Kottukkaali movie review: PS Vinothraj, Anna Ben serve a triumph of independent story-telling

I’d asked the filmmakers if they would aim for the domestic theatrical circuit, given the earlier film’s fate. A hundred percent yes, said producer Kalai Arasu, and the film is out today. Do not miss it, if it’s playing anywhere near you, or seek and find it when it comes out on OTT: it is a triumph of independent story-telling, which refuses to call attention to its unmistakable style, while focussing on substance.

Anna Ben’s playing of Meena, who wields silence as a retaliatory weapon, is terrific. As is Soori’s Muthuchamy’s Pandi, whose mounting frustration at not getting his way — this is a man who is clearly used to doing whatever he wants, whenever he wants — keeps building till he lashes out with his fists, in an explosive sequence which leaves us shaken. The only one completely unmoved is Meena; as the camera takes in her bruised face, as well as her unbroken spirit, you know that this time around Pandi may have met his match. Or has he?

There are many strands left for us to unpack in ‘Kottukkaali’. It uses elements of a picaresque road-movie to shine a light on casteism, toxic masculinity, and damaging superstition: Meena is a ‘shameless, loose’ character both because she has dared to fall in love per se, as well as the fact that the man is from a ‘lower caste’. This has to be the work of an evil spirit, and the only way out is exorcism, which will beat the devil out of her.

We see Meena always surrounded by her family as well as Pandi’s aggreived sisters, as well as the relatives accompanying her on sputtering motorbikes through narrow country roads, with pit-stops at the shrine of the family deity and local hooch shops. The only time we see Meena on her own — a brief, dream-like sequence where she is looking back, presumably, at her lover — is also the only time we see her smile. The rest is given over to stoic, steadfast silence, which is louder than Pandi’s hoarse yelling.

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There’s a puzzling moment in the woods where we never quite understand what the director is getting at, which is perhaps the only time the film hits a dry patch. And occasionally you wish that the parallel drawn between a rooster with his legs tied and the girl with her will stamped upon, is not so rubbed in. Nothing else mars this film, which showcases, like in ‘Koozhangal’, Vinothraj’s superb use of the rural landscape—the rolling hillocks and trees standing, from time immemorial, as witnesses to these processions of unequal gender power-plays.

There’s also a welcome infusion of humour (watch out for a big bull and a small girl) which leavens the grimness. And while the film is from the man’s point of view, our gaze never strays far from the woman. Being adamant can be a good thing.

Kottukkaali movie cast: Anna Ben, Soori Muthuchamy
Kottukkaali movie director: P S Vinothraj
Kottukkaali movie rating: 3.5 stars