Sundari Gardens
Sundari Gardens

Sundari Gardens Movie Review: Aparna Balamurali shoulders this simple, sensitive romantic drama

It is this earnestness that not just grounds Sundari Gardens but also helps it stand apart
Rating:(3 / 5)

Whatever happens, life must go on, and when life takes us to unexpected places, the beacon that brings us all home is... love. For Sundari Sara Mathews (Aparna Balamurali), the protagonist of Sundari Gardens, her idea of love and home is...well... very much inside her. 

Director: Charlie Davis
Cast: Aparna Balamurali, Neeraj Madhav, Binu Pappu, Lekshmi Menon

Streaming on SonyLiv

The film opens with a euphonious song, Madhura Jeeva Ragam, which sets a tranquil mood for this breezy film. Sundari Gardens revolves around the day-to-day life of Sundari (aka) Suma, a zesty happy-go-lucky woman. She works as a librarian at her alma mater. In her 30s, leading a single life, Sundari finds joy at home with her mother, and solace in the multiple pegs of Vodka.

Her routine life takes an interesting detour when Victor Paul (Neeraj Madhav), joins the school as an English teacher. Even before she expresses her feelings to him, Victor gets along with another colleague, Lekha (Lekshmi Menon). Even as her unrequited love hits rock bottom, life hits her with another gargantuan iceberg.

Finding herself at an all-important crossroad, Sundari is forced to find strengths and an inner resolve she didn't know she possessed. It is fascinating to see a rather relatable woman written by a man. Charlie Davis' empathetic understanding and sensibility are a breath of fresh air. While we still see films that reiterate the societal expectation of women: being the embodiment of perfection, Sundari Gardens stays away from endorsing such nonsensical labels.

Without much clamour, the film subtly persuades people to embrace progressiveness and normalise facets like a divorcee falling in love all over again and still choosing to enjoy life in solitude. In one of the initial scenes, Sundari has to assuage the fears of a student who has a pregnancy scare. She takes care of it in a very calm and composed way. It is refreshing to see the lack of melodramatisation in these sequences.

It is this earnestness that not just grounds Sundari Gardens but also helps it stand apart. As we drift into this musical film, Sundari's life, her choices, her mistakes, her imperfections, her confidence, and her emotions come to the fore to give us a deep dive into the life of one of the most relatable women we have seen in our films. In a crucial scene, Sundari says, "I am a mess, but I can handle myself." And the moment strikes the right chords with us, suggesting a redolent memory of feeling lost but finding that proverbial light at the end of the tunnel.

On the other hand, the film also feels like a hodgepodge of randomness. For instance, the comic track featuring Jude Anthony Joseph doesn't do much to the main plot. The screenplay needed some fine-tuning to give us a more wholesome experience. On and off, the film gets diffused as it lacks seamless staging of actions. But we do get some fascinating sequences like the one involving Sundari and Mahi Mohan (Binu Pappu), which mirrors the genuineness of a friendship.

Sundari Gardens is yet another Malayalam film that expresses its love for the picturesque backdrops of Kottayam and its neighbouring locations. Swaroop Philip's alluring frames breathe new life to the vast vintage central Kerala houses surrounded by green blankets and a quaint school library, and they are a visual delight. Alphons Joseph is the backbone of the film and brings a refreshing vibe to Sundari Gardens.

Aparna's effortless performance does complete justice to Sundari's character and Neeraj Madhav plays a neat foil with his charming yet pertinent performance.

And in the end, Sundari Gardens lives by that oft-repeated principle of life — It is not about the journey, but the destination. Through Sundari Gardens, we take a refreshing look at all the Sundaris who don't shy away from love, and home is where their own heart takes them.

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