Siddharth takes the spotlight for his incredibly fine performance. Child actors Sahasra Shree and Aafiya Tasneem are commendable.
Siddharth and Sahasra Shree in 'Chittha'. (X)
Chithha (Tamil)
Director SU Arun Kumar’s Chithha is a grim thriller that primarily deals with the sensitive issue of child sexual abuse.
The film looks to throw light on certain aspects of the sensitive topic that have not been addressed in Tamil cinema, ever before. And for that, Arun Kumar deserves to be appreciated.
However, Chittha stays on course in the first half and loses intensity in the second half.
What starts off as an intense thriller with several significant points to make, ends up being a social drama that is judgemental and preachy in nature.
The story, inspired by a real incident, is set in the town of Palani in Tamil Nadu. Eswaran (Siddharth), the protagonist of the film, is a supervisor with the sanitation department of the municipality.
A poster of the film ‘Chithha’. (X)
He lives with his now-widowed sister-in-law (Anjali Nair) and his eight-year-old niece Sundari (Sahasra Sree).
The young man’s life revolves around his niece who loves him with all her heart and whom she calls Chithha. The bond between uncle and niece is special as it is not just built on love but also trust.
Eswaran also has a couple of close friends, one of whom happens to be a cop named Vadivelu. Interestingly, Vadivelu’s niece Ponni (Abiya Tasneem) and Eswaran’s niece Sundari are also good friends.
One day, Ponni, unable to comprehend her elder sister’s romantic conversation with her boyfriend, assumes that a bevy of deers is present in an area close to her school. She asks Sundari if she would be interested in going to see the animals after school hours.
The two girls plan to give Chithha, who usually picks up Sundari from school, the slip and head to see the animals all on their own.
What happens next is what the film is all about.
The first half of Chithha is just brilliant. It keeps you on tenterhooks and worried that no evil should befall the kids, although you know that the story is heading in that direction.
It makes you get involved in the plot without you even realising it.
The first half also shows the pain of people against whom a false allegation of abuse is levelled. Full marks to Arun Kumar, for actually showcasing the manner in which their lives are shattered and their reputations are left in tatters.
Stills from the film ‘Chithha’. (X)
Arun Kumar exhibits a level of understanding of the issue that no other director has been able to exhibit so far. There is a scene where Eswaran’s girlfriend Sakthi (Nimisha Sajayan) visits him after he is accused of sexually exploiting a child.
Believing that she makes sense, she poses the very same question that several other people have posed to Eswaran, getting him riled.
She asks, “Why did you not take Sundari along with you while looking to drop Ponni?” For an instant, he remains silent and then retorts, “Why should I?” That is one of the finest sequences in the film.
Both statements are heavily loaded and they are delivered with such precision that it hits you hard.
When Sakthi asks the question, what she actually means is that every man is looked at as a possible abuser, no matter how credible his behaviour has been or how intact his integrity is. Therefore, having an alibi would have helped him clear his name.
When Siddharth retorts, saying, “Why should I?”, he just stands up for his rights as a human being — the right of every man to be considered innocent until and unless proven guilty.
His statement carries the loaded message that an innocent man’s word must be enough and that men can’t keep living their lives wondering where the next false accusation is going to come from and whom to have as an alibi to beat it.
However, the second half is where the problem lies. It deals with sequences that show the paedophile harming the child.
Just when you think the narrative will move towards nabbing the paedophile and doling out justice to him, the story’s focus slowly shifts to a completely different angle with Sakthi lecturing Eswaran on how all men are leechers and all that they are worried about is only taking revenge rather than looking to deliver what a woman wants.
Chithha has some impressive performances to offer.
Siddharth as Eswaran takes the spotlight for his incredibly fine performance.
The two kids — Sahasra Shree and Aafiya Tasneem — deliver commendable performances.
To cut a long story short, Chithha is a gripping film that starts off as an intense thriller and ends up being a social drama.
(Views expressed here are personal.)
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