Review – Oru Kuppai Kadhai

Film: Oru Kuppai Kadhai
Director: Kali Rangasamy
Cast: Dinesh, Manisha Yadav, Sujo Mathew, Yogi Babu and others
Music: Joshua Sridhar
Cinematography: Mahesh Muthuswamy

Oru Kuppai Kadhai, director Kali Rangasamy’s debut film, is a hard-hitting, gripping story that is based on a real life incident. The film engages you right from scene one and keeps you thinking about it even long after it ends.

The film begins with Kumar(Dhinesh), a scavenger working with the Chennai Corporation’s Solid waste collection department, looking to find a suitable bride to wed. After a seven year long search, a wedding broker brings an alliance, which Kumar and his mother find appealing. The family of the bride, Poongodi (Manisha Yadav), resides in the beautiful hilly terrain of Valparai.

When Kumar, with his friends and family, goes to meet the bride’s family, the broker, who accompanies them, lies to the girl’s side about Kumar’s profession, saying he works as a clerk in an office. However, Kumar is unwilling to keep the bride’s family in the dark about his profession and so, calls the bride’s father aside and tells him all about his real profession. He tells the girl’s dad to find another suitable match for his daughter. However, the bride’s father, impressed with Kumar’s honesty, says he does not mind Kumar being a scavenger but asks him not to disclose the details of his job to his daughter as she will be unable to appreciate his sincerity. The girl’s father says he himself will tell his daughter about Kumar’s profession at the right time and that until then, Kumar must remain mum. Kumar hesitantly agrees and the wedding takes place.

Poongodi comes to her husband’s place in Chennai and is in for a shock. She finds the slum, with its dirty surroundings, revolting and a difficult place to stay after having stayed in a picturesque place like Valparai all her life. She adjusts and continues to live with her husband and his mother in their shanty, which is on the banks of the Coovam river. Life goes on peacefully for a while. Three months later, one day when Poongodi gets to know that she has conceived, she sees her husband collecting garbage. She turns livid with rage and begins hating her husband for having lied to her about his profession and starts throwing tantrums.

Kumar tries to point out that he had not lied to her parents but it was they who had asked him to maintain silence on the issue. Eventually, Kumar, his mother and her parents all pacify her. But she is not entirely convinced. She returns to her mother’s place for delivery. She delivers a child but then insists that she will not return to that dirty slum.

Kumar agrees to her conditions. To please his wife, he moves to a new costly apartment. He then brings back Poongodi to the new apartment. Their neighbour at the new place is Arjun (Sujo Mathew), a tall, well built, handsome IT professional who offers them a lot of help initially. Soon, Poongodi finds herself drawn to Arjun and begins to have an affair with him. At one point, she elopes with Arjun and her child, leaving behind a shattered Dhinesh.

What does Dhinesh do next? What happens to Poongodi and Arjun? Do the two ever get to meet again? All these questions and more are answered by Oru Kuppai Kadhai.

Director Kali Rangasamy must be congratulated for having made a hard hitting film on such an issue at a time when such incidents are becoming so rampant in society that it is fast becoming the norm. The film shows how a man, whose wife has eloped, suffers humiliation. In fact, there is a scene in the film, where Kumar falls at the feet of a watchman, who gets to know that his wife has eloped with Arjun, begging him not to disclose this to anybody else.

The shock and the pain his family and friends suffer as a result of Poongodi’s elopement is clearly and beautifully brought out in the film.

The film has some fine performances. The first of these comes from Manisha Yadav, who has done a fantastic job of playing Poongodi. Dhinesh, who is a dance choreographer and who turns hero with this film, has done justice to his role. He plays Kumar so convincingly that you almost forget that he has been a dance master and that this is the first time he is playing a hero. It is only when the songs come on that you realise that Dhinesh is actually a National Award winning dance choreographer.

Speaking of songs and dance, the film has some fantastic music by Joshua Sreedhar. All the songs are brilliant and Joshua, who scored the ever magical theme song of Kadhal, comes up with some really mellifluous tunes in this film to steal your heart again. The camera work of Mahesh Muthusamy also deserves praise. Yogi Babu as always impresses in the comedy department.

The film has just one problem and this is not something unique to just this film. The film attempts to narrate the story in such a way that the woman is made to appear as a victim, despite she having cheated on her husband. The tendency to absolve women of all and any responsibility of wrong doing, even when it is there for everyone to see, is something that Tamil film directors must seriously consider changing.

Other than that, Oru Kuppai Kadhai is exactly the opposite of what its title suggests. It is a gem of a story, told in all sincerity and earnestness. In other words, this film is a must watch!