservative opinions they come up with. But it takes a while for us to settle on the fact that no one can be charged off for their deeds. They are all the victims of this soceity.. perhaps, the life. And the climax it all heats down to is novel.
The mood for the crime and the fate's play that forms an undercurrent of the series is gripping. Dineshkumar's cinematography at certain sequences delivers a chilling ambience of a crime scene playing out with lights and shadows. Like one where the camera slowly moves away from Ram and the guy hugging each other to a mirror.. or the long extended argument captured in the corridors of a hostel.. the throbbing tragic quality of this story is constantly there. Satish Raghunathan's scores and the sound design by Sreesan blend way too well despite the story and genre having a high chance to be drenched by music.
The series do dropped for me at certain points. Like I wish the father - daughter hatred drowned relationship is explored in detail given the entire story is built over it. The '182 days before and after' fonts that keep coming all throughout the series was super annoying as well. Since after a point we easily get when the story is happening despite the nonlinear telling.
All said and done.. Much love and awe to the entire team behind for pushing the bar way too up for Tamil web-series. With Lust Stories being discussed all over the nation, it feels proud to see a work from here that doesn't shy away in breaking norms and talk about marriage, sex and love.
Bottomline:
Kallachirippu to Tamil web series scenario is as important as Sacred Games to Indian Netflix arena. It opens perspectives that can be explored and talked about beyond the usual rom-coms, good for nothing bachelors getting drunk and cracking silly jokes on recent trends in their hangovers.