Feel Good, Through and Through: Gauthamante Radham
In the span of last two years of the dreaded COVId era, a lot of us have turned to films for the ever increasing comfort they give us. Be it a masala film with some powerful punchlines, or a sappy rom-com with cliche endings, films do have the ability to transport you into their world. Or wish you weren’t part of this world, because of how badly the film is done. But that’s a conversation for a different article, or articles in fact. There’s no dearth of bad content out there.
There’s also an interesting element to most of the films we’ve turned to for comfort over the last couple of years. The relatability factor. A year ago, a close friend of mine, suggested I watch a Kannada rom-com, as it summed up his entire experience as a kid who had a crush on one of other tution mates.
Gauthamante Radham to me, sums up the an entire middle class experience in one go. Right from the beginning, where a young boy is sitting next to his grandmother, and hearing her experiences of being in a car for the first time. The young boy Gautham grows up dreaming of one day owning a car. That’s what the middle class experience is. Having a lot, but dreaming of that one thing, or things that we could almost afford, but not quite. And this does change over time, our wants materialise to different forms. As a kid, for the longest time, my biggest wish was to have a flat screen tv. An LCD tv, that would make my daily Cartoon Network consumption, a whole lot better.
Gauthamante Radham, is about Gautham’s dream to have a nice car in his house. A car which he would use for college, a trip with his family and his friends.
As he turns 18, he begins to take classes, under his father’s friend Shibu. Shibu approaches driving, like how Mickey from Rocky would approach boxing. With a strong set of rules, on how a proper driver would approach driving. He lays down the rules, nay commandments of driving
Patience, Confidence, Conciousness, Concentration and Compromise. He then begins to teach Gautam, and humorous situations follow, with Shibu demonstrating practical examples of the 5 commandments. At last, he is there with Gautam on the sidelines, as he takes his driver’s test as well, like a concerned coach shouting instructions on the sidelines.
When Gautam finally gets his license, his father gives him the freedom to select the family car. Very soon he realises, his choice is limited to second hand cars, below the range of 5 lakh. Despite his dream of owning a Honda City being crushed, he chooses a stylish alternative, the Mitsubishi Lancer.
Finally the day arrives. His father heads to the car showroom with Shibu, to pick up Gautam’s long awaited companion. But alas! Fate has played another cruel card, as his father picks up a second hand Nano instead. “Just a safe option”, his father says, we’ll get a better car when you are more experienced.
From there starts, Gautam’s hate relationship with the Nano. From the pretty girl he couldn’t drop home, to the Munnar plans of taking loads and loads of alcohol in the trunk, he begins to hate it more and more. On the other hand, his family falls in love with it. Soon,he’s affectionately called Nanettan, the second son of the family.
Gauthamante Radham isn’t a film that’ll give you a fresher perspective or a kickass plot. Its a film with some wholesome moments, and a lens on how a middle class family works. I related to Gautham so much. There’s so many friends I know that would relate to this situation of a family becoming more well to do, as time passes. As time goes by, we get attached to things, and it’s always the things that we have some horrid memories with too. The bike that wouldn’t start without a kick, the tv that you had to hit to fix, the fridge that always, had frosting issues. These tiny issues, are things we look back with a certain nostalgia, and these things are what humanises these seemingly non living things to us.
Gautham’s grandmother’s innocence warms your heart. Played by Valsala Menon, the whole time, she’s on the screen, it feels strangely familiar. When she talks to Gautam about when she rode in a car for the first time, she has that same childhood innocence that I would have had describing a story to my parents about my first roller coaster ride.
Another plus point of the film has to be Punya Elizabeth. I am entirely, fully, completely in love with her after this film. She gets so many things right. Right from her beginning scenes, she absolutely steals the show.
But the real star has to be our dear Old Nanettan, playing a delightful metaphor in a film that’s just heart, heart, heart
Gauthamante Radham is streaming on Amazon Prime Video
