101 Chodyangal

Story: The film narrates the struggles of a boy whose teacher asks him to frame 101 questions.

Review: 101 Chodyangal follows a boy on a mission. His teacher asks him to frame 101 questions and he only needs to find the questions. His teacher would give answers as well as a rupee for each question the boy asks. Sidharth Siva, while making his debut film, comes up with a sweet tale and narrates it without complexities.

Minon – who plays the lead – is a boy with a natural curiosity perennially inscribed on his face. His friends make fun of him for his queer name - Anil Kumar Bokaro. Each question supposedly evolves from his own life - a rather bleak one with a jobless but loving father, a bed-ridden little sister and a struggling mother. His questions are not ground-breaking ones, but simple queries that he stumbles upon every day.

Sidharth makes it happen without distorting his narrative. The pursuit of questions slowly becomes a frantic search for a meaning in his life. There is a coldness that gradually replaces curiosity on the boy’s face; something that juts out of an otherwise simple narrative. What actually mars this seemingly sweet progression is the use of lengthy sequences that leisurely follow the boy walking on the road, running across by-lanes, holding his book carrying the questions.

Indrajith dons the role of his sympathetic, good-hearted teacher, who is slightly stereotyped but warm enough to strike the right chord. There is a struggle for existence which assumes equal significance even with its share of politics. 101 Chodyangal might be chided for the over-play of hazy sentimentalism but this movie stands out for a memorable debut by the director and a brilliant cast.