Aramm - down the rabbit hole

Aramm

Tamil, 2017

Directed by Gopi National

Stars - Nayanatara, Ramachadran Durairaj, Sunu Lakshmi

Mohan's Measure ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Makkaḷāga ceyyuṅkaḷ. Makkaḷukkāga ceyyuṅkaḷ. Do it as people,. do it for people. 

The concept of Aramm is the foundation of what students of Eastern philosophy call the Tamil Tradition. Rooted less in what is obligatory than what is benevolent, aramm contrasts honor and tradition with kindness and selflessness.  The latter, the Ancient Tamils say, is what binds humanity to the Eternal. 

2017's critically acclaimed Aramm puts a now matured and sincere Nayanatara into a role that takes her to new heights as an IAS official fighting bureaucracy and protocol while struggling to contain her own feminine instincts.  Aramm is at once a frightening thriller as a hopeful lesson in accepting our God-given ability to do and be good. 

Accompanying Ms. Nayanatara are two accomplished actors in their own, playing terrified parents who must hold onto their sanity while government officials argue and debate over how to save their young daughter who has fallen into an abandoned well. 

The well and all the half hearted methods employed are perhaps  symbolic of the deep, dark,  dangerous emptiness in our hearts that is keeping us from focusing on what is important. For life is not measured in self aggrandizement, but rather, in self respect.