In Kiruthiga Udhayanidhi’s Paper Rocket, a group of patients undergoing therapy decide to go on a trip. This trip would eventually help them a lot more than their therapy. Essentially, this means that Paper Rocket is a road movie, sorry, road series to be more precise, if that is an acceptable term. And this would in turn mean that the characters, their arcs and their emotions are what are going to matter more than the plot. Well, these matter for any movie or series but in this genre, they become all the more important.
Split into 7 episodes with the average time of an episode clocking less than 30 minutes, Kiruthiga has paced Paper Rocket beautifully. The series never feels over indulgent and is crisp. But the crisp run time never comes in the way of establishing the characters or our emotional connect with them. Kalidas Jayaram who plays Jeeva can be considered the protagonist though every character is given due importance. It is Jeeva’s character and his emotional state that is established in the first two episodes. Through him we get to know the other characters. This is a smart writing decision because this means that the backstory of the others gets lesser screen time but each of these tracks is properly written and we get to know enough about these characters and begin to care for them.
The performances are good. Kalidas Jayaram keeps it simple and subtle. He comes across as a natural on screen. Renuka as Valliamma is terrific. So is Nirmal Palazhi who plays Unni. In fact, almost everyone does a good job. Melodrama is minimal to non-existent. Only the Karaikudi episode involving a property dispute between two siblings comes across as slightly dramatic. But even here it doesn’t go overboard and it also sort of helps to break the monotony a little.
Paper Rocket covers a whole lot of pertinent issues including parental abuse, sexual abuse, childhood trauma and mental health amongst other things. This is a series that talks about life and death. As light and feel good as it is, Paper Rocket is quite an emotional series and is even philosophical at times. The van (which the characters refer to as 'Saavu Vandi') or the trip which these characters go seems to be a metaphor for life itself. Jeeva (Kalidas Jayaram) is fighting with guilt and the trip helps him to redeem himself. As he is cursing himself for not spending enough time with his father, he comes to realize how his father’s influence on his character is now touching other’s lives. Then there is Tiger (Karunakaran) who has been emotionally abused by his extremely religious mother. Kiruthiga tries to touch such important topics through each of the characters. Each track involving these characters has them learning and unlearning a whole lot of things. The messages that Kiruthiga wants to convey are effectively put across by these characters and their interactions. It never comes across as though someone is preaching us from across the screen.
Bottomline
Paper Rocket is well made, engaging, has nice little moments, has us emotionally invested and has some fine performances. Just like its title, it is both light and heavy. A light hearted take on some heavy emotions.
