Kinaru Movie Review:

How far will you go for the thing you want? When a person becomes an adult, measured thinking and semantic reasoning can get in the way of heartfelt desires. But in Harikumaran's Kinaru, everyone is a child. The adults all seek to obtain something materialistic, either through focused optimism or misplaced cunningness. But they approach it with the naivety of a child, which leads to emotions taking over reason or logic. Meanwhile, the children, lead by Pethappan (Kanishkumar), seek something seemingly superficial. But when prodded, those superficial desires have a deep and matured reason behind them. Kinaru is a tale of desires that transcends generations, and wears its emotions on its sleeves.

Director: Harikumaran

Cast: Kanishkumar, Vivek Prasanna, Manojkannan, Ashwin, and Sri Hariharan

On the outset, it might seem like Pethappan just wants a place to play and swim around. But, it isn't that simple... This is a culmination of his growing desire to acquire the most basic of all amenities... water. With only his grandmother in his life, Pethappan is torn between having to act older than his age, and just being another child. While fetching some drinking water from a tank, he is disappointed after watching a man use the same water to clean himself. Despite seeing a kid with two kudams (pots), the man doesn't stop what he is doing. Pethappan's heart is broken even before he understands the hierarchies of the land, and why life is perennially unfair. In every scene, the showcase of emotions come from a deeper place of meaning, and it never exists in vaccum.

While the adults don't have the same problems as the kids, Kinaru points out that emotions are universal, irrespective of age. Pethappan's grandmother Raasamma does not let age and flailing motor controls lose her determination. If she wants something she will get it, no matter what. Even Vivek Prasanna's character, 'Puncture', grieves a very personal loss that has impaired his emotions and cognitive abilities. But that doesn't deter him from believing or spreading the fact that humans have to move on from things, and not lose their heart.

Kinaru showcases exemplary performances from all of its actors. With the kids Kanishkumar, Manojkannan, Ashwin, and Sri Hariharan, leading from the front, and a fantastic Vivek Prasanna who bookends the tale with his performance, every actor has been elevated by Harikumaran's writing that stands testament to the adage, 'there are no small parts.'

Harikumaran leaves no space for forgettable characters within the story. Even someone, whose role is as simple as telling directions, gains a child's pettiness, after encountering the children. Someone as busy as a tea shop owner, gains a child's perspective of revenge after encountering the children. Someone as stoic as a farmland worker becomes softer after encountering the children. Harikumaran's usage of the children's journey to create memorable characters makes for seamless storytelling.

In what can be termed as the right grouping of collaborators, the technical team of cinematographer Gautham Venkatesh, editor Gowtham Raj K S, and music director Bhuvanesh Selvanesan, use the strong foundation of the acting and writing to prop up the cinematic experience. Gautham Venkatesh's frames aren't cinematic posters but humane paintings. Each frame is full of heart. Gowtham Raj allows us to immerse with each scene and move to the next seamlessly. Bhuvanesh Selvanesan, with his wonderful score, is able to speak the language of emotions, without words in many scenes.

In this intertwining journey of desires, there is no drought of emotions. But the biggest of them all is empathy. In recent times, we have seen films stuff the audience with half-hearted tales of empathy, and amidst such films, Kinaru stands tall in highlighting the aspect without compromising on the heartfelt story at the centre of it all.