Jottings - Slice of life - 435 - ( The art behind short stories and movie anthologies, and the failure of “Paava Kathaigal” to find its mark)
Writing a short story can be much more challenging than crafting a full-length novel. As Clifton Fadiman, the acclaimed anthologist and writer, wrote in the preface to his magnificent collection of short stories published in 1986: “A good short story has to be a masterpiece in miniature”. Rarely in literature would you find a writer adept at both the forms: A James Joyce, a GK Chesterton, an E. M. Foster - perhaps. They were exceptions and not the rule. The art of condensing an interesting slice of life, encapsulating a symbolic moment within a few pages, etching out a character with a few broad strokes of one’s pen, the necessity to set the stage, progress the story, and conclude it with sufficient aesthetic release within a limited span of words — needs a very specific set of literary and storytelling skills. Great writers, generally, early in their art, get a feel for the form that suits them best and stick to it. Some of them, occasionally make forays into other forms, only as a diversion and not to add to their main corpus of work. Writers like Chekhov, Henry, Guy de massapant, excelled in the short form. They were able to administer concentrated does of literary delight and meaning within a few pages of a story, and were never serious about longer versions of their art. They knew what they did best and stuck to it.
I wrote the above paragraph about form in written literature, only to contrast it with the world of cinema. Somehow movie directors have never understood this basic fact that making a movie anthology is different from making a longer one. Almost all the great directors have attempted some kind of anthology. Just to clarify, a movie anthology is a name given to a cinematic work by a chosen group of directors who collaborate on a theme, with each director contributing a short story within the broader canvas of the theme. This has never worked in the cinema. As an example, In 1986, three quintessentially New York directors - Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola, and Woody Allen – collaborated on a movie containing stories based on the city of New York attempting to present a rounded view of the city’s eclectic lifestyle. There was a big hype about the project considering the names involved. However, the outcome was disappointing and the movie disappeared without a trace from the viewer’s minds and the theaters. None of the three great directors were anywhere close to their creative best. There are many such instances of cinema anthologies failing to hit their mark, but I guess I have made my point with one, and it should suffice to indicate the futility of making anthologies even with the best of directors participating in the project.
“Paava Kathaigal” or “ Tales of sin” is an anthology by four popular directors from south India - Sudha Kongara, Vignesh Sivan, Gautam Menon, and Vetrimaaran. This series is now showing on Netflix. This is the second Tamil anthology on Netflix in the last four months. The other one was “Putham pudhu kaalai” which came out a little earlier. The less said about this one the better. Let me focus on “Paava Kathaigal”. This movie is about sins against the essence of womanhood. All four stories are an attempt to showcase the social and cultural taboos that strike at the root of modernity and inclusiveness. The first episode is about a transgender who sacrifices himself to the wrath of the village while helping his friend and sister elope; the second story is on the nature of casteism and honor killings, caricatured to the extent one wonders what is the broader purpose of the story; the third one — by Gautam Menon — attempts to portrait the psychological trauma that befalls a family after one of their young children returns home brutalized, and the last episode by Director Vetrimaaran is about the cold-blooded murder of an unborn child as retribution against a daughter who dared to marry out of custom.
Firstly, this anthology is a depressing watch during the holiday season. The year 2020 has already turned out as a year of great tragedy and personal trauma to many, and the last thing we want is our entertainment businesses showcasing the appalling evils and double standards of our society in the most chilling terms. With a little common sense, the producers could have waited for a little while longer before subjecting the viewers to these agony-filled tales of sorrow -—that only manages to leave the viewer with a squirming sense of distress and unease.
Secondly, at least two of the four directors in the anthology shouldn’t be making anthologies. They should make more films to understand the craft better before experimenting with new techniques. The difference between a full-length movie and a thirty-minute episode in a movie anthology is not just one of length, but of substance. Of the four, Gautam Menon's episode on child rape succeeds in bringing out the crisscrossing currents of emotional disruption and suppressed anger such an incident could precipitate; and to a certain extent, Vetrimaran’s piece of family retribution does so too. But the other two are mere superficial attempts to say something useful without knowing how?
Thirdly, actors have to be cast with care in short stories. There isn’t much time for warming up. Right from the word go, they must come out all guns blazing and quickly get into the skin of the character. The reason why Gautam Menon’s and Vetrimaaran’s stories manage to muster some brownie points is due to the fact it is powered by good actors who understand the format well and bring into their performance a nuanced sensitivity right from the first shot. In Gautam’s piece, Simran, the yesteryear glamour queen ( an actor whose fine acting performances, unfortunately, often went unnoticed or underrated) captures the subtle and gross shades of the trauma a mother undergoes when she is caught between shame, embarrassment, anger, and love. And in Vetrimaaran’s piece, Prakash Raj and Sai Pallavi act out their characters with as much authenticity as the screenplay allows.
Watching this anthology with Indian womanhood as the theme, I was reminded of another television anthology in the early nineties, directed by the young Suhasini Maniratnam titled “Penn”. The series consisted of eight short episodes about emerging modern womanhood in India. Brilliantly executed with a stellar cast and technicians ( Ilayaraja and Thotta tharani were part of the team), Penn represented the moods and aspirations of a liberated India - both culturally and economically. Unfortunately “Penn” is not available on youtube, and I think the state television owns the right to it. Each episode of that series is etched in my mind. The directorial finesse, the brilliance of the likes of Shobhana, Amala, and Bhanupriya, and all the other actors who contributed to the stories, clearly stand out as a blueprint of how an anthology should be made. Tight stories, with a simple and directed message; and the portrayal of women, not as victims, but as victors and equal participants in the changing landscape of their lives — was uplifting and satisfying to watch.
“Paava Kathaigal”, in summary, is perhaps not what it was intended to be. The four stories end up painting a rather bleak vision of the social status of women in India, and the irrelevance of the choices they make. While we know women in India, especially in the rural areas are not as emancipated as others; and our movies, literature, and art, for decades now, have drawn on their oppression and immobility, what we, therefore, hope to see from younger directors with a more egalitarian view of society, is how our women can meet and surmount these atrophied customs and social structures. In all four, the story ends tragically with moral platitudes and vague questions. ( In one of them, the end of the story is so comical following a tragic sequence of events, that it makes a mockery of the story as a whole).
Do I recommend “Paava Kathaigal”? The above paragraphs may suggest that I don’t. But that is not my intention. Pls, do watch it, if you must, and form your own judgments. There are some good clinical performances by a couple of actors, and some spine chilling acts of retribution. Other than that I couldn’t derive any meaning or purpose behind the effort.
God bless…
yours in mortality,
Bala
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