Nithilan Swaminathan’s interesting hyperlink thriller
Kurangu Bommai (2017, Monkey Doll) contains one of the spectacular MacGuffins
in the recent history of Tamil cinema. MacGuffin, as popularized by suspense
master Alfred Hitchcock, is sort of the engine that sets the narrative in
motion. It could be anything: an object or person or it could be one’s pursuit
for abstract things like love, power, etc. A MacGuffin works better when the
nature of it as important to the characters on-screen as it is to the audience.
As viewers and characters are drawn into the myth of MacGuffin, a fine
film-maker employs this element to bring more depth and complexity to the
proceedings. In Kurangu Bommai, the MacGuffin is a travel bag with a printed
monkey face. Our understanding of what’s inside the bag varies at different
points of the narrative, deepening the viewers' emotional investment. The object is shown as the ultimate temptation,
although it only induces unpleasant consequences.
Kurangu Bommai is the debut feature of Nithilan Swaminathan
and a second well-received hyper-link Tamil cinema of the year (previous one
was Maanagaram aka Metropolis). The film isn’t tonally perfect, the writing is
flawed at times, and also gives into some pitfalls of commercial film-making.
Yet the most fascinating aspects of the movie is Mr. Nithilan’s eye for
details, cinematographer NS Udhayakumar’s vigorous shots of urban scape, and
pitch-perfect performances from the ensemble cast. Writer/director Nithilan
shows a penchant for placing the scenarios between dark humor and utter
bleakness. In the opening scene, we see a middle-aged man talking on phone,
singing a song, and chewing tobacco as well as spitting to one side. As
the camera gradually zooms out, we perceive the distressing nature of the
setting. The man named Ekambaram (PL Thennapan) is a timber mill owner (from
Tanjore) who is also engaged in the illegal business of smuggling precious
Hindu god statues. His spit actually lands on a bounded police officer who
seems to have stumbled upon Ekambaram’s contraband dealings. The fate of the
guy in uniform is easily guessable. However, the sensibilities that went into
staging this simple ‘villain or MacGuffin’ introduction scene are intriguing.
Furthermore, this confrontation leads to the introduction of a character, so
contrary to Ekambaram: Sundaram (Bharathiraja), a naïve family man and a
friend/trusted worker (in the timber mill) of Ekambaram.
The plot kicks-in when the 5 crore rupee worth statue needs
to be delivered to Chennai (from Tanjore). In a parallel narrative, we have
Kathir (Vitharth), Sundaram’s son who works as a call-taxi driver in Chennai. He
randomly encounters a middle-aged man in the bus stop, carrying the
aforementioned locked travel bag. The middle-aged guy is talking to his wife in
mobile about arranging money for his daughter’s marriage. A pickpocket (Sekar)
who wants to score big overhears the conversation and snatches the bag. Kathir
runs after him and eventually nabs the guy. He brings back the bag, but to his
dismay, he couldn’t find the stranger in bus-stop. Then the narrative cuts to
recent past (2 days before) when Sundaram hops aboard a bus to Chennai with the
same travel bag, as per Ekambaram’s instructions. Sundaram has now gone
missing. The narrative moves between the recent past and the present where
group of characters search for this coveted monkey-face bag. As the sketchy
past adds to our perception of the present, we become uncertain about what’s
actually inside the locked bag.
What’s interesting about Nithilan’s direction is his brief
visual detours, stuffed with spectacular details. Take for example, the staging
of the conversation between police inspector and disquieted gypsy couple,
Nithilan plays with our judgment of the scenario. Then there’s a shot of cat
with newborn kittens, confined to police station’s dirty storeroom, the shot of
a goon’s kid imitating her father’s action, the capturing of familiar domestic
squabbles, the shot of a broken ceiling fan at the police station, the details
that goes to describe the pickpocket’s angst. A lot of these visuals don’t have
any direct impact over the story. But these barrages of tiny, bewitching
details ably study the oppressive, societal space, which really has a hold over
the characters’ erratic decisions. I hope Mr. Nithilan retains this
extraordinary gift of gazing at societal atmosphere in his future projects too.
Similar to Maanagaram, Kurangu Bommai too demands us to
accept certain level of implausibility (suspension of disbelief) to fully
engage with the narrative. The inexplicable number of coincidences mostly works
in favor of propelling the plot. However, the one sub-plot that could have been
easily substituted or done away with is cutesy romance between Kathir and Viji
(Delna Davis). The out-of-place romance and the ensuing song wreak havoc to the
film’s otherwise serious race against time and emotions. The commercial value
of this cute sub-plot is understandable but it slackens the tension of
tightrope situation, failing to prepare us for the ultimately grave ending. Maanagaram also
had to succumb to similar commercial values, but that generally had a hopeful
tone and happily rounded off the culmination of hyperlinks. Considering the
memorably distressing final twist in this film, Kathir and Viji’s exchanges
seem very meek. The other problem is Kathir’s characterization. It’s a bit dry
and doesn’t have the overreaching arc unlike the other characters.
Bharathiraja’s Sundaram and the other two villain characters are well-rounded
or complex compared to do-gooder Kathir. Moreover, Kathir’s final act although
has the perfect shocking factor, on hindsight appears highly farfetched.
Despite playing an under-written character, Vitharth does a
reasonably good job in playing Kathir (it is also commendable how the actor is
associating himself with sensible projects – previously played lead roles in
critically acclaimed Kuttrame Thandanai & Oru Kidayin Karunai Manu).
Nevertheless, Veteran director Bharathiraja, Thenappan, and Elango Kumaravel
somehow manages to steal the show from Vitharth’s protagonist. Kumaravel, who
often plays good guy roles in Prakash Raj-Radha Mohan productions, astoundingly
plays the humanized yet casually brutal villain Sekar, who is lot obsessed with
Cricket. A lot of incredible thought has gone into the realization of this
diabolical character (the only thing that felt unnecessary about the character
is the brief break into out-of-tune satirical song towards the end).
Trailer
Kurangu Bommai (105 minutes) is a compelling, hard-hitting thriller
that overcomes its flaws and implausibility factor with directorial finesse and
quality performances.
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