Often, voiceovers are used to explain a backstory or give an introduction to a character and are mostly considered lazy filmmaking. But Taramani has broken that jinx as the voiceovers by Ram receives thunderous applause in the theatre.
With women-centric being the trend in Tamil cinema now, the stories are usually that of an underdog who would end up becoming a ‘hero’ in her own rights. Director Ram, fortunately, has destroyed this notion and has given us the film about a woman who can be just another common person we know. In Taramani, we find a single mother who unknowingly yearns for love and an orthodox and conservative simpleton who is shattered due to a previous relationship-gone-wrong. When both get together, a few things go well and many things go wrong. Will they work things out in the end forms the crux. Sounds simple right? But when such a one-liner lands in the lap of a master story-teller who can write volumes about the emotions of a common man (and woman), it definitely will end up as a treat to watch.
Setting up the characters must be Ram’s favourite job as a filmmaker I suppose. Seiya sonna sethikuraaru manushan…. Andrea is a modern, free spirited, non-judgemental woman whose life revolves around her son. Vasanth Ravi, who sort of represents the majority of the men in our current society (from my perspective at least), prefers being the dominant sex. He doesn’t like her to get a message from her boss, celebrate birthday at office as her colleagues might hug her and expects the length of her skirt to be that of a saree. But Andrea responds with a middle finger to him figuratively and literally to a few other men who think her as ‘easy meat’ considering her liberal thoughts and actions.
Ram doesn’t just play around with their emotions as he makes us hate and love both the lead characters as he pleases. He also has a few subplots that later join the main story in a subtle manner without giving us an ‘omg, twist da’ moment. He should also be lauded for bringing in many issues such as demonetization, corporate culture and the issues surrounding it, how worthless the lives of animals and immigrants are considered, encroachment of water bodies and more. No matter which director lost hope on Yuvan, Ram is someone who has never let go of his collaboration with the musician and Yuvan too has given some enjoyable background score that sets the mood of the film neatly.
The second half though feels draggy and doesn’t match up to the flow of the first half. The lengthy runtime too feels obvious thanks to the genre of the film. But that said, Taramani isn’t for everyone. Overall, it’s yet another take on various human emotions and how they’re often misinterpreted in Ram’s own style which will make those who enjoy it, cherish.
My rating: 3.5/5
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