Navarasa Review: A Mixed Bag of Emotions!

After tasting success with Paava Kadhaigal, Netflix presents another anthological series, Navarasa, created by Master storyteller Mani Ratnam, producing it along with Jayendra Panchapakesan. Mani Ratnam brings together a mega team of nine skilful directors and an ensemble list of star cast, including Suriya, on his Netflix debut. The series consists of nine episodes representing nine different emotions or rasas such as compassion, laughter, wonder, disgust, peace, anger, fear, courage and romance.

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Emotions are part of our daily life. Each passing minute we can express and emote different emotions. Each episode in Navarasa capitalises on one particular emotion, and every director tried to strengthen them while narrating a compelling storyline. So, let us see how each one of them fared with the emotions.

To begin with, the flagship episode of this series, Guitar Kambi Mele Nindru, written and directed by Gautham Vasudev Menon and has Suriya and Pragya Martin in the lead. The actor-director duo joins together after 13 years, and the fans could not be more excited. On top of that, the emotion they take in hand is romance. Gautham Vasudev Menon is the Wizard of Romance, and to have Suriya as the lead, the duo recreates their magic. Remember the train scenes of Vaaranam Aayiram, which is breezy and buoyant, where Suriya hopelessly falls in love with Meghna.

Gautham tried to keep his entire segment as mellow as possible and narrates a tale of love in a calm and relaxed manner. Suriya charms through and through, and to see him in a guy-next-door role after a long time is exhilarating. His cutesy moments with Pragya Martin captured by legendary cinematographer, PC Sreeram, is sure to leave you blushing. Special appreciation to singer Karthik, who turned into a music director for this episode, and he has composed some exceptional music which is another significant backbone of this section.

Next on Navarasa is Project Agni, written and directed by Karthik Naren, and is probably one of the intriguing episodes. It takes on the emotion of wonder and is sure to leave you to wonder about it at the end. A quick science fiction plot narrated by Arvind Swami to Prassana left me scratching my head. Inspired by films that question the reality of human life on earth, Karthik Naren gives his perspective. Ron Ethan Yohan’s music is another fascinating aspect of this episode that builds necessary hype and keeps us hooked.

Mani Ratnam himself has written the story for two episodes in Navarasa. The first one is for the episode Edhiri, directed by Bejoy Nambiar. It has Vijay Sethupathi, Prakash Raj, Revathi and Ashok Selvan as the cast and narrates the tale of compassion. It was a thought-provoking episode, at least for me, as I was amazed at the sympathetic pity and concern for the suffering of others was beautifully handled. Revathi, along with Vijay Sethupathi, showcases mercy and their feeling of regret through their spotless acting.

The second episode for which Mani Ratnam penned the story was for Thunintha Pin. Directed by Sarjun KM, the emotion associated with this segment is courage and narrates the bravery of a young soldier deployed for a mission in a Naxal infested forest. Courage is the quality that enables a person to encounter danger with firmness.

Atharvaa, the lead actor, for most of the episode, seems confused about what he is doing and is a bit reluctant to display his bravery, except towards the end. Despite the efforts, I wished they have worked on a more engaging story to describe courage, as, by the end of the episode, we wonder what courage is. Except for the fact that it takes courage to face your fear of death, they never managed to recite what they intended to in a convincing manner.

The episode directed by Priyadarshan, Summer of ’92, is a light-hearted comedy segment with Yogi Babu as the lead and is inspired by the life of Mr Innocent Vareed Thekkethala. This episode also has Ramya Nambesan, Nedumudi Venu and Y Gee Mahendran as the supporting cast, and the makers have almost achieved their goals to tickle our funny bone.

Another episode on Navarasa is Payasam, directed by Vasanth, from a story by writer T. Janakirama and they confront the emotion of “Disgust”. ‘Delhi’ Ganesh, a prolific actor, strongly personates the feeling of hatred and the intense disapproval and dissatisfaction aroused by a fellow human being. Aditi Balan, as his daughter, is one of the few actors of Navarasa who brought the exact emotion to her face and made it look all-natural.

Karthik Subbaraj’s newfound love for the Eelam Tamil people is evident and continues even in Navarasa. The Jagame Thanthiram director tries to “Make Peace” with the Lankan Army for the sake of the LTTE rebels through his short film of the same name. Karthik Subbaraj narrates a compelling tale of love, kindness, freedom and harmony with National Award winner Bobby Simha as the lead cast and Gautham Vasudev Menon as the supporting cast. Santhosh Narayanan, like always, elevates the film with this tremendous background score.

“Anger is the cause of all miseries. One should know how to control it. Otherwise, life will be miserable”, says a furious Padayappa to Neelambari in the blockbuster film ‘Padayappa’. Described as a strong feeling of annoyance and displeasure, often people land in trouble due to their uncontrollable temper. Roudhiram, directed by Arvind Swami, leverages this disgusting human behaviour.

A wave of meaningful anger turns into a blind rage and lands an innocent guy in jail. I loved how Arvind Swami, along with ace cinematographer Santhosh Sivan captures this toxic human behaviour and translates it into a captivating drama. Furthermore, A.R. Rahman gives the necessary boost through his riveting music, which blends to the needs.

Finally, the last and my least favourite episode of Navarasa is Inmai, directed by Sarjun KM, and has Siddharth, Parvathy Thiruvothu and Ammu Abirami as the lead cast. They ply on the unpleasant emotion of “Fear”, caused by the perception of danger or pain, in this case, terrified reverence to a Jin. The makers managed to terrorise the onscreen cast with a supernatural creature but failed to invoke the same reaction with the audience and end the short as an ordinary thriller.

Overall, Navarasa is a mixed bag of emotions. It entertains in bits and pieces, as some episodes enthral us with its pragmatic storytelling, relatable characters, but, on the other hand, a couple of segments are a complete miss. They fail to engage the audience with a story worth narrating and fumbles before filling the expectations.

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Nevertheless, Navarasa rides high on the director’s skill, top-notch technical team and fantastic performances from the complete cast. Watch the series on Netflix here.

‘Navarasa’ Rating – 3/5

Images via Netflix India South

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