Most underrated movies of 2021

As it’s wrap up for 2021, we have seen more in the year. In correspondence with OTT growth due to the global pandemic, OTT platforms concentrated more on regional language content, more specifically south indian content (Addition of SonyLiv to the competition of better quality South Indian content).

Let’s look back to the most underrated and less discussed 5 movies of 2021. Do note that I haven’t included the popular and most discussed movies like Karnan, Jai Bhim, Joji, Drishyam 2, Maanadu, Home, Nayattu etc…

5. Nail polish (Hindi- Zee5):- Nail polish never follows a template or take sides throughout the court proceedings. With Manav Kaul’s unbelievable performance and intriguing non-linear narration, this one deserves to be in my underrated top 5.

4. Aarkariyam (Malayalam- Amazon prime video):- Aakariyam gets to the list with its slow burning narration, detailing given to the characters, initial setup of beginning stage of covid. Though the slowness is bit beyond limit at times, it keeps the viewers eager to know the proceedings of the movie.

3. Sivaranjiniyum innum sila pengalum (Tamil-SonyLiv):- It’s all about the progress of lives of multiple women in different periods. Director highlights the aspirations of women to become independent in society and shows patriarchy in multiple instances with minimal dialogues and background score. Only negative was that last story wasn’t that much convincing as the other 2.

2. Sherni (Hindi- Amazon prime video):- It’s strange that a Vidya Balan starrer is included in this list. Sherni tells the story of an officer trying her way best to serve justice for the villagers and the tigress in a flawed system. Dialogs and satire were spot on.Do watch it for the message it conveys.

1. Kadaseela Biryani (Tamil-Netflix):- Check out my previous review for the summary of Kadaseela biriyani.

Special mention:

Richer scale 7.6 (Malayalam- Roots OTT)
Cinema bandi (Telugu- Netflix)
Eeb Allay Ooo! (Hindi – Netflix)
Madhuram (Malayalam- SonyLiv)

Kadaseela biryani

There are few movies having cliche one liner but seems to be a totally different movie after converting the one liner to a full length movie.Kadaseela biriyani is one such.

Three brothers, Periya Pandit, Ilaya pandi and Chikku pandi are planning to murder a rubber estate owner as revenge for their father’s death. Could they complete it and return back to their home?

If anyone reading the above paragraph asks, ‘What is so fresh in it?. It’s a usual revenge story’, the answer is ‘Just watch the movie’.The way director Nishant narrates the story is the key highlight.

Kadaseela biriyani starts with the voice over of Vijay Sethupathi. Soon, we got to see their planning and their grit and determination to complete the revenge. They give vulgar names to their targets and reach the house of the main villain.

Nishant’s storytelling somewhere reminds the style of Lijo Jose pellisery. For instance: top angle shot of the house to denote the mystery, chase sequences and foul languages to show the rawness of the characters.

Another important positive is the way of defining the characters. Be it the elder brothers, who take initiative of the mission , Chikku pandi, mostly shown as not interested in the mission and dream of a simple better life or cops, who had to bear the burden of ‘Karia’. Karia is the only character without enough clarity. Though shown as a psychopath, some of his actions aren’t explained enough.

Another important positive is the situation based humour and its placement. Some are LOL moments (For instance: Lemon soda scene). Vijay Sethupathi’s cameo appearance as Kadavul also seemed interesting.

Background score wasn’t too loud and follow a folk style at times. Background and visuals provided the required ambience of the forest. Though length never went above required (1 hr 45 min), cuts could have been better so that few scenes could have provided much more impact (For instance: conversation scenes of the 3 main characters in the forest).

I don’t know much about the names of the actors. Actor who did the role of ‘Karia’ was menacing and he portrayed the uncertainty in the behavior of the character really well. Special mention to the elder brothers and Chikku pandi.

Kadaseela biryani is the product when a very passionate director chooses a simple revenge saga and makes it an engaging survival drama, with well written subplots. There are flaws for sure, but I believe Nishant is talented enough to deliver even better in his next outing. Ingredients are familiar enough but the flavor is a different one.( Not everyone’s cup of tea).

Watch link: https://www.netflix.com/in/title/81488264?preventIntent=true

Thinkalazcha nischayam

Blending humour, emotion and fight within the family movie structure isn’t an easy task. What Tinkalazcha nischayam does is adding hidden details and social commentary to it.That’s where this movie works for me.

