Miga Miga Avasaram Movie Review: An Unnecessarily Stretched Out Drama About Answering Nature’s Call

Director: Suresh Kamatchi

Cast: Sri Priyanka, Seeman

Miga Miga Avasaram is an example of how exceedingly difficult it has become to write scripts for Tamil movies right now. Given how our filmmakers believe that it is IMPOSSIBLE to write a film without a social angle or a message, we, as the audience, must realise that there aren't too many fresh issues left in the world for them to educate us about. The farmer's plight has become too passé. Shankar and Murugadoss have turned corruption into their sole proprietorship. What about adulteration in food? Aruvam just did it. Our problematic education system? Samuthirakani got there first. And, women's issues? Bigil just addressed this from many different angles. The makers of Miga Miga Avasaram must have thought really really hard to arrive at something solid. But they couldn't, so they settled for a film about liquid.

The film traces the events that unfold one day when Samandhi (Sri Priyanka), a female police constable, is deputed by her vengeful superior to stay guard at a bridge as a VIP's escort convoy passes by. Not only does she have to stand there throughout the day under the hot sun, but she also has to control her bodily urges, given there are no rest rooms in sight. Leaving her post, even for a minute, means earning the wrath of her superior. What's worse is that she's just finished drinking a big bottle of water. What she is facing is the consequence of ratting on an officer way above her in the career ladder. But her enemy right now is her bladder.

When one reads this, it's easy to assume that the film plays out a like a comedy. In a way, it does. In no other film will you witness so many shots of men taking a leak, perhaps to show how much easier it is for them. Things start looking bleak when you also get one too many closeups of Samandhi, either tearing up or panicking, each time there's the sight or the sound of water dripping. The film needs to be given due credit, though, for building this tension, because never before have I craved for a loo break within the first 30 minutes of a movie.

But the deal is, the film doesn't have a lot more to say. It plays out like a series of incidents designed to just prolong Samandhi's trip to the loo. Given the topic, shouldn't the makers have worried more about how scenes 'flow' from one to another? There's also a red herring thrown in there; basically, a commentary on how the police looks suspiciously at Sri Lankan Tamils. But this angle feels like it is there only to pad up and distract us from a thin plot. It also feels too stretched out to matter beyond a point. The performance of the actors in smaller parts makes it even harder to sit through.

Perhaps, a better filmmaker could have done something great with this idea. Cleverer writing and a different tone could have worked too. It's not the number one film the makers thought it would be.