Director: R.Partheipan
Cast: R.Partheipan
‘Otha Seruppu..’ opens with shots of the protagonist Masilamani (R.Parthiepan) being held for questioning at a police station in relation to a murder. He is asked to re-write a statement, an apparent police trick to verify the veracity of his first one. Masilamani is way ahead though, he has already taken a ‘carbon copy’ of the first statement and kept it handy! This set the tone for what I expected to be a riveting Whodunnit and cat and mouse tale (read on to find out how it really panned out).
‘Conceived and crafted’ by Partheipan (as it appears in the opening credits), the film has the unique distinction of him being the only actor featured on screen throughout. The other characters make their presence felt through their voices and a lot of detail is left open interestingly to the audience’s imagination.
The title of the film is a reference to a clue left behind by a killer at multiple murder scenes- a single slipper of the size 7. Masilamani is being questioned with reference to one of these but shockingly, starts confessing voluntarily to others as well! Even more baffling is his demeanor throughout the interrogation. He often seems to slip into an unrelated topic or scene from his past and it’s quite apparent that he suffers from some mental trauma. When a psychologist (watch out for the terrific ‘Cyclogist’ dialogue sequence!) is brought in to aid in the questioning, we start learning more about his painful past. Dark and chilling secrets are revealed about his wife and their marital life and it melts our hearts to learn about the terminal illness his young son suffers from. As the film saunters on, there is of course a twist. Masilamani’s confidence in dealing with the cops is not totally unfounded. He has not played all his cards just yet!
Partheipan is at his sarcastic best with terrific slapstick comedy mixed with some trademark wordplay. Sample this-‘Yen Sir shock aagaringa (why are you shocked)’ he asks a baffled cop as he confesses to one of the murders, with his hands leaning on a precariously dangling electrical socket! Though I felt the film was a good fifteen minutes longer than it should have been, the screenplay is absorbing enough to keep us hooked and guessing. Ramji’s cinematography is outstanding, as he uses a mix of Close Up and ‘Shot Reverse’ shots to keep the visuals engaging. He is literally given the unenvious task of bringing on-screen props to life to compensate for the lack of actors (understatement!) and he delivers with terrific aplomb.
Ultimately, where I felt the film fell a little short was in the denouement, or the reveal, so to speak of. I did not find the contours of the plot surrounding the crimes very convincing and could spot some loopholes. Obviously, I wouldn’t want to go deeper into this here and will leave it for you to judge. This apart, the film does score on the entertainment front. Though the film is definitely one slipper short of perfection, it at least doesn’t try to fit the other one on to the wrong foot!
Overall rating: 2.5/5
