Language: Tamil
Directors: Sudha Kongara Prasad, Vignesh Sivan, Gautham Vasudev Menon, Vetrimaaran
Writers: Shan Karuppusamy, Vignesh Sivan, Gautham Vasudev Menon, Vetrimaaran
Cast: Kalidas Jayaram, Shanthanu Bhagyaraj, Anjali, Simran, Prakash Raj
Genre: Drama
Imdb: Paava Kadhaigal (2020)
(translated to Sin Stories)
Streaming on Netflix.
Paava Kadhaigal or stories of sins, is a Tamil anthology of stories that explore the concepts of honour in the name of caste and sins executed for preserving it.
Thangam
Thangam is a heart-wrenching story of a transgender person, Sathaar who is in love with his childhood friend Saravanan and cannot wait to marry him. Sathaar is heartbroken when Saravanan tells him that he loves his sister. Although Sathaar initially tries to break their bond, he realises that it would make them happy if he doesn’t. He sacrifices his wishes to ensure they are able to live together. Kalidas Jayaram, plays the role of Sathaar, which surely is his best performance till date. He portrays the emotional trauma that the character goes through due to mistreatment of transgender people by the society, unacceptance and disownment from his family and rejection from the love of his life breathtakingly. This is a must-watch and is definitely my favourite from the director, Sudha Kongara.
Love Panna Uttranum
Love Panna Uttranum is the one movie on a lighter note in the anthology. The movie starts with an introduction to a village, where a particular leader marries couples from different castes who are in love with each other, but kills them at a later point. The story takes a different turn, when the two daughters of the leader reveal their lovers to him. The story has a little bit of everything from humour to honour killing to what seems like a same-sex relationship. Along with some great performances by Kalki Koechlin, Anjali and especially Jafeer Sadiq, the movie ends on a calmer note than the other stories.
Vaanmagal
Vaanmagal is a different path trodden by Gautham Vasudev Menon, who is best known for the genre of Romance. It is a story of a relationship between the members of a family (father, mother and 3 kids) following a traumatic incident that happens to one of them. The movie stuns us with mind-blowing performances from Gautham, Simran and especially Aangelina, who plays the role of the younger daughter.
Oor Iravu
Probably the most hard-hitting movie of the anthology, this movie is yet another gem from Vetri Maaran. Oor Iravu is about the relationship between a father and daughter, which had turned sour due to the daughter marrying someone of her own wish. The father wants to reconcile with his pregnant daughter and calls her back home to conduct a baby shower. The movie is a mix of compelling performances, especially by Sai Pallavi and Prakash Raj as well as a storytelling that starts beautifully and lingers with you even after you have finished the movie.
Verdict – 5/7 stars
Excellent.
Trivia
Kalki Koechlin makes her Tamil debut in this series, Kalki speaks fluent Tamil herself in her portion of the series.
The story of ‘Oor Iravu’ is foretold in the short film ‘Vaanmagal’ through a newspaper cutting.
The project was first planned to narrate the struggles of an aspiring filmmaker, then it got changed to an anthology of love stories which on request by director Vetrimaaran, later changed to be a cluster of short films depicting social issues.
The short film ‘Oor Iravu’ is based on a true life story.
Earlier directors were planning to name it “Sin Stories” but the Netflix team insisted on the Tamil title, hence it was finally named “Paava Kadhaigal”.
Hope Ur fav is “THANGAM”
Could understand from the reviews
superb
[…] automatically paving way for good hype and interest among the audience. But apart from a handful; Paava Kadhaigal and Ajeeb Daastans (Netflix), Puthum Pudhu Kaalai & Unpaused (Prime), most anthologies were […]