Achcham Madam Naanam Payirppu movie review: Akshara Haasan's is a cute but middling film on female desire

Language: Tamil The ‘good’ woman, according to ancient Tamil literature, has four characteristics — Achcham, Madam, Naanam, and Payirppu. Loosely translated, Achcham means fear; Naanam means coyness; Madam is modesty bordering on ignorance — even if a woman knows something, she is supposed to pretend otherwise. And finally, Payirppu, which roughly translates to chastity. This patriarchal notion of who is a good woman has been, for long, romanticised by popular culture. Tamil cinema, in specific, has a long history of enshrining patriarchy. Almost every leading star has, at some point or the other, delivered a sermon on how a woman should behave dress or be. Director Raja Ramamurthy’s film, starring Akshara Haasan, wants to question this ‘myth of the good girl’ — which is the English title of the film. The protagonist, Pavithra (Akshara Haasan), is born and raised in an extremely conservative family. She and her family have all the typical markers of an orthodox Brahmin family. Pavithra diligently learns Carnatic music from her grandmother (Usha Uthup). Her mother (Malgudi Subha) is also a Carnatic music teacher. Pavithra and her father fervently watch and discuss domestic cricket. They drink panagam at breakfast. Pavithra is clearly unhappy with this setup, and her overbearing mother. Like most children with strict parents, she leads a double life. Until one night, Pavithra has a wet dream. She has been conditioned to abhor pre-marital sex, but her body and hormones tell a different story. So should she, or should she not? Achcham Madam Naanam Payirppu is fascinating, mainly because we do not have many mainstream films that explore female desire. While we have several coming-of-age films with male protagonists, there is hardly any representation of what girls go through. Achcham Madam Naanam Payirppu is hardly revolutionary though — it does not aspire to be either. But it is nice to see a young girl be curious about sex onscreen. It is also nice for a film to acknowledge that intercourse and intimacy do not ‘change’ a woman. Achcham Madam Naanam Payirppu has several metaphors. Rathi and Jessica, Pavithra’s friends, act like voices in her head, putting forth the ‘culture vs choice’ debate. (I like how natural Anjana and Shalini are.) There is a surveilling neighbour who is symbolic of society. There is even commentary on how capitalism thrives by exploiting culturally-induced insecurities in women. But Achcham Madam Naanam Payirppu falters in execution. The film is designed to be quirky, but the writing comes across as stilted. There is no real sense of conflict.

Pavithra’s oscillations between sticking to cultural norms and breaking away from them are jerky. Haasan’s uneven performance does not help either.

Everything happens and resolves pretty easily and quickly. Even logic takes a hit at certain moments. Would a girl so scared about her family buy a condom at the local store, whose owner she is friends with? For a girl with such a strict mother, Pavithra is ridiculously nonchalant about bringing her boyfriend home — it gets even more ludicrous when he performs a mini mime show on the road. And also, why is Pavithra almost always dressed in green! Achcham Madam Naanam Payirppu is a harmless, well-intentioned coming-of-age film. It is great that Pavithra wants to be safe, but it is not very entertaining when the film wants to too safe. Achcham Madam Naanam Payirppu is streaming on Amazon Prime Video India. Rating: **1/2

Ashameera Aiyappan is a film journalist who writes about Indian cinema with a focus on South Indian films. Read all the  Latest News ,  Trending News ,  Cricket News ,  Bollywood News ,  India News  and  Entertainment News  here. Follow us on  Facebook,  Twitter and  Instagram.