Review | Mani Ratnam’s 'Navarasa': Nine star-studded stories that range from sublime to lame

(Image: screen grab)

I watched nine movies this afternoon, because they cannot be called anything else. Mani Ratnam’s Navarasa will bring back your belief in storytelling as you watch.

Nine stories, each offering a taste of one of nine enduring emotions is such a great way to bring brilliant actors, directors and cinematographers and, yes, storytellers under an umbrella.

Watch it before the wildfire on social media that cannot see forest for trees, tries to ban a story. Because it is perhaps the best one of the lot.

It’s called 'Fear'. The story of a very pretty woman opening the doors to a sweet-talking stranger is already the subject of many scary stories. Yet this one gets under your skin slowly, and insidiously. A man who’s come to seek a lady’s signature on some papers, tells her he will write her Haiku in calligraphy. Your internal alarm bells go off, but he’s having tea, sharing interesting tidbits about tea…

The fear that Siddarth manages to slowly instil in the audience’s minds as he begins to unravel the woman’s past is real. The story is so powerful, and the twist is so brilliantly written, it doesn’t matter if they are referring to a particular religious community. All religions have their own versions of ‘casting spells’ and tales of retribution. The story is titled 'Inmai', and it is justified in the title.

It was tough to topple the Revathi and Vijay Sethupathi story that comes first in the series, but fear won over ‘karuna’ or compassion. Hats doffed to Bejoy Nambiar for not letting a single emotion that Revathi can emote go to waste. She just gets better and better with every screen appearance. Vijay Sethupathi is an excellent foil to her luminous presence. He is dark and yet his inner dialogue is so amazing, you want more. But the screenplay is fine-tuned and there is not a single wasted moment.

Revathi teaches children at home and reacts to her husband’s guest with a little irritation (might remind you of mums who get fed up with providing tea and snacks to an endless visitors who want to sit down with dads). But when the visitor opens the door to reveal a crime, she is too stunned to say anything to the perpetrator. She lets him leave. Does not say a word even when family shows up.

Vijay Sethupathi cannot get why the wife did not scream or make a scene. He runs away to his grandma’s home, and in a very Shakespearan twist, has to face his demons. Who else but Prakash Raj can do justice to such a role? The conversation between Vijay and Prakash Raj is stunning. And yes, the rain of guilt that’s pouring down on him makes the scene even more intimate. He is compelled to come back to Revathi and the end of the story is a five handkerchief tale. I was too shaken to go on to the second story.

Fans of science-fiction often complain that we Indians don’t make good films in the genre. Well, they can eat crow now. ‘Adbhuta’ or the emotion of wonderment comes through in a super tale. Hard to believe that it was Arvind Swami that made a million girls swoon.  But I digress.

A reclusive scientist calls on a fellow scientist and attempts to explain how time exists in multi dimensions and shares with his friend the secret. From ‘I’ll have coffee,’ the conversation and demonstration makes you want to say, ‘I’ll have the whiskey now!’ The story is fun, especially the twist in the end.

Delhi Ganesh is so talented, you will fall in love with the story of ‘Veebhatsa’ or disgust. He plays a crotchety elder of a family who just cannot hide his disgust for his nephew who is rather well-to-do in the small town. He grumbles and talks to his dead wife, spewing all kinds of anger. How come his nephew has managed to get all his daughters married happily and lavishly, when his own daughter was married modestly and is now back after being widowed… That is just the start of his grudges. Delhi Ganesh just stands out in the crowd at his niece’s wedding. If you are one of those who hates needless crowds at weddings, people who have just come to feast even though they barely know the family, then this story will make you grin.

Santosh Sivan’s cinematography of Arvind Swami-directed 'Roudram' actually stuns. It is a really good story about anger. Whether it is the flower market, the impromptu goal in football, the cops beating up the young lad, or even the landlady’s house, the cinematography is eye-opening. How can a camera make such love to everything it captures?

For someone who will never lose a chance of watching Jane Austen’s romance movies, it felt awful to be fast-forwarding through songs with lines like, ‘She was the story of my life and now she’s just a line in my book,’ especially when the eternal heartthrob Suriya was singing the songs. But love songs are not a story, even when she disappears making sure they’re ‘pure’. 'Srinagar or Love' was what people describe as ‘meh’. And a reminder to all men out there: do not tell a woman that she talks like your mum. It’s so many levels of cringe right there!

The two stories about army men or soldiers at war depicting the emotion of Veera (bravery) and Shantih (peace) are the weakest of the bunch. Trying to save a puppy during war is so manipulative. The story about a lame student who becomes a famous funnyman and is honoured at his school reunion was supposed to be funny. It was just pathetic. Well, humour does fall flat, I guess.

Give me more stories like 'Karuna' instead, because the way Vijay Sethupathi says, ‘She saw my face, but I don’t think she saw me,’ stays with you longer than love songs played by my favourite superstar.