Motherhood is Complex and can be understood only through the Heart

In the yesteryears when the patriarchal system of society was prevalent mothers and daughters often functioned as a common team (atleast externally). This was largely because there weren't too many differences as far as the aspirations of two subsequent generations were concerned. However, today things are starkly different. The generation gaps are obvious and often fairly huge. Given this backdrop it is easy for young women to disagree with or even rebel against their mothers. 

Motherhood is one of the central themes of Emuthi Puthi.

The three protagonists hail from one family and belong to three different generations- Ritika, Indira and Makhoni. Ritika despises her life in a small town as she feels shackled by her mother's (Indira's) domineering ways. Infact the disillusionment is enough for her to plan an escape. But for Ritika who is a girl in her late teens this veritable escape is no easy feat as she is constrained by money. Interestingly her grandmother Makhoni aged 67 shares her desire and has for long dreamt and fantasized about her exit into the other realm.

Makhoni is a dreamy soul and wants to live the earthly realm on a boat rowed by a mythical angel in a lake hidden from the world. She innocently believes in a folklore that on reaching the angel, he will offer a special sweet fish that has to be consumed. This consumption will then license her passage to the afterworld. An agreement of convenience takes place between the granddaughter and grandmother.

An agreement of convenience takes place between granddaughter and grandmother. For an astronomical sum (atleast for a young girl), Ritika will smuggle and ferry her grandmother to her destination. With her newfound money, Ritika on the other hand will escape home.

Although the initial execution of the stealthy plan does happen, the duo encounters a slew of hurdles on the way. To compound their woes, a very livid Indira is on their heels. Indira is incidentally the local cop and the escape routes fall under her jurisdiction.

As the trip branches off both pursuer and pursued meet a bunch of characters and discover new meanings to their own lives. In the culmination of the storyline all three protagonists experience certain feelings that make them realise that the umbilical connect between a mother and daughter (a connection that also extends from a grandmother to a granddaughter) transcends beyond everything in life. It goes beyond logic, beyond conflict and everything that a human mind is capable of perceiving and experiencing.

There is a saying that a relationship between a mother and her daughter is unique and unparalleled. Some relationship experts believe that somehow a relationship between a mother and son, a relationship between a father and son and even a relationship between a father and daughter cannot mirror the idiosyncrasies and interdependence that inherently characterize a mother daughter relationship. And this relationship is indeed marred by a slew of complexities.

Now in the yesteryears when the patriarchal system of society was prevalent mothers and daughters often functioned as a common team (atleast externally). This was largely because there weren't too many differences as far as the aspirations of two subsequent generations were concerned. However, today things are starkly different. The generation gaps are obvious and often fairly huge. Given this backdrop it is easy for young women to disagree with or even rebel against their mothers. However, despite the most raging and vociferous differences of ideology the love between a mother and daughter never extinguishes. It always is in the subconscious and ultimately and invariably manifests, sometimes in the most unexpected situations and ways.

Emuthi Puthi at many levels is a telling portrayal of these unpronounced but very pertinent facts. One of the final scenes where an aged Makhoni has to make a decision (after knowing how much her granddaughter loves her and how earnestly and urgently her daughter Indira wants her to go home) is an endearing reflection of the age-old adage –Mums know best. The film is also a very convincing reiteration of the fact that mother daughter relationships are always very extreme and there are no halfway measures in terms of any emotion experienced in this equation. Be it anger, be it love, be it disagreement and be it even the dependency factor –everything is very intense. Infact so intense that it sometimes seems very complicated too. And this intensity can be decoded only through the heart and Emuthi Puthi at one important level drives home this point.

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