Back in 2015, Malaysian Tamil film “Jagat” sent ripples across the local movie industry, since it changed the competition rules at the Malaysia Film Festival awards, which did not previously allow films from minorities' languages to compete, eventually winning the Best Malaysian Film Award, while some years later, it also found its road to Netflix. Now, in 2021, another rather ambitious Malaysian Tamil movie is released, which seems to follow similar, genre paths, although the differences between the two are rather significant.
“Paramapatham” review is part of the Submit Your Film Initiative
Four friends, archaeologist Aroon, journalist Jayakanth, Ganesh, and cheerful and plump Kumar are inseparable, always spending time together, joking and talking about their problems. Ganesh in particular, is in love with a very rich girl, whose father however, does not want to hear much of him, for being rather poor and unemployed. One day, after an instigation by his profession, Aroon suggests to the other three to go for an adventure in the hills outside of the city, in a place that seems to have archaeological significance. While there, they start exploring an abandoned 18th century British Hotel. Aroon stumbles upon an ancient board game of Snakes and Ladders and the four friends decide to play a round. As it gets darker, however, they decide to leave it unfinished although Aroon takes the board and the box that contained it with him to investigate further. However, they soon find their lives changing in peculiar ways, while a local gangster, Vajra, who eventually is revealed to share a connection with Ganesh's “father-in-law”, gets involved with them in the worst way.
There is being ambitious and there is being too ambitious. Unfortunately, Thanesh and Viknes Perrabu's effort has definitely fallen under the second category, mostly due to the extravagant plethora of cinematic styles and elements they have included in the film. In that fashion, the narrative includes aspects of crime, (supernatural) horror, and romantic film and even a bit of martial arts, musical, and road movie elements. Technically, it includes the swooshing editing style of Guy Richie, extensive film speed manipulation, flashbacks, SFX, panoramic views with sudden zoom-ins, and music video aesthetics among others, with the combination of all of them making the movie function as something between a cinematic exercise and a complete mess.
Furthermore, and expectedly, the script goes in a number of directions, most of which remain unfulfilled or appear utterly illogical, with the same applying to the majority of the characters, who are analyzed rather epidermically. Furthermore, the fact that each of the four protagonists seems to embody a certain archetype (the joker, the scientist, the lover, the cool) definitely works against the narrative, which becomes rather cliched after a fashion, with the same applying to the way the (very obvious) twist unfolds. Lastly, the presentation of the “father-in-law” is quite bad, with his arc going too far, essentially seeming like it was picked directly from a TV-show, while his overall appearance, including the wig (?) borders on the ridiculous.
Even if the film does not make much sense as a whole, individually, there is a lot to like. The chemistry among Thanesh Perrabu, Risheekeshan, Pavitran, and Sasivaroobhan is excellent, with them functioning very well every time they are all together, in a number of different types of screens. The one who steals the show regarding the acting, however, is the other co-director, Viknes Perrabu, both for his acting and his overall presence as Vajra. Furthermore, Jeghatheswaran's cinematography is impressive on occasion, with the panoramic shots in particular being rather memorable, as is the case with the whole presentation of the game board, where the SFX aspects truly shines. Thanesh Perrabu's editing induces the film with a welcome sense of speed, although a number of scenes could have been left out.
Thanesh and Viknes Perrabu seem to have significant cinematic talent, in a variety of movie aspects. However, the need to realize what they want to do with their movies is more than palpable, because “Paramapatham” ends up being a collection of ideas held together by a very thin central story than a compact movie, which, in the end, makes the movie very difficult to watch.