Suja the engagement of younger daughter of Kuwait Vijayan(Manoj) is getting engaged and the complete family is in for a celebration. But is there a twist in the tale? Do watch and find out.

The biggest positivity is the way director Senna Hegde creates his world of characters. Senna portrays patriarchy through the character of Vijayan. He is someone who is cool when things go his way. But if it’s not, he loses his cool and shows his real character. It’s clearly shown in the dining table scene. Vijayan’s wife says in a scene how she got into the arranged marriage. We have Surabhi, elder daughter of Vijayan, who doesn’t have that good past.

Senna effectively managed to build and place subplots alongside the main plot. Be it the friends of Vijayan’s son and Gireeshettan who loves Suja.

Background score played an important role in shaping those punch lines to memorable instances. Cuts made sure that main plot and sub plots never got stretched and keep its stay to the point.

The only drawback I found was that it takes a bit time for the viewer to get into the groove. But Just forget the drawbacks and watch Thinkalazcha nischayam for the way of portrayal of the family. It’s heartening that movies like Thinkalazcha nischayam and Richer scale 7.6 prove that familiar stars aren’t mandatory to watch and love a movie.

Watch link: https://www.sonyliv.com/movies/thinkalazhcha-nishchayam-1000141569?watch=true

Kathmandu connection

Hindi web series, Kathmandu connection is about the personal and professional journey of DGP Samarth Kaushik and his efforts to find the relation of Sunny sharma with Bombay blast 1993.

It takes us first to the busy life of Shivani, a famous journalist. Shivani gets concerned when she gets anonymous calls back to back. She informs it to Samarth. Samarth starts his investigation on and off his duty and it leads him to more trouble.

After finishing the second episode, viewer would expect a cat and mouse game between Samarth kaushik and Sunny. The writing felt flat and plain without much exciting elements. Execution focuses more on the emotional angle without focusing more on investigation thriller angle. For instance: execution of Samarth’s breakdown scene in the hospital carries a lot of intensity and that makes it memorable in the end .

The real turnaround in this series reveals in the final episode and the twist that shifts the perspective was really amazing. It answers few of the questions regarding the previous episodes. For instance: the Sunny- Shivani romance felt a bit long initially but made sense in the end. Songs and background score were fine enough.
Amit Sial really puts up a strong performance as the grey shaded Samarth who is a dedicated cop but vulnerable father and husband. Shivani is yet another neatly written character, who leads a solo life. Aksha did a decent job as Shivani. Others too were fine with their role. Special mention to the actors who played Samarth’s companion officer Shravan, Shravan’s wife and CBI officer Hitesh.

Though Kathmandu connection isn’t without drawbacks, it is underrated in terms of its quality.(It looks like much of the SonyLiv contents are underrated because they aren’t great in marketing). Just watch it on SonyLiv. It won’t be a waste of time for sure.

Watch link: https://www.sonyliv.com/shows/kathmandu-connection-1700000716

Other recommendations in SonyLiv: Ram singh Charlie, Welcome home (Hindi), Dithee (Marathi), Thaen (Tamil- emotional drama), Kasada tabara (Tamil- hyperlinked stories).

Mimi

I saw many reviews referring that Mimi is disappointing, rarely feels believable, wastes the talent of actors and many more. But, after watching Mimi, I would disagree with this degrading kind of reviews. Same happened to a Tamil webseries ‘November Story’ as well. Both aren’t flawless but not worthless. While November story is a slow burning crime thriller, Mimi is a predictable emotional drama.

Mimi revolves around the titular character Mimi who aspires to become an actress. Her life changes upside down when she takes an important decision for it. Film narrates about the consequences of the decision.

Though Mimi is remake, it never gives the feel of watching a remake.In the opening scene ,we are introduced to an American couple John and Summer, who are searching for healthy girl for surrogacy. Execution focuses more on humourous side and gives a light-hearted feel to the scenes. Scene where Mimi reveals an important decision to her parents is a great example of blending humour to a serious situation.

Writer and director Laxman Uthrekar succeeded to explore the possibilities of humour in the situation, create an emotional connect with the key characters and convey the intended message. Though Mimi is the central character, director considers to portay the perspective of Summer.

Kriti sanon managed to add authenticity to the struggle of Mimi. Look out for her performance in scenes with the American couple. Bhanu is just a cakewalk for Pankaj tripathi for the caliber that he possesses. The ease in his performance is a key reason that many humour scenes worked.

