Navarasa (TV series)

Navarasa (transl. Nine emotions) is a 2021 Indian Tamil-language anthology television series created by Mani Ratnam, who also collaborated with Jayendra Panchapakesan to produce it through their newly formed banner Justickets. The series features nine stand-alone episodes based on the Indian concept of the Navarasas, filmed by Priyadarshan, Karthik Subbaraj, Vasanth, Arvind Swami, Bejoy Nambiar, Karthick Naren, Gautham Vasudev Menon, Sarjun KM and Rathindran R. Prasad. It comprises an ensemble cast of Suriya, Revathi, Vijay Sethupathi, Siddharth, Parvathy Thiruvothu, Prayaga Martin, Arvind Swamy, Prasanna, Poorna, Delhi Ganesh, Rohini, Gautham Vasudev Menon, Yogi Babu, Manikuttan, Remya Nambeesan, Aditi Balan, Bobby Simha, Riythvika, Sree Raam, Atharvaa, Nedumudi Venu, Anjali and Kishore, amongst others.

The series was conceived when Mani Ratnam and Jayendra were collaborating on social causes, as a project for a streaming service that could generate funds to help daily-wage workers and other members of the Film Employees Federation of South India (FEFSI) affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Marking the digital debut for Mani Ratnam and the production studio Madras Talkies, the project saw Justickets team up with FEFSI and Bhoomika Trust for fundraising activities. After an official announcement in October 2020 by the cast and crew, including the directors, writers, composers, cinematographers and editors, production of short film-episodes began during the same month and ended by March 2021. Three films proposed by directors Halitha Shameem, Ponram and K. V. Anand, were dropped during the production stage.

Navarasa was an eagerly anticipated Tamil streaming project, thanks to the star cast, technicians and directors working in the project and the promotional campaigns. The series was released on 6 August 2021 through Netflix.

Premise

Each of the nine episodes represent a different emotion or rasa- anger, compassion, courage, disgust, fear, laughter, love, peace and wonder.

Episodes

Plot

Edhiri (Karuna – Compassion)

On 1 January 2020, Dheena (Vijay Sethupathi) visits the house of an unidentified man. The man's wife, Savithri (Revathi,) is tutoring the children of her domestic worker. After a while, Savithri goes to her husband Sivaraman's room and finds, to her horror, that he has been killed. Meanwhile, Dheena sends his wife, Malli (Sai Tamhankar,) and toddler daughter to safety and takes shelter in his grandmother's house in Kerala. As the police investigation commences, Savithri's son Varun (Ashok Selvan) unsuccessfully persuades her to reveal the identity of the killer.

Meanwhile, a mysterious man (Prakash Raj) at Dheena's grandmother's house repeatedly tries to speak to him, much to Dheena's annoyance. Later, in October 2020, Dheena admits that he sought refuge after killing the man he holds responsible for his elder brother's suicide. He met Sivaraman to check if the latter had any "remorse, regret or compassion", but became enraged at Sivaraman insulting Dheena's dead brother. The mysterious man (now revealed as a reincarnation of Sivaraman) declares himself to be the manifestation of all the hatred that Dheena has nurtured against those who hurt him since his youth. He asks if Dheena has forgiven the others after Sivaraman's death. He adds that Dheena hates his character, not his body, which Dheena is still carrying, and that he will continue to shadow Dheena until he has rid himself of the latter. He asks Dheena to consider what he would have done had he been in his shoes. Finally, he sings lines from the song "Manithan Enbavan Deivam Aagalam" ("A man can become God" – from the film Sumaithaangi). Later, Dheena is sent to another destination, with the news that Malli and their daughter will soon catch up with him. Over the phone, he cryptically tells Malli that he doesn't know if what he has decided is right or wrong and that he hopes she understands.

In early 2021, Savithri leaves her house to visit the temple, despite opposition from a visiting relative (a reference to restrictions on Hindu widows). As she is praying at a spot in the temple complex, Dheena comes up to her and seeks forgiveness for his deed. Savithri implies that her husband and Dheena could have better handled all the events leading up to the murder, and that she has not spoken to her husband for several years due to an argument, and her own non-interference in the final confrontation makes her guilty as well. She concludes that she has no right to forgive or punish Dheena.

Summer of '92 (Haasