It's the unmistakable curse to any good cinema. It's never a success at first try. It is initially confusing, difficult to accept, but it allows you eventually understand it's quality, before finally allowing the movie to enjoy the much needed adulation years after.
Solo, Bejoy Nambiar (David)'s second Tamil feature film unfortunately falls into this distinguished list.
There's something in water that is served in Mani Ratnam's household, isnt it? Being Mani's former assistant, Bejoy Nambiar mantains the same obsession about multiple narrations in his movies. Be it the story of different 'David' in his Tamil debut, to four different stories (none related to eachother) told in Solo, Bejoy maintains a level of craftness that reminds you the quality of teaching from his teacher. Make no mistakes, Bejoy is the future when it comes to storytelling in India.
The movie, told in 4 different sets in stories, each ranging around 20-30 minutes starts of with the story of Sekhar, a stammering college student to Trilok, a doctor living in a hillstation, to Siva, a gangster to finally Rudra, a military officer fighting to stop his girlfriend from getting married to someone else. In other words, Solo is based on Lord Shiva's four different avatars -- Shekhar, Trilok, Shiva and Rudra.
The twist to these four different sets of stories comes in the element each brings. Each one of the character is depicted using different elements. Sekhar (Water), Trilok (Wind), Siva (Fire) and Rudra (Earth) each have their own story archs, revolving the theme of love, lost, redemption and revenge. Bejoy also allows you to make small connections to this otherwise unrelated stories by infusing similar themes in its' storyline. For example, all four stories has the element of a baby, either unborn or born. All four stories also throws in a big plot twist towards the end.
Though an anthology, each one of Bejoy's (short) stories has it's signifying moments. Let it be scene of Radhika telling Sekhar that she likes him because he always completes his sentence though he stammers, and we cut to the scene at the end where Sekhar struggles to say the word 'Radhika' at the hospital.
Or the scene in Trilok's story, in where the final conversation at the hospital as Trilok watches Justin (who killed his wife in an accident) die on the hospital bed.
"You're a good man Justin. But not good enough. Or else you wouldn't have let my wife die," he says as he leaves the room.
Or even the story of Shiva, who does not even say a single word throughout the story, instead choosing to emote using his eyes and face the entire time. The scene in where he watches the CCTV footage of his father's killing is brilliant acting from Dulquer. Bejoy also scores in the scene in where Shiva's brother is shown running on the street, while a person is shown sleeping on the bed. Both are these shown in the same frame as the zoom shifts. Classy touch.
And finally, the story of Rudra highlights a rather beautiful potrayal of marriage at the end of the story, with Sita Kalyanam as the background music. Nice touch!
All said and done, Solo is not without any flaws. The rushed pacing of the stories, though staying true to the anthology format does not help the experience at all. Bejoy fails to understand that the concept of an anthology is still alien to a Tamil audience, hence some level of clarity in showcasing the fact that these four stories are completely unrelated to eachother would have helped.
Among the four, only Trilok and Shiva's stories had good enough storylines that grabs one's attention - whereas Sekhar and Rudra's story arch leaves much to be desired. One could help but to wonder on whether Trilok or Shiva's story should be made into a full feature story, considering the level of depth it has.
One of the biggest strength of the movie comes from the fact the Bejoy uses a completely different technical team, from cinemetographers to music composers for each one of these four stories - allowing each story to have it's own identity and persona.
Finally, what else can be said about Dulquer Salman, the film's single biggest strength. He carries the film entirely with his 4 different roles. A good actor is able to make you believable that he is indeed a character and not the actor, and Dulquer sells the idea very well. Let it be the stammering Sekhar or the terrfying Shiva, he looks every inch of his part.
In summary, Solo is one of those movies we will eventually look back and regret not giving it the accolades it deserved. Multiple short stories is the future, with more directors using it to tell many different stories, instead of streaching a single story to fit into a 2 hour film. Bejoy has certainly paved way for the future.
Solo is currently available on Netflix. This is a story that needs to be experienced and encouraged. Bejoy Nambiar is a director that completely understands the craft of filmmaking, and these lack of hits is a huge obstacle in us cultivating talents like Bejoy. Do cinema a favour and go watch it.
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