A meandering tale on kinship
“Unga amma Chennai la enna pannitu irrundhanga?” (What did your mother do in Chennai?) pops up on the subtitles, translating a character asking two Tamil men in Bengali about their mother. This clever play on the legendary line from Baasha does not feel forced or out of place in Suresh Mari’s directorial debut J Baby, in which Urvasi plays the titular role.
J Baby introduces us to Shankar (Dinesh) and Senthil (Maaran), two of Baby’s five children who have their own reasons to not talk to each other. Like the first act of every buddy cop film, this unlikely duo is put on a mission together; they get summoned to their local police station to be informed that their missing mother is now in West Bengal, thousands of kilometres away from their home and it is up to them to put their differences aside to bring her back. But what is the reason behind their resentment? Why and how did Baby land in West Bengal? And what was she doing earlier in Chennai? As the brothers embark on their journey, a series of flashbacks unravel the knots.
Filmmaker Suresh’s nifty touches in the form of callbacks to his previous scenes make for some of the most entertaining bits. Until Urvasi comes in and steals our attention completely in the second half, it is the unintentional banter between the brothers that takes up a good chunk of the first half.
It is when we get to know the reason behind why Baby left her home — and who she was in her hometown — that the film shifts to top gear. Urvasi carries the film singlehandedly through its best phase. Be it her prowess over the character’s slang, her transformations thanks to the mood swings, and how they change when her motherly instincts kick in, the veteran actor aces her role as Baby, who, after years of taking in agony and pressure, turns into a volatile individual that her five children have a hard time managing. But that is where the flair of Suresh’s writing kicks in, making a character considered “abnormal” to be someone people should aspire to be. There is a scene where, in the heat of the moment, Shankar reacts adversely towards Baby only for her to come back to him for food.
To push the point home, director Suresh overdramatises the mother sentiment at times, and we get shots like a dog feeding her pups and a slew of pregnant women appearing throughout the film; this pulls us out of the relatability that J Baby tries to maintain considering it is based on true events.
J Baby, initially, also reminds one of 60 Vayadu
Maaniram which also deals with an elderly person with mental health conditions who disappears from his house, but this film develops into something unique.
Had there been more consistency with how the intriguing story unfolds, and the tonal shifts less jarring, it would have been a wellrounded product. Nevertheless, J
Baby is still a heartwarming tale with astounding performances that could leave you in tears — or splits — in equal measure.