A walk down the hall of old classics would certainly bring the 1971 Hindi film, ‘Anand’, to the surface when we deal with human psyche that is aware of its death. Raj B Shetty’s ‘Swathi Mutthina Male Haniye’ is one such film that leaves the audience with the right amount of emotional touch. While the former film spoke of zestful living, the latter is gentle-paced and takes towards embracing reality rather wilfully.
Aniketh (played by Raj Shetty) and Prerana Sagar (played by Siri Ravikumar) take on the roles of a patient and counsellor respectively. The story shows Prerana as a woman who has become mechanical in nature. Being stuck in a loveless marriage and repetitive interactions with dying patients are the highlights of her character until she meets Aniketh. Prerana grows fond of the terminally ill Aniketh, and the narrative takes us to a short but poetic platonic intimacy that emerges between the two.
The whole narrative of the friendship between Aniketh and Prerana is elevated by a series of emphatic and picturesque static shots by Praveen Shriyan. The setting of the hospital amidst the carefully crafted greenery becomes an integral element in the story. We see the conversations, even silent ones, taking place not just between the characters but also with the nature around them. The ephemeral narrative cleverly arrests the attention of the audience to the journey rather than the destination.
Midhun Mukundan has given soothing and thoughtful compositions to the film. The music is gentle yet uplifts the tone of the scenes. The lead actors and supporting artistes have performed convincingly, and the movie stands as a sweet compilation.
Published 25 November 2023, 10:22 IST