At the ongoing Mumbai film festival, I happened to catch the screening of Angammala film inspired by a short story, titled, Where are you?penned by renowned writer Perumal Murugan. Set in a rural village in Tamil Nadu of the 1990s, Angammal is a rollercoaster ride of emotions. The richly layered narrative that follows the life and times of Angammal (played by Geetha Kailasam), a commanding mother of two grown-up sons who ride the bike as she goes around delivering milk to the entire village; she smokes, dons a tattoo on her right arm, chills and lives life on her own terms. She’s the boss lady who packs in her tall and imposing self, an unbridled energy and vivacity that is most evident in those who know exactly what they’re doing and wouldn’t like to be told what to do. She’s an annoying, nagging and a monster of a mother-in-law who takes pleasure in treating her elder son’s wife with disdain, humiliation and an iron’s fist. Her sense of self is most evident in her choice of not pairing her saree with a blouse, which her younger son, Pavalam, a newly minted doctor finds unacceptable.
This conflict between the mother and the son is at the heart of the film’s nuanced writing and direction, both of which are by Vipin Radhakrishnan, of Ave Maria (2021) fame, who makes sure the viewer remains with the flow, at all times.
Sharply directed and crisply edited, the film touches several aspects that find themselves at a crossroads between the individual and the society, the self and the community and more significantly, the self and its higher subconsciousness. When Pavalam decides to get married to a woman who is educated, city-bred and hails from a family that is much wealthier than his own, he expects his mother to adapt and change her ways; wear a blouse to begin with, in order to seem dignified, presentable and cultured. Angammal beautifully portrays her sense of identity when she explains her granddaughter her hesitance towards the blouse, “it will hide my tattoo,” she says with a child-like charm, that brings heartbreaking emotions to life, making even the script’s contrivances feel natural. Her eyes alone are evocative, like flickering bulbs fighting to stay lit.
“The basic storyline and characters remain the same as in the original story. However, I have taken the liberty to modify the characterisations and adapt them for a more cinematic narrative,” says Radhakrishnan, in an interview with THE WEEK. The filmmaker’s choice for casting Geeta Kailasam, known for her performances in the acclaimed boxing drama Sarpatta Parambarai (2021), political drama Mother (2023) and the anthology series Navarasa (2021), was locked upon watching her performance in the anthology series Navarasa, Sarpatta Parambarai and Natchathiram Nagargiradhusays the director. “She was very natural and the screen presence she commanded was really impressive in all her performances,” he adds.
The joy of watching Angammal also comes from its brilliant cinematography that captures the hinterlands of rural Tamil Nadu beautifully to bring to the city-bred viewer, the joy and monotony of rural living. The screenplay is grounded in reality – the way Angammal dresses up and portrays her fake self when Pavalam’s to-be in laws visit their home, seems as if we are actually watching someone go through their inner struggle for real. Each and every character arc is beautifully carved out by portraying the rich inner life and a breathtakingly kinetic physicality of each person, to the extent that as a viewer you’d want to form opinions the moment you meet them.
Radhakrishnan feels the “pacing of the film could have been better”, given that after a point in the second half towards the end, the film feels a bit stretchy and slow. But in the end, and long after it’s over, Angammal remains with you, nudging you to get up and kickstart the bike and chill, with a swag.
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