Achcham Madam Naanam Payirppu
| Achcham Madam Naanam Payirppu | |
|---|---|
 Official release poster | |
| Directed by | Raja Ramamurthy |
| Written by | Raja Ramamurthy |
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Shreya Dev Dube |
| Edited by | Keerthana Murali |
| Music by | Susha |
Production company | Trendloud |
| Distributed by | Amazon Prime Video |
Release date |
|
| Country | India |
| Language | Tamil |
Achcham Madam Naanam Payirppu (transl. Fear, Innocence, Coyness, Chastity) is a 2022 Indian Tamil-language drama film written and directed by debutant Raja Ramamurthy and produced by Trendloud.[1] The film stars Akshara Haasan, with Usha Uthup, Malgudi Subha, Anjana Jayaprakash, Suresh Chandra Menon and George Maryan in supporting roles.[2] It was released via Amazon Prime Video on 25 March 2022.[3]
Plot
The story revolves around Pavithra, a quintessential nineteen-year-old from a conservative family, whose world is small and monotonous, her day begins with coffee followed by Carnatic music classes from the legendary singer, Charukesi, her grandmother, the matriarch. Pavithra’s mother Sowmya is overbearing and invariably passes strong remarks about Pavithra’s singing being subpar, and her father Bhardwaj has unrealistic expectations of her. Pavithra’s secret boyfriend Harish, is a cricketer and Bhardwaj's hate for him is pretty evident. Her two best friends Jessica and Rathi are the angel and devil on her shoulders. Despite being born into a conservative family she is secretly accustomed to non-vegetarian food and this puts her in a constant state of cognitive dissonance.
One day an impromptu conversation about pre-marital sex pops up between the three friends and both her friends stand divided on their opinion. Later that night Pavithra wakes up from an erotic dream which triggers her sexual awakening and discusses this with Rathi and Jessica, and she decides to do something about it.
Pavithra comes home to the news of a relative passing away, and her parents having to attend it. This leaves Pavithra alone for the night at home, and she fancies having sex with Harish. Pavithra starts to give it serious thought, and, after Rathi egging her on and Jessica exclaiming it's a sin, she eventually decides to give it a go, and gets herself prepared for the night when Harish gives his consent. Rathi stresses the importance of a condom and encourages her to buy one from the local grocery store, where Pavithra is a regular customer. The Annachi at the store who regards Pavithra as a child is shocked to see Pavithra ask for a condom. Jessica confronts Pavithra and Rathi outside the store, and Rathi leaves to pick up some sexy clothes for Pavithra.
On her return home, Pavithra is affronted by Satish, the guy who generally stalks her. As Pavithra sneaks the condom box past Window aunty, who keeps Pavithra’s conscience in check with her occasional judging looks, she receives a call from Sowmya asking her to accompany Charukesi to the concert, and this conflicts with her plans. Just then Naidu aunty unloads one of her MLM products on Pavithra citing her poor singing skills, subsequently depleting Pavithra’s dwindling confidence. With Pavithra already feeling like a letdown, when Rathi enters the house with new clothes, Pavithra, impetuously slut shames her and Rathi leaves the house. To add insult to injury, she receives a message from Harish that he wouldn't be able to make it tonight and her final nail in the coffin is the food poisoning she gets from the fish she had earlier in the day. She decides to call off her night altogether.
Later, hesitantly Pavithra visits Charukesi to elucidate her absence from the concert and completely breaks down and pours her heart out to Charukesi and they share a tender moment. On reaching home, Harish finally shows up with a valid excuse and pleads to be let in, and they eventually have sex. She wakes up the next day and realises that sex hasn’t changed her, she is still the same nice girl that she has always been and accepts that each person’s perspective is different, but not wrong.
Cast
- Akshara Haasan as Pavithra
- Usha Uthup as Charukesi
- Malgudi Subha as Sowmya
- Anjana Jayaprakash as Rathi
- Shalini Vijayakumar as Jessica
- Janaki Sabesh as Naidu Aunty
- Kalairani as Window Aunty
- Suresh Chandra Menon as Baradwaj
- George Maryan as Manikandan
- Siddhartha Shankar as Harish
- Kiran Keshav as Satish
Soundtrack
The songs and background score were composed by Susha and the lyrics by Madhan Karky
Reception
The movie was welcomed as new and refreshing and also encouraged as a daring attempt. Haricharan Pudipeddi of Hindustan Times wrote the film "is a refreshing adult comedy that doesn’t rely on lame sex jokes – like most adult comedies in Tamil cinema - to talk about a young girl’s sexual exploration. With a highly relatable story and situations that most of us would’ve experienced in our lives, the film works to a large extent, thanks to its lighthearted tone and treatment. The fact that the film presents the idea of losing one’s virginity as just another human desire makes this attempt laudable." [4] Roktim Rajpal of Deccan Herald gave a rating of 2.5 out on 5 and wrote, "The film has a good concept but the writing could have been better." [5] Soundarya Athimuthu of The Quint commends that the film “aims to be a responsible representation that highlights the importance of a sex positive culture through cinema and scores for its right intentions.” [6] Shubham Kulkarni of Koimoi praises that “ The filmmaker makes the film with a female gaze and that is so good. Men hold no authority in this world until the women tell them to. Because this is the ladies telling their story their way." [7] Ashameera Aiyappan of First Post writes that the movie ”is fascinating, mainly because we do not have many mainstream films that explore female desire” [8] Thinkal Menon of OTTplay reviews the movie as “The genuine attempt to narrate a simple story effectively, thereby breaking the myth associated with good girl and bad girl in a progressive manner.” [9]
References
- ^ "Achcham Madam Naanam Payirppu trailer: Akshara Hassan starrer shines light on sex-positive culture". The Indian Express. Retrieved 21 March 2022.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "Akshara Haasan on playing a timid teenager in Achcham Madam Naanam Payirppu: 'I come from a very open-minded family'". The Indian Express. Retrieved 23 March 2022.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "Amazon Prime Video to premiere new Tamil film with Akshara Haasan, Usha Uthup". LiveMint. Retrieved 23 March 2022.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "Achcham Madam Naanam Payirppu review: Akshara Haasan's film is a refreshing comedy on sexual exploration". Hindustan Times. Retrieved 25 March 2022.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "'Achcham Madam Naanam Payirppu' movie review: Akshara Haasan-starrer makes for a decent watch". Deccan Herald. Retrieved 26 March 2022.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "'Achcham Madam Naanam Payirppu' movie review: Progressive Adult Drama". The Quint. Retrieved 29 March 2022.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "'Achcham Madam Naanam Payirppu' movie review: Akshara Haasan Starrer Explores Female Desire With A Short & Simple Narrative". Koimoi. Retrieved 25 March 2022.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "'Achcham Madam Naanam Payirppu' movie review: Achcham Madam Naanam Payirppu is a harmless, well-intentioned coming-of-age film". First Post. Retrieved 25 March 2022.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "'Achcham Madam Naanam Payirppu' movie review: Akshara Haasan shines in this important film on self-respect and sex education". OTTplay. Retrieved 25 March 2022.
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