Navarasa will not leave you Ni-rasa :My quick take on Mani Ratham and company’s “Navarasa” (Netflix)
At the outset let me laud the efforts of all those who came forward in making this anthology of nine short films and pledge its income towards all those technicians and cine workers who work behind the scenes. As you are aware that the cine industry is worst affected during this pandemic lockdown, and such effort to ‘take care of many unsung heroes who work behind the scenes is indeed praiseworthy, take a bow, guys.
For a student of theater, a deep study of human emotions is a must. The sage Baharata’s Natyashastra talks about 8 such ‘rasa’s (the ninth one was added later). Even in Bharatanatyam, the Indian dance form has a unique blend of Bhava as well as rasa. Hence as a concept of making a collage of nine short films with each depicting one of the nine rasas (emotion) was indeed a wow concept. Secondly, this experiment has brought together so much of the hidden talent of the Tamil film industry (I am sure this must be just the tip of the iceberg as there would be many who could feature in season 2). Here you can see the work and contribution of directors like Bijoy Nambiar, Priyadarshan, Karthik Subbaraj, Karthick Naren, Actors like Revathi, Prakash raj, Nedumani venu, Arvind Swamy, Surya, and Music directors like AR Rahman & Vishal Bhardwaj
Though the concept and idea behind the making of this anthology was good, what about the final product? In my view out of these nine short films, only a few impressed me, the rest were just ok.
Movies which impressed me were as follows
Project Agni (Adbbuta rasa) – A well-made science fiction that can make Nolan feel proud. Talented Arvind Swami plays a scientist and who cracks the code which allows him to travel between his conscious to sub-conscious minds. All the necessary ingredients of this Adhbhuta rasa namely the intrigue and shock are very aptly displayed in the plot. However, I was not pleased with the names of characters in the plot (Vishnu, Krishna & Kalki) it was more of an ‘iconoclastic’ affair I felt.
Inmai (Bhayanaka rasa) – It’s a ‘kind’ of a horror movie, not exactly like a blood-sucking vampire movie nor you will see zombie-like creatures here, yet the maker R Prasad can keep the audience on the edge of their seat. Siddharth & Parvathy have done a fantastic job in this movie.
Movies which were disappointing for me were as follows...
Summer of ’92 (hasya Rasa) – Priyadarshan directed movie is supposed to be a comedy / humorous movie but ended up more like a suspense movie where the audience kept searching for ‘humor’.
Thinintha Pin (Veer rasa) – This Mani Ratham written movie was all about the valor of a CRPF commando who is on an anti-Naxalite mission. However, the movie was not able to establish the valor of this soldier (it is shown that the soldier stays away from the action) while it ends up showing him on a losing side.
Other movies were just ok, rather I would call them “arty shorty movies”. The edhiri (karuna rasa) had an awesome ensemble of a cast of likes of Revathi, Sethupathi Vijay & Prakash raj, yet the plot was very weak. The Peace (Shanta rasa), here too the Jagme Thandiram director Karthik subbraj who displayed his weakness towards the Elam cause and has set this plot against the backdrop of Elam war. You can also see Arvind Swami donning the directors' cap and he has directed Roudram (anger rasa) and ended up making a short masala movie. Other movies are Payasam (Vibhista rasa) and Guitar kambi mele Nindru (Sringaar rasa).
One good thing which is common in these movies is exemplary camera work and locations (especially in payasam & summer of ’92), plus the background score of each movie is unique and will haunt you. The performances of each actor are simply awesome.
Overall it may not be binge-watch worthy, but worth a watch. The Navarasa will not leave you Ni-rasa.
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