Sometimes, all a film needs is an interesting setting and its story’s organic growth to keep us engaged. Of course, we’re just as interested in the lives of the residents of Pudhupettai or Chennai 600028 , but these places add those cushy layers to the film’s fabric, transporting us to a world full of traditions, food habits and the local lingo.
The Rangoon in the title of this week’s Gautham Karthik-starrer seemed just as promising. We’re shown children playing chinlone in the lush green fields of 1980s Rangoon as the film opens, even as their mothers, faces painted with thanaka , go about their daily routine. It really sets the mood for a story about an Indian family living there and their little joys and sorrows.
- Director: Rajkumar Periasamy
- Cast: Gautham Karthik, Sana, Siddique
- Storyline: A man must smuggle gold into Yangon to save his boss.
Or so we think. Even as the title credits roll, we’re shown the same family returning to North Chennai, where the stage is set for another kind of sub-culture. In Chennai’s Burma Colony, kids of Tamil-speaking refugees still play chinlone and their feasts are as much about atho and kauk sew as it is about biryani .
Almost an hour into the film and we realise how little we learn about the main characters. Much of the first half is spent indulging in its setting. Which is a crime, given how the film’s trying to juggle not one, but two elaborate sub-plots — one involving a botched-up kidnapping and another about an elaborate smuggling route between India and Yangon.
Given the little time spent exploring the characters, protagonist Venkat’s (Gautham Karthik) nallavana kettavana conflict seems as silly as the heroine’s ambition to become a reality show star. How does one relate to such a deep existential quandary of a character we hardly know? Why should one feel bad for Venkat’s best friend, when we’re hardly shown how important he is to him?
The problem with Rangoon is not that it has too little to say (like it is with most of our films). This is a case where the director has combined ideas for three or four films into one elaborate watch, never giving space for characters to develop, for the twists to work, hoping the setting will take care of everything.
Published - June 09, 2017 08:09 pm IST
