The film has some significant points to make as it throws light on a number of issues that are little known to most people.
Samuthirakani and Abhirami in 'Are You OK Baby?'. (Supplied)
Are You Ok Baby? (Tamil)
Director Lakshmy Ramakrishnan’s Are You OK Baby? is a fairly gripping social drama that keeps you engaged from start to finish.
The film’s plot seems to have been inspired by one of the many cases the director handled while being the anchor of a reality show.
Vidhya (Abhirami) and Balan (Samuthirakani), a couple from Kerala, adopt a baby girl whom they lovingly named Anya.
They start bringing up the child with a lot of love and care. The child, in turn, brings joy and contentment to the couple who have been desperately waiting to turn parents for years together.
‘Are You OK Baby?’ throws light on the adoption process in India. (Supplied)
Everything is fine for a year. Then, a storm starts to brew in their lives.
One fine day, they get a call from a reality show host (Lakshmy Ramakrishnan) who says that the child’s biological mother, Shoba (Mullai Arasi), has approached them seeking help in reclaiming her child.
The shattered couple explains to the anchor that they got custody of the child with due permission from the biological mother and also points out that it was she who chose to give up the child for adoption after realising that she could not bring it up.
Further, Vidhya and Balan point out that they were the ones who bore the hospital costs of the mother when she was pregnant and the treatment costs of the child when it required medical attention.
They also claim to have paid the father a huge amount for the sake of the child.
However, the fact that they paid money soon turns the case against them, and they are charged with child trafficking. What happens next is what the film is all about.
A still from Lakshmy Ramakrishnan’s directorial ‘Are You OK Baby?’. (Supplied)
Are You OK Baby? has some significant points to make as it throws light on a number of issues that are little known to most people.
For instance, it shines a light on how reality shows are conducted. It also depicts how the trauma of individuals and families is exploited by unscrupulous television channels to up their TRP ratings.
More importantly, it highlights how complex the adoption process in India is and how insensitive child adoption laws that are not in touch with ground realities are.
Further, it portrays how many people, who think they have properly adopted a child because they have the permission of the biological mother, find themselves in major problems at a later stage because of not getting the adoption deed ratified in a court of law.
For all of this, the film wins brownie points. However, it is not without its share of problems.
Lakshmy Ramakrishnan in a still from ‘Are You OK Baby?’. (Supplied)
Lakshmy Ramakrishnan, even as she looks to tell a significant story, tries to make her role as an anchor appear as a scapegoat in the film.
Are You OK Baby? comfortably shifts all the blame for the problems caused by the reality show on its director and gives the show host a clean chit.
However, the fact remains that such reality shows are nothing but kangaroo courts and that the anchors are as much to be blamed as the directors of such programmes.
The film has some fine performances coming from its lead actors.
Abhirami as Vidhya and Samuthirakani as Balan win your hearts hands down for their strong performances as a couple yearning for a child.
Mysskin, who appears for a while as the head of the Child Welfare Committee, impresses.
Lakshmy Ramakrishnan and Mullai Arasi deliver what is expected of them.
On the technical front, Ilaiyaraaja’s music is a big plus. It ups the intensity of the developments and makes you get involved in the plot.
Verdict
In all, Are You OK Baby? is more than just okay. It is, in fact, fine.
(Views expressed here are personal.)
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