Tourist Family (Tamil)
Abishan Jeevinth’s debut film is, quite simply put, all heart. Apart from one bad apple, there isn’t a single bad bone in any of its inhabitants. This includes not just the lead Sri Lankan family (led astutely by Sasikumar), who cross the deep sea to land in Tamil Nadu to escape their country’s economic crisis, but also every small passerby that witnesses their quirks. Right from the gentle police officer (Ramesh Thilak), who is charmed enough to shrug off his duty, to the lady across the street who brings steaming cups of tea to the scared family desperately seeking warmth, kindness is what sustains Dharmadas and co in Chennai. In a way, it is also this kindness that sustains Abishan’s film, even when its depiction borders on the jejune.
In another film, the story of a family fleeing Jaffna to navigate illegal immigration in India would perhaps take on the tenor of a raw, seething documentary. But this is a film titled Tourist Family. That’s not to say the film trivialises its subject. It simply chooses to focus on a world where everything and everyone is ideal.
The film follows the life of a sweet little family: Dharmadas (Sasikumar) and Vasanthi (Simran) are the kind of parents who apologise to their children for raising their voices. And appropriately, Nithu (Mithun Jai Sankar) and Mulli (Kamalesh) are children who deeply appreciate their refugee parents’ struggles. Now in any other movie, these characters might run the risk of being overly saccharine. But not here.
The tight performances of the ensemble cast keep things light and giggly throughout the film’s 128-minute runtime. Much of the film details the slow inroads that the Dharmadas family makes in the community — over tea and aromatic lavaria (Sri Lankan dumplings). There’s a tiny message neatly tucked into nearly every household in the neighbourhood that the family befriends. The locality’s grump, Richard (MS Bhasker), calls out the two-tumbler system during tea with a potential employee, while the landlord’s daughter teaches the frigid Nithu the art of embracing rejection.
This is the sort of film where the only tragedy that has a place is the kind of death facilitated by true love. Every emotional scene, however, is undercut by some moment of mirth (produced endlessly by child actor Kamalesh). But the filmmaker takes the time to etch out each relationship so well that the frequent tonal shifts don’t take much away from the scenes’ purpose.
Even so, as the film keeps stacking the family’s kindness into a big jenga fort, one sweet gesture on top of another, the cynic in us also begins to wonder: does a family need to go so far out of their way to be good in order to be accepted? Do refugees deserve goodwill only when they prove themselves to be “good refugees” and wear their goodness on their sleeves? To its defence, the film is more about the unexpected kindness we often find in strangers, rather than the struggles of refugees. It nudges us to look past our differences and stand together in the strength of our oneness. However, is staying apolitical the right course of action for a film that bases much of its premise on Sri Lankan Tamils?
The film’s syrupy pleasantness also leaves little room for conflicts to be fleshed out. A track involving a distasteful policeman on the family’s tail generates almost zero tension. But again, we’re forced to forget these discrepancies when it’s time for goodness hour. In one scene, MS Bhaskar’s Richard is reluctantly forced into a cute bear hug by Sasikumar’s Dharmadas in exchange for his kindness. Tourist Family often feels like that hug. It forces us into a hug with its sticky sweetness, but we eventually lean in with a smile.
If there’s anything Sruthi loves more than watching films, it’s writing about it. Sruthi Ganapathy Raman’s words can also be read in Film Companion, Scroll.in, and The Times of India.
Disclaimer: This review was not paid for or commissioned by anyone associated with the film. Neither TNM nor any of its reviewers have any sort of business relationship with the film’s producers or any other members of its cast and crew.