Dialogues too were notable. For instance: Bhanu says in a situation,”I’m driver. Whatever problem I faced, it’s my responsibility to drop my passengers to their destination”. It conveys the mindset of the character. Background score adapted aptly to the mood swings of the movie. Songs were placed well enough as suitable to the situation.

Mimi isn’t without drawbacks. The particular statement she says regarding aborting the child is contrary to that in Sara’s movie. Writer could have added a better justification for that.

Mimi is an engaging sentimental drama that portrayed the emotional conflicts of the main characters without being too verbal or melodrama.

Verdict: Worth a watch

Netflix watch link: https://www.netflix.com/in/title/81267360?preventIntent=true

Vaazhl

Vaazl begins with a guy stuck in a situation and screaming ‘Yatra’. Who is he, how he got into trouble and who is Yatra? Vaazl traverses through the solution of all these questions
Prakash, our protagonist is an IT professional guy.He is fed up with his job pressure and he just needed a change from it .He accidentally met his cousin relative Yatramma and her son Yatra. It led him to few unexpected incidents.

The main positive aspect is the few well-written characters that led director Arun Prabhu purushothaman to successfully convey his message to the viewers. A guy who lives routine life, a veteran who only wishes to see his grandson, a woman who sees herself in a difficult situation and a foreign lady who views life from a different perspective.

Though Arun packs a box of short stories and unreveals it one by one , he keeps the focus on to Prakash and keeps other stories aside. Arun keeps the satirical mode in the initial part of the narration (Scene where Prakash meets Yathra was so funny). Also,Subplot involving pigeon story was so intended narrated.

Dialogues were really memorable and apt to convey the mindset of the characters. (For instance: Dialogue ‘Tomorrow’s problems are of tomorrow’ told by foriegn lady).Special mention to the mesmerizing cinematography that holds the film together. After watching the beauty of nature and tribal life in Papua new Guinea, viewer will probably wish to visit the place. Song ‘Va vazhava’ was enjoyable.

There are few hiccups in this movie for sure. Initially, the scenes narrating the character of Yathramma’s husband wasn’t believable enough for me.Towards the end, execution of few scenes felt over-the-top.

Aahrav was superb as the naughty boy ‘Yathra’.Pradeep Antony as Prakash was fine. Others were notable though not extraordinary.

Arun’s second directorial travel movie asks the viewer to explore life beyond what we know. Watch it for the message and the visuals.

Verdict: Worth a shot

Sara’s

“It’s better not to be parent than a bad parent”. Siddique in a scene during counselling reads his own quote. That quite tells us what the film intents to say.

In the opening scene, we see Sara with his boyfriend. After hearing her boyfriend saying about having kids, she walks away. After years ,Sara became an aspiring filmmaker and works as assistant in films. Jude shifts the narration to meta-film problems portrayed in the scenes including Siju Wilson and Balaji.

In parallel, we see Jeevan, a guy having problems with having kids, similar to Sara. Jude keeps his focus on to the questions of the society regarding parenting. Jude aptly maintains the balance between humour and emotions. For instance: the scene where Sara calls her father and Vincent asks is he asleep?. The scene where Sara meets the actress is the perfect example of the subtlety of Jude’s treatment.

Character development plays a pivotal element in making the situations relatable.Be Sara, stuck between developing her career and convincing her problems to others, Jeevan who changes his mind after job promotion or actress who gave up her career for family but never expressed it to others. All pivotal characters are well written and do communicate really well with the viewers.

Sara is different from the other characters of Anna Ben and she pulls it off with elegant ease. Sunny Wayne is a great choice made for Jeevan and he made his character feel authentic. Mallika sukumaran gets the role of Sara’s mother in law. Her performance in emotional scene was memorable.

Background score helped viewer to connect with the emotions of the character. Songs were soothing to hear. Special mention to the preduction design for the beautiful set up of the house.

Coming to the drawbacks, pace was uneven. It feel a bit slow at times .Srinda’s character could have avoided. Few may find the predictability as an issue. Sidhique’s scene could have been executed less verbally.

Drawbacks apart, Sara’s is a simple light hearted take on the exploration of the decision regarding parenthood and questions related to it. Worth a watch for the message and the performances.

Sherni

Sherni follows a village where people are getting killed by tiger roaming around when they set out to the jungle.What happens when Vidya Vincent, a new DFO joins the department and proceed with the investigation.

The film shows different shades of characters. Villagers raise their voice when they were denied entry to the jungle as it is needed for their livelihood. Vidya tells the villagers that it is important that animals and humans need to co-exist. But soon, we see the political interferences. From the contractor getting introduced as the brother-in-law of a politician GK and GK telling the public that this is their land in accordance to the upcoming election.

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The most important positive is that Director Amit never chose the path of thriller though being more of a cat and mouse game between the tigress and the forest department team. It add authenticity to the narration.
Dialogues were spot on and serves the purpose of conveying the importance of animal conservation.
‘If the tiger exists ,so does the jungle. If the jungle exists, so does the rain.If it rains, there’s water. If there’s water, there’s human’s life.’
Another dialog ‘If you go into the jungle 100 times ,you might see the tiger once.But the tiger has seen you 99 times ‘.

Similar to his previous film Newton, Amit has succeeded in adding satire to the narrative. For instance:Portrayal of hunter character.
Vidya is a character with a balanced emotion and Vidya balan as usual comes with a measured performance. Though the character isn’t challenging to his caliber, Neeraj kabi made the transformation of his character believable.
Cuts could have been sharp as few scenes felt stretched a bit.
Sherni tells the story of an officer trying her way best to serve justice for the villagers and the tigress in a flawed system. Do watch it for the message it conveys.

Watch link: https://www.primevideo.com/detail/Sherni/0S81WK2J8PA2G2F7JTBSVW3V6G

Ahaan

Ahaan starts by showing the habits of titular character Ahaan having down syndrome and Ozy (having OCD) both living in the same flat.
Ahaan is having active nature. He is happy go person. He interacts well with everyone. Ozy is just opposite. He is introvert. Cleanliness comes first to him. That character makes his wife restless. Ahaan is all about the changes that occur to both characters when they come to know each other.

Writer clearly shows the contrast of the 2 characters in a similar situation. For instance: When both meet in a roadside child, ozy hesitates to confront him. Moreover ,he applies sanitizer to his hand .On the other hand, Ahaan just buys flowers from the child as he understands that the child need money.

Director succeeds in portraying the transformation happening in both characters. Ahaan’s transformation to the strong desire to be independent and Ozy’s change to a simple uncomplicated person felt so organic. Ozy’s transformation had a lot of enjoyable humor added to it.

Crisp cuts ensured that even reactions from the characters convey the situation better than dialogues. Background score was minimal and soothing enough to keep the audience along with the journey of the characters. Frames were beautiful enough to capture the emotions of the characters.

Few scenes reminded me of recent Neestream original ‘Thirike’.

Arif Zakaria’s performance is a key reason due to which humour scenes with the consulting doctor worked out well. Abuli mamaji portrayed the innocence of titular character with delight.
Ahaan is an endearing and charming feel-good drama that will retain your smile after watching.

Verdict: Underrated drama

Where to watch: https://www.netflix.com/in/title/81438083?preventIntent=true

Kavalthurai ungal nanban

Looking at the title, If you are expecting an ‘Action hero biju’ kind of a film, you are wrong. What will happen if Prabhu , a young food delivery step into police Station for justice but his words are misinterpreted?. He will have to pay the price for it. How extreme it will be ? Watch the movie and find it out.

Director RGM sets the plot, introduces us to a couple. We see Prabhu struggling to get going in life with his food delivery job. He aspires to go abroad for better job opportunities. But an incident ruin his life altogether. He gets involved in a conversation with a cop. Conversation gets worse and he gets trapped into trouble.

The biggest positive of this film is that it never tries to change or hide the truth. Special mention to the dialogues that strike the right chord. Initially, Prabhu asks head constable “Don’t police have conscience?”. For that, he replies, “There are few who have conscience”. Towards the end, the head constable says to Prabhu’s wife, “Police are public servants but they treat public like Servants”.RGM shows the harsh truth without any commercial compromise.

Suresh really put up a strong performance in bringing the helplessness and protest of Prabhu. Mime gopi uses his experience really well to portray the sharp villainous cop Kannabiran. Other too were notable enough.

Background score elevated the tense moments. Frames were good enough to intensify the hardships of the Prabhu. The main negative I felt was the unnecessary inclusion of songs.
Kavalthurai ungal nanban is a dark crime drama that makes us to think about the torture, a common man faces due to the ill-treatment of cops.

Verdict: Lite version of Vetrimaran’s ‘Visaranai’.

Where to watch?: https://www.zee5.com/movies/details/kavalthurai-ungal-nanban/0-0-402510