3BHK Review

Siddharth seems to be having a moment of clarity as an actor. The 46-year-old has been diving into serious roles with the vigour of someone with something to prove. In Chittha, he played a small-town man navigating the aftermath of a sexual assault on his niece. A heart-wrenching watch even by Tamil film standards, Chittha highlighted not just Siddharth's dramatic abilities (which we've known since Rang De Basanti), but also his commitment to tackling difficult societal themes.

3BHK fits into the Chittha mould as another unrelenting portrait of misery - in this case, the middle-class struggle to become a homeowner. Adapted from Aravindh Sachidanandam's short story and directed by Sri Ganesh (8 Thottakkal, Kuruthi Aattam), 3BHK follows Vasudevan (R Sarathkumar) and his family over several years. Siddharth plays Prabhu, the elder child who bears the brunt of the family's pressure to fulfil the oppressive middle-class checklist: study well, graduate, get a salaried job, marry off the younger sister, and buy a house.

The film's episodic, loosely plotted structure and its largely humourless examination of the middle-class psyche grow wearisome after a few beats. Most scenes are uncomfortably familiar and painfully drawn out: Prabhu being forced to study IT despite his disinterest, on the promise of "future prospects"; Vasudevan realising that the down payment he's been saving for years no longer covers the surge in housing prices; or the way medical emergencies and hasty weddings drain bank accounts.

In due course, the family's rented home begins to feel like a nightmarish stage for events ruled by Murphy's Law - everything that can go wrong does. Prabhu is repeatedly beaten down by fate and misfortune. When redemption arrives, it is a small relief and not a very convincing one. We expect a full-fledged critique of the characters' blind pursuit of upward mobility. Instead, one form of toxic idealism is replaced by another. The characters eagerly discard the old playbook of following the herd, only to embrace the romanticism of following one's heart. Rather than a nuanced portrait of real life, we get a veiled lecture on how to emancipate ourselves from societal pressure ("study the major you want," "marry the person you like," etc.).

Amrit Ramnath's background score is tear-jerking, but by the fifteenth time those sad chords play, the effect is numbing, if not unintentionally amusing. The body language of the actors, particularly Sarathkumar, is extreme in its affect: hunched posture, downcast eyes. Devayani, who plays the mother, is a mute character given to overly theatrical nods and pained expressions. Siddharth, however, has the rare ability to bring a sense of lightness even to moments of intense sorrow, which is a welcome contrast to the one-note performances of Sarathkumar and Devayani. Meena Raghunath, who plays his younger sister, gets her moment in the spotlight with an emotional monologue, and nails it.

But the film's crowning glory has nothing to do with houses. It's a short and endearing romance between Prabhu and his childhood sweetheart Aishu, played by the wonderfully talented Chitra J Achar (Sapta Sagaralu Dhaati). Her arrival is a welcome break from the film's sombre tone, and though she has precious few scenes, her presence leaves a lasting impression.

3BHK is by no means an easy watch. For those who have lived through the everyday indignities it portrays, it may even feel PTSD-inducing. While the film's message about stepping away from the rat race does come through, it lacks freshness and fails to provoke deeper reflection. Still, it's commendable that a movie willing to tackle such grave and discomforting subject matter is being made and championed by big-name actors like Siddharth. That, in itself, is worth a lot.