Modha Rathri Movie Review:
The biggest grouse with Indian parenting is its giant leap from babying children to suddenly treating them like adults as the wedding bells begin ringing. This dereliction leads to treating marriage like a ‘responsibility camp’, hoping it will instantly transform someone into a family-ready person. This perhaps is the biggest curse of arranged marriages. Debut director Raja Karuppasamy’s Modha Rathri turns this very idea into a joy ride, as the nuptial night of an unlikely couple becomes a substitute for the date nights they never had.
Modha Rathri begins with a temple priest (Chetan) cursing Marudanayagam's (Rishikanth) wedding to be doomed, following a tragedy within the temple premises that leaves him implicated and leads to a decline in its footfall. You wonder whether it is the priest's curse that makes Maduranayagam the suitor to Muthuselvi (Anishma Anilkumar) in the first place, as the two have every reason not to start a life together. Arranged marriages operate in weird ways, bringing together two disparate individuals. However, love tries to jostle its way into this marriage made under strange circumstances.
The decision to take the proceedings in a slow and gradual manner helped the film greatly. Although debutant Raja Karuppasamy's strategy of a shaky start puts you off in the first half, what followed that start was thoroughly enjoyable and bonkers. This writing routine continues in the second half too. It is commendable for Raja to deliver the second half too neatly, given that you are now wary of his purposeful dumbing-down technique that makes the dramatic surge look extraordinary.
The team of Modha Rathri can be proud of doing a great job with comedy, as almost every character fronts a fun moment and no one gets a raw deal. Be it the idiosyncrasies of the Chithappa character played by Bagavathi Perumal and his pairing with Abdool Lee's character, a stretch involving the women from the families of both bride and groom, or the wedding bed manufacturers, seldom do you find lines or ideas that don't work. Raja can also be credited for the soft-launch of the now non-existent comedy tracks. As the wedding drama and lead-up to the nuptial night demand your undistracted attention, a hilarious track involving a person and his friends is still equally enjoyable.
What was also a delight to watch was the neat setup and payoff structure in the midst of chaotic and dramatic scenes that unfold in the second half. Take the bed manufacturers and the three friends' subplots; they take root during the initial minutes of the runtime. Introducing multiple subplots is always risky, as it may lead the writers to grasp at straws to give a hurried end to them when main plots grow tense. However, the makers have succeeded in overcoming this hurdle too. These subplots enjoy structures and complications, of course, in a lighter manner, of their own. Also, since Indian and Tamil weddings have a lot to do with prestige, status, class, and caste factors, Modha Rathri doesn't shy away from messaging. The messaging against caste discrimination too takes the form of a setup and payoff. Thankfully, the message is pointed and not preachy.
Director: Raja Karuppasamy
Cast: Rishikanth, Anishma Anilkumar, Raja Karuppasamy, Abdool Lee, Chetan, Bagavathi Perumal
Performances too are worth mentioning. What are also seminal to Indian weddings are the secretive talks, fake smiles, last-minute fixes, and a lot of lies. The effortlessness with which the marriage party on both sides switches from panicking to behaving normally may remind you of the wedding scenes in your family and the actors of your relatives. Rishikanth and Anishma fit their roles aptly. The hesitation with which she speaks to Rishikanth's character, followed by the outburst that leads her to reveal her family's controlling behaviour, makes for a good attempt at understanding a character who, until then, had been little more than a grumpy girl unwilling to go through with the marriage. Special mention of Chetan, Abdool Lee and Bucks, who were on a roll throughout in different circumstances.
Where the film falters is in its length and its lack of clarity about who Marudu and Muthu are. The last-act reveal, along with the convergence of the subplots and the main plot, raises some foundational questions that inadvertently vindicate the bride's family for opposing their daughter's love. They are presented as though they have been up to some mischief all along, which complicates the film's earlier framing of their opposition as merely casteist. Similarly, given that both the bride's and groom's families are caste-conscious, it feels like a stretch for Muthu's family to be so secretive about her past, as its revelation would not necessarily have brought them the kind of 'shame' the film suggests. You can understand the nuance of caste operating through class and status as well, but the film does not sufficiently establish that distinction. The hushedness surrounding a same-caste love affair feels somewhat atypical of the way caste operates in the real world. While it felt that the Raja did a commendable job handling the flashbacks, the final reveal makes one wonder whether more detail was needed in those moments.
The brilliance of Modha Rathri is that none of these negatives are strong enough to overpower the positives and pull the film in the opposite direction. Debutant Raja Karuppasamy shows strong signs of a filmmaker with control over his craft very early on. With the help of performances and neatly designed set-ups and pay-offs, he has managed to make a film with warmth, humour and chaos surrounding a wedding, while also recognising the concomitant social baggage. Modha Rathri, replete with love, laughs and entertaining characters, gives courtship a chance in a hurried arranged marriage, finding a tiny room for two people to get smitten.
