Baaram Review
Star Cast : Raju, Sugumar, Jayalakshmi
Director : Priya Krishnasamy
Director Priya Krishnasamy's Baaram is a hard-hitting film on patricide practised in villages in south Tamil Nadu. It is about ‘Thalaikoothal’, traditional form of senicide. If you ask if Baaram is for the regular mainstream moviegoers? The treatment is documentary style so it may not be everyone's cup of tea but Priya's film is relevant and her voice must reach everyone.
Karuppasamy (R Raju) is self-dependant apartment security who gels well with his sister's family and nephews more than his selfish son. Karuppasamy has already transferred his properties to his son Senthil (SuPa Muthukumar) so he is no longer taking care of his dad. An unexpected accident causes a severe back injury to Karuppasamy and doctors advise immediate surgery.
But Senthil prefers to take care of his dad in his native village. A few days later, Karuppasamy dies. At the funeral, Karuppasamy's nephews come to know that their uncle was murdered by his son and daughter-in-law.
Among the nephews, one named Veera (Sugumar Shanmugham) is a do-gooder and fights against the irregularities in the society; his character has been portrayed as a communist. Veera takes the alleged murder of his uncle to cops; he even mails to some of the leading media outlets. A sting operation conducted by a leading media house reveals that many elderly men and women were murdered in the name of 'Thalaikoothal' in the same village and it is happening in various places across Tamil Nadu.
As said earlier, the documentary flavour prevails throughout the film. Some of the actors are so natural while a few of them struggle to emote. For example, Sugumar, Karuppasamy's sister(Jayalakshmi), and Raju are excellent while the actress who played as the daughter-in-law of Karuppasamy and even Muthukumar, the son sound too dramatic.
The scenes where Raju was taken to and fro from the hospital to the village would melt even stone heart; his pain and agony were passed to the audiences perfectly that we couldn't see his suffering and have to close our eyes in a few sequences. On the downside, the son and daughter-in-law can't be black, it would've been better of the director tried to establish them in the grey-shaded zone. There is no back story to why the father is ill treated by his only son.
Overall, Baaram scores with its message and hard-hitting tone and it is clear that the film was made like an art house one with a running time of 91 minutes aimed at festival audiences. The film would have been far better if the characterizations and performances were better. All ready director Madhumita had come out with KD on the same subject which could strike a better chord as the story had the heart in the right place.
