Achcham Madam Naanam Payirppu movie review: Akshara Haasan shines in this important film on self-respect and sex education

3/5

Story: A teenage girl, who is raised in a conservative family, decides to get laid and seeks advice on the same from two of her friends who have contrasting views on sex before marriage. She chooses a day when her parents are not at home to lose her virginity with her boyfriend. But she faces a few unexpected hurdles around the time she had planned to have her first sex experience with her lover. Will she be able to do it?

Review: Debutant Raja Ramamurthy's Achcham Madam Naanam Payirppu revolves around a simple, slice-of-life story which many millennials can relate to. Yet, it is surprising that no movie has been made in Tamil about the content it deals with.

Pavithra (Akshara Haasan), a naïve teenage girl, who hails from a conservative family, leads a humdrum life. Her grandmother Charukesi (Usha Uthup) is a renowned classical singer and her mother (Malgudi Subha) wants her to become a singer like her grand mom.

The film begins with the shot of a fish in a small water tank which is kept inside Pavithra's room. It doesn't come across as a coincidence; her life is more or less the same in the house. She is not able to break the shackles set by her parents and people around her; in fact she hardly has any say in her life.

She is not even sure if she wants to learn music, but her mother forces to develop interest in it and often comes up with unnecessary comparisons with her grandmother. Similarly, her father (Suresh Menon), an avid cricket buff, asks her to switch off television whenever his favourite batsman gets out. Interestingly, her favourite player Harish (Siddhartha Shankar) who also happens to be her boyfriend, according to her father, is a wastrel.

One day, Pavithra decides to have fun with her otherwise monotonous life. She wants to get laid and discusses it with her friends Rathi (Anjana Jayaprakash) and Jessica (Shalini Vijayakumar). Though the former, an adventure loving person, encourages her, the latter, a traditionalist, warns about the consequences and asks her to reconsider her decision.  

Though Pavithra follows her heart, little did she know that she has to face a few hurdles which makes it almost impossible for her to go ahead with her plans. Will she be able to experience a memorable night?

The wafer-thin plot is elevated by a few engaging moments between Pavithra and her friends. Akshara Haasan is apt as the protagonist who is clueless on what she wants in life. As a teenage girl who is torn between her desires and meeting society's expectations, the character is safe in Akshara's hands.

Anjana and Jessica, who play friends with different perspectives, stand out with their convincing screen presence. The dialogues between them are compelling. However, the other characters are underwritten. The scene involving Usha Uthup and Akshara in which the latter asks the former to live her life without regret, is interesting, but is generic. Janaki Sabesh, Malgudi Subha, Siddhartha Shankar and Suresh Menon do not have much to do.

Susha's music and Shreya Dev Dube's cinematography complement the story telling. With a run time of less than 100 minutes, the makers ensured that the story doesn't stretch beyond adequate level, which is one of the positive aspects of the film. The conversation between the protagonist and her parents appear superficial and the surroundings, too, appear unconvincing.

What is laudable in the movie is the genuine attempt to narrate a simple story effectively, thereby breaking the myth associated with good girl and bad girl in a progressive manner. It also looks at sex as an essential craving; the discussion around contraceptives and ways to make the act more pleasurable are depicted as a natural thing.

Verdict: The film is an earnest attempt in depicting the complex phases in the life of a teenage girl entertainingly.  

Achcham Madam Naanam Payirppu is streaming on Amazon Prime Video.