When it comes to the topic of protecting one's own Pride,Honour and dignity ,human beings are selfish and show their true colours even though they pretend to be 'united' and 'secular'.Paava Kadhaigal tells the devastating stories of four different incidents with the same core theme of protecting one's Pride,Honor and Dignity and how these four families would go to any extent to protect them.
"Thangam" ,the first segment directed by Sudha Kongara is a hard hitting one, the emotional story of Sathaar,a transgender played by Kalidas Jayaram will leave you devastated. Set in 1981 Coimbatore ,the period was perfect and very convincing for the story.Shanthanu does a neat job as Saravanan,all the characters were seemingly real.The direction,score,visuals,writing all were top notch.The only negative I found was that the ending was pretty disturbing and dark ,for an extremely sensitive person like me would weep in the corner crying and thinking about Sathaar .My rating for My rating-4.75/5
"Love Panna Uttranum", The second segment directed by Vignesh Shivan feels like a 35 minute scene taken from the middle of a movie.This is more of a dark comedy type which is not my cup of tea,but it was not too bad.The segment was entertaining in its own way.The dwarf character was really hilarious and probably the only saving element of the segment.Anjali and Kalki does a pretty decent job as a lesbian pair fighting for their father to accept them.The writing was witty and emotional in equal portions.The characters were half baked and some characters were directly inspired like the rapper Bhavani was an exact copy of Snoop Dogg.Overall it was enjoyable. My rating-3.25/5
"Vaanmagal",directed by Gautham Vasudev Menon.A middle class family's dilemma when their pre-teen daughter is kidnapped and physically abused by her brother's college mate,the segment then progresses on how the family reacts to the incidents and its aftermath .GVM has done a fair job in directing and portraying the emotions of a heartbroken father at the same time. Simran's performance as an orthodox Tamil mother was the main highlight of the segment along with other actors who has done their part with full dedication. Simran's character 'Mathi' tries to inculcate her values into her daughter,"Your body is like a temple and you must learn to protect it" is what she teaches her daughter.GVM's segment is something where I had high expectations but it slightly disappointed me especially towards the end .The score, visuals and dialogues were situational but the only negative I felt was that the tension shown in the movie was not seemingly believable and the climax was abrupt and aimless.Overall watch it for the story and performances My rating-3.75/5
"Oor Iravu" ,directed by Vetrimaaran.The best among the four and the most 'disturbing' segment.Estranged from her family, Sumathi a now pregnant woman elopes with a man of different caste against her family's will.Her father brings her home to put up a baby shower function, the events following her arrival in her family home remains the crux of the story.Sai Pallavi and Prakash Raj has done a fabulous job in making the characters seem believable .The scenes where Sumathi gets poisoned and begs for help will really churn your stomach and make you cry.Vetrimaran - A level 999 master in his craft has molded out an intense,gut-wrenching and disturbing segment which has some incredible performances,fast paced storytelling,thrilling score and portrays a very dark side of our society . My rating -5/5
"Thangam" ,the first segment directed by Sudha Kongara is a hard hitting one, the emotional story of Sathaar,a transgender played by Kalidas Jayaram will leave you devastated. Set in 1981 Coimbatore ,the period was perfect and very convincing for the story.Shanthanu does a neat job as Saravanan,all the characters were seemingly real.The direction,score,visuals,writing all were top notch.The only negative I found was that the ending was pretty disturbing and dark ,for an extremely sensitive person like me would weep in the corner crying and thinking about Sathaar .My rating for My rating-4.75/5
"Love Panna Uttranum", The second segment directed by Vignesh Shivan feels like a 35 minute scene taken from the middle of a movie.This is more of a dark comedy type which is not my cup of tea,but it was not too bad.The segment was entertaining in its own way.The dwarf character was really hilarious and probably the only saving element of the segment.Anjali and Kalki does a pretty decent job as a lesbian pair fighting for their father to accept them.The writing was witty and emotional in equal portions.The characters were half baked and some characters were directly inspired like the rapper Bhavani was an exact copy of Snoop Dogg.Overall it was enjoyable. My rating-3.25/5
"Vaanmagal",directed by Gautham Vasudev Menon.A middle class family's dilemma when their pre-teen daughter is kidnapped and physically abused by her brother's college mate,the segment then progresses on how the family reacts to the incidents and its aftermath .GVM has done a fair job in directing and portraying the emotions of a heartbroken father at the same time. Simran's performance as an orthodox Tamil mother was the main highlight of the segment along with other actors who has done their part with full dedication. Simran's character 'Mathi' tries to inculcate her values into her daughter,"Your body is like a temple and you must learn to protect it" is what she teaches her daughter.GVM's segment is something where I had high expectations but it slightly disappointed me especially towards the end .The score, visuals and dialogues were situational but the only negative I felt was that the tension shown in the movie was not seemingly believable and the climax was abrupt and aimless.Overall watch it for the story and performances My rating-3.75/5
"Oor Iravu" ,directed by Vetrimaaran.The best among the four and the most 'disturbing' segment.Estranged from her family, Sumathi a now pregnant woman elopes with a man of different caste against her family's will.Her father brings her home to put up a baby shower function, the events following her arrival in her family home remains the crux of the story.Sai Pallavi and Prakash Raj has done a fabulous job in making the characters seem believable .The scenes where Sumathi gets poisoned and begs for help will really churn your stomach and make you cry.Vetrimaran - A level 999 master in his craft has molded out an intense,gut-wrenching and disturbing segment which has some incredible performances,fast paced storytelling,thrilling score and portrays a very dark side of our society . My rating -5/5