‘Achcham Madam Naanam Payirpu’ review: A simple plot let down by poor writing and lead performance

In one type of “women empowerment” film in Tamil cinema, a male star, playing an alpha male, who’s also supposedly woke, tells us what a woman is, how great she is, and why we should celebrate her. Such a film might also have a catchy song, wherein the virtues of women are discussed by… the alpha male, of course. Most often, he will make the woman realise her potential. 

In another type, we have leads who are strong and independent women. And, they tell us how women can be, well, strong and independent and walk away, upright, in slow motion.

There are other films, albeit very few, like Vasanth Sai’s Sivaranjiniyum Innum Sila Pengalum, which shows stories of a few women – stories that do not scream “women empowerment”, stories that are familiar, stories that are seemingly simple. 

The beginning of Raja Rajamurthy’s Achcham Madam Naanam Payirpu gave us an inkling that it belonged to this type. The film opens with a shot of a fish swimming in a round glass bowl. In the out of focus background, we can see a mild breeze flowing into a fairly big curtained window. The film’s composer, Susha, just adds some guitar strings to the shot, making it gentle. 

Soon, we are introduced to the protagonist, Pavithra (Akshara Haasan), who is, in a way, like the fish in the bowl. She, too, is bound – by the fear of disappointing the people close to her. Her mother (Malgudi Subha) wants her to emulate her grandmother (Usha Uthup), who is a renowned Carnatic singer. Her father does not like her boyfriend, who is an upcoming cricketer. One of her two close friends disapproves of her desire for pre-marital sex. The other friend disapproves of her not acting on it. In other words, who she is and who she wants to be is defined by the people around her.

Not a lot of films in Tamil explore the thoughts and feelings of a woman, especially about sex. So, Raja’s film belongs to the minority. However, in 2022, it is hardly revolutionary. That is fine, because Raja does not intend to make a gravely serious film – the story is simple, the narration light. But the film suffers from poor writing and Akshara’s weak performance.

Akshara is supposed to be playing an unsure, awkward adult, but we can mostly see her just pretending to be one. Some of the scenes, which are intended to make the character look cute, end up being cringey due to her performance and writing.

Even the supporting characters are unidimensional, neatly fitting into an adjective: dramatic mother, conservative friend, liberal friend, annoying family friend, creepy neighbour… There is even a dog, Pixie, which might as well have been named Plot Device.

Films about everyday people usually thrive on layered characters and verisimilitude. This film scores badly on both fronts; the writing of the scene when Pavithra decides to have sex for the first time, for instance, is just one example.

After Pavithra’s conflicts have been resolved, we see the fish bowl shot that we saw at the beginning. But it now seems to convey a different meaning: a fish in water. She is comfortable and confident in her own skin. The beginning and the end works, but the things in between, not so much.

Achcham Madam Naanam Payirpu is streaming on Amazon Prime