Nine Emotions of Lacklustre
Anthologies being in the trend nowadays, can be seen in several languages. One of them is Navarasa created by Mani Ratnam in Tamil language depicting the nine emotions or rasa. The nine different stories represent the emotions of compassion, laughter, wonder, disgust, peace, anger, fear, valour, and romance in that order.
Firstly, let us just talk about each story briefly. The first story of compassion was beautifully directed by Bejoy Nambiar with a simple script and a powerhouse of an acting by Revathi. The second story of laughter was directed by Priyadarshan. Unfortunately, the whole episode was a slapstick comedy filled with toilet jokes that was not at all funny. This was not expected from a director who has given us such unforgettable comedies in the past.
The story related to the emotion of wonder was directed by Kartick Naren and it was superbly scripted with a sci-fi theme. Although the ending could have been crispier, the overall performance and idea behind the story was well thought and essentially executed.
Vasanth directed the story on disgust that was quite relatable and straightforward. The setting of the episode and the acting of all the characters was perfect for the story. The next story on peace was directed by Karthik Subbaraj that ironically showed a warfront. The idea was good but the execution lacked powerful dialogues and good acting.
The story on anger was the best episode in this anthology. It was a surprise for me when I came to know that it was directed by Arvind Swami. The film had good actors, fine dialogues, and superb direction with a convincing ending. The editing of this episode throughout was nothing but a result of good direction. Glad to see two different faces of Arvind Swami in this series of anthology.
Siddharth’s acting in the story for fear is flawless. The episode directed by Rathindran R. Prasad showed the fallacies of human nature resulting in fear. The concept was well written and the music by Vishal Bhardwaj created a good impact on the narrative.
The second last episode on valour was directed by Sarjun KM showing the battles of a soldier and the bravery of his family. The ideation of the episode was not up to the mark and the acting was not at all convincing.
Finally, let’s come on to the last story of the anthology that was about romance and was directed by Gautham Vasudev Menon. The episode had a strong protagonist in Surya but the story lacked emotions and influential dialogues. The movie that dragged on for about half an hour seemed to have nothing to offer in terms of plot or story. Being a musical story, the songs were also not that memorable.
In a nutshell, although the idea behind the anthology was noble, none of the episodes were as brilliant as it was anticipated. It is a disaster to waste such talented artists. For the blandness and lack of rasa in the episodes, I give the anthology only two stars.