Super Deluxe is Kumararaja's second feature, eight years after his arresting 'neo-noir' thriller Aaranya Kaandam (Anima and Persona, 2010;
Illustration/Uday Mohite
Can you even imagine an Indian film that starts with 'I am a Disco Dancer' playing during a scene of death by orgasm (yes!); has a boy's father disappear, only to return years later, as a transwoman in a sari — and yet, ends up as a deeply philosophical film? Thiagarajan Kumararaja's Super Deluxe, which he has written, directed and produced in Tamil, socks us in the solar plexus with its sheer brilliance. It is a landmark in contemporary Indian cinema. Having run for three weeks in metros all over India, and released overseas, it is in its fourth week in Chennai and Bengaluru.
Super Deluxe is Kumararaja's second feature, eight years after his arresting 'neo-noir' thriller Aaranya Kaandam (Anima and Persona, 2010; now on Hotstar). Super Deluxe tells us four stories that are linked, but only obliquely. The stories are daring: Vaembu (Samantha Akkineni) cheats on her husband Mugil (Fahadh Faasil) with an old flame, but after he dies, Mugil must help her dispose of the body. A father (Vijay Sethupathi) walks out on his young son, and returns years later as the sexy transwoman, Shilpa. A bunch of teenagers watch porn; of them, Soori is gutted to discover that his mother (Ramya Krishnan) is a porn actress. And his father Arputham (Mysskin), who survived the tsunami, is now a priest with his own flock. Unusually, Kumararaja wrote the overall narrative, but the four stories were written by Nalan Kumarasamy, Neelan Sekar, Mysskin and Kumararaja himself.
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The film is radically non-judgemental about a straying wife and even a transwoman. Although Kumararaja's morally compromised characters are nearly punished, they are mostly rewarded with happy endings; and Soori, morally outraged at his mother's porn, is punished with a screwdriver spiking his belly. Kumararaja's moral standpoint and philosophy are a breathtaking sixer beyond the mainstream Tamil cinema industry.
The screenplay is original, with unpredictable twists. He doesn't even bother with backstories: he thrusts you at a crisis in the characters' lives, yet holds you engaged. The subplots with the priest and the extra-terrestrial seem a bit off, until you realise that, in fact, a random incident defines the characters' destinies in each story.
Profundity gambols with ink-black humour, high art with popular culture. The climax is philosophical, questioning the nature of truth, morality, faith, the cosmos and god. When Leela slaps her husband Arputham (wow!) for pursuing his dodgy faith instead of rationality when their son's life is in danger, could it also be one tight slap for the religious loonies taking over today's India?
The performances are remarkable. Sethupathi stands out as the transwoman. Hardened by rejection, he crumbles before the unwavering love of his adorable, tiny son Raasukutti (Ashwanth Ashok Kumar), who refuses to judge him, in whatever shape he comes. It is daring for a top star like Sethupati to not only play a transwoman, but one who is raped. So too, it is courageous of top Malayalam star Faasil to play a cuckold. Both are marvellous, as is Akkineni. The ensemble cast is superb, including the horny teenagers and Raasukutti. The film is brilliantly shot by Nirav Shah and PS Vinod, and deftly edited by Sathyaraj Natarajan despite its 2h56 mins, with atmospheric art direction by Vijay Adhinathan. Music director Yuvan Shankar Raja dares to work in a film with no lip-sync songs, yet foregrounds familiar Tamil and Bollywood songs, along with a discreet score. Most of the players take heroic risks, and it all pays off big time. The film is crammed with references, from Paul Thomas Anderson's Magnolia to Qurbani. I'd love to binge-watch just this one film, back-to-back.
Meenakshi Shedde is South Asia Consultant to the Berlin Film Festival, award-winning critic, curator to festivals worldwide and journalist. Reach her at meenakshishedde@gmail.com
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