Director: Arvind Swami
Navarasa, an anthology created by Mani Ratnam and Jayendra Panchapakesan has brought together 9 directors and a huge star cast to convey 9 different stories, 9 different emotions. The sixth episode Raudra tells the story of the crippling poverty that has thrown a family into disarray. The episode presents the relevant issues, anger and the impact the existing wealth gap creates among the suppressed community of people.
The story starts with a young boy hitting a man with a hammer and he is under police custody. On the other hand, the story follows a police investigator; we assume we are following the same timeline, but it turns out she is the sister of the boy who hit the older man.
Arul dreams a happy, peaceful life with his mother. Arul has a younger sister named Anbu, who aspires to rise above her circumstances and make something of her life. He ends up assaulting a man in the daylight as he finds out his mother is offering sexual services to the man as the family needs money for their survival. Arul carries the rage even before this incident, he is shown bashing his mother when she points out his similarity with his father who abandoned the family.
Arul with his mom and sister
Anbu discovered the truth behind her mother’s income within minutes after her brother. Anbu who is shown nerdy, ambitious and playful initially grows up into stubborn and angry woman. Anbu, the anger that she started to feel all those years ago hasn’t gone away and is directed at herself. She knows that everything her mother did was for her family and deeply resents herself for it. Her self-loathing is so enormous and all-consuming. The rage gets built within her, this gets reflected in her job years later also it didn’t allow her to see her mother who is in her deathbed.
Anbu grows into an angry young woman
The red hues, lighting and expressions set the exact mood of the story. Santhosh Shivan’s cinematography wowed us as the red tone is carried throughout the episode. The emotion worked very well, the cast ensemble is spectacular. Arvind Swami’s directional debut coupled with dialogues by Madhan Karky and Selva make the episode an intriguing watch. AR Rahman as always held us with his background score and music. Put together the episode built ‘Raudra’ – anger among the audience.
Check out the detailed Navarasa review here!
