This careful curation turned the 2021 OKRU release into an event. Twitter and Letterboxd were flooded with a new generation’s shocked gasps: “I can’t believe this film is 19 years old.”
‘Kannathil Muthamittal’ review by Luke Thorne • Letterboxd kannathil muthamittal 2002 okru 2021
The film follows (played by a then 9-year-old P.S. Keerthana), a young girl who discovers on her ninth birthday that she is adopted. Driven by a fierce determination to find her biological mother, she convinces her adoptive parents—the writer Thiruchelvan (R. Madhavan) and Indira (Simran)—to take her to war-torn Sri Lanka. This careful curation turned the 2021 OKRU release
Location: Chennai, India
| Aspect | Kannathil Muthamittal (Mani Ratnam) | OKRU (Nalan Kumarasamy) | |--------|----------------------------------------|----------------------------| | | War-torn political drama / family road movie | Lighthearted romantic comedy / existential quirky drama | | Tone | Poetic, intense, tear-jerking | Dry-humorous, absurd, conversational | | Conflict | A child’s search for her biological mother amidst the Sri Lankan civil war | A young man’s indecisiveness and the “butterfly effect” of small romantic choices | | Visual Style | Sweeping frames, golden-brown melancholy, P. C. Sreeram’s lyrical lighting | Static shots, muted natural lighting, lo-fi aesthetic | | Music | A. R. Rahman’s haunting, folk-infused score | Background score that’s intentionally sparse or ironic | Driven by a fierce determination to find her
The last time Amudha saw her, Shyama was a young woman in military fatigues, weeping as she handed her baby over for a better life. Now, she was a woman in her fifties, her face lined by sun and sorrow, her frame frail.