Net gain for short film -Idhuvum Kadandhu Pogum - The HINDU Review

Shivaji Dev and Shilpa Bhatt in Idhuvum Kadandhu Pogum, AVM Productions first ‘internet only’ Tamil short-feature. 

 

AVM Productions’ Idhuvum Kadandhu Pogum is the first studio-backed short film made exclusively for the Internet. A review

Recognising the huge demand for movie content on the Internet, AVM Productions has produced its first ‘internet only’ Tamil short-feature, Idhuvum Kadandhu Pogum, which was uploaded on Tamil New Year’s day on the video sharing site, YouTube.

While the attempt to produce an ‘Internet only’ film itself can be construed as ambitious, Idhuvum's content is yet another improvisation of themes that we have often encountered in several popular short films: first love, break up and coping with heart break.

As the title suggests, Idhuvum Kadandhu Pogum, too, is a film about losing a loved one and moving on. The film opens with Gautham (Shivaji Dev), a young man presumably in his late 20s, falls asleep while having a late night conversation with his fiancée and long-time girlfriend, Janani. Next morning, he finds out that she has met with an accident and succumbed to her injuries.

For a film that begins with a tragedy, it is an optimistic tale of finding love again. It marks a comeback of sorts for Sivaji Ganesan’s grandson, Shivaji Dev (Ramkumar’s son), who delivers a dignified performance that could so easily have gone south had he been oddly dramatic. The stint at the film school seems to have done a world of good for him.

The directors, Anil Krishnan and Srihari Prabhaharan, demonstrate a good understanding of short film's grammar: there are no shots of large expansive landscapes. They have mostly kept it tight knowing well that the film would mostly be seen in smaller screens or even mobile phones. A doting father and a grieving son is not an entirely new concept — we have seen it earlier in Gautham Menon’s Varanam Aayiram. But what works for the film is that it is as much the story of Gautham’s father (Ravi Raghavendar) who is there when he needs it the most as it is Gautham’s who eventually finds his feet. The fact that it has been made without a compromise and has a heart of its own is a bonus.