Sshhh Movie Review: Despite attempting to tackle sex and desire, the anthology falls short with lacklustre chemistry and flatlined narratives
Last Updated: 04.31 PM, Dec 06, 2024
The anthology is divided into four segments - Kamathupaal, Reload, Vaanmathi, and Ini Ellam. The first is about a conservative science teacher grappling with teaching sex education to her teenage students, followed by Reload featuring two former lovers meeting as they rue about the lack of physical intimacy in their respective marriages. Vaanmathi is about a middle-aged wife who is in search of her missing husband, becoming lonely and unsatisfied, while Ini Ellam is about a young IAS aspirant getting distracted by his long-distance relative.
There is no doubt that Sshhh attempts to be the Tamil version of Lust Stories that was created in Hindi several years ago. While appreciating the idea of touching taboo topics, what Sshhh gets wrong is that it defeats the very reason it is created for, by hushing the affairs of sex and desire. Let’s just ask why a film that wants to break the stigma on the hush hush topics of sex and taboo, wants to go by the silencing Sshhh as title? Is it because while trying to talk about it, it also wants to be under the parameters set by the modern society to address these subjects? Sshhh that never wants to push the boundaries, carefully threads on the norms that is deemed correct by the progressive individuals rather than pushing notches to delve into what these topics really mean to human lives.
Sshhh wades through the lives of people from different walks of lives. Let’s take the example of Tarangani from Kamathupaal, who we are stressed enough to know about her caste and how conservative her family is. Being a science teacher and entrusted with the responsibility to teach sex education to her students (for whom it is very much needed given how the children are portrayed to still believe that a kiss can cause pregnancy), Tarangani battles with embarrassment and professionalism. The segment features a series of childish acts and seems obsolete in an era when at least orally it has been accepted that there is nothing to laugh about in sex education.
Reload cashes on physical intimacy-deprived former lovers’ aches. On the night of their meeting, which is set in a cozily-lit restaurant and listening to each other rue on the unenthusiastic lives they lead with their respective partners. While physical intimacy is an important topic, it is less explored in Indian cinema and whenever it is, the gaze is always masculine. But the segment tends to open up the sides that a man and woman have to say. However, it is cut short by the lacklustre chemistry between the lead pair, played by Srikanth and Ineya, with the “twist” of an ending almost expected. Reload becomes a rehash of dialogues we tend to utter when talking about physical intimacy and the idea of listening to it one-sided seems going off somewhere.
In Vaanmathi, Soniya Aggarwal’s titular character is a woman in her middle age in search of her military husband who went missing many years ago. As much as she craves the companionship of the man she met barely before getting married, the lack of sex and physical touch boils from within Vaanmathi. A chance meeting with an old flame, and a night of togetherness help her remorse, for an eventful day she has the morning after. The segment, even as it tries to address an important topic, falls short by being a flatlined narrative, more importantly from a woman’s perspective.
Ini Ellam is probably the segment that tries to bring a niche, but it comes with the limitation of being underexplored. A young IAS aspirant meets a younger woman who is his distant relative. While the meek girl is rushed into a marriage for the family’s convenience, a fateful night of spending time together unravels much more between them. Sapiosexuality is the niche that is explored, but is left only as a mere tool to bring the leads together. A boy racing to be the youngest IAS ever, and a girl forced to quit her education to get married, lead up to a conversation that has the potential to bring their vulnerabilities to the fore. But a brushed and severely voyeuristic angles ogling at the girl, makes the short meet its downfall.
Sshhh might be a good start to make such stories, but definitely needed more solid writing and layers. While a couple of them render to be caricatures and barely scratch the surface, the rest become something that we have already seen with nothing new to offer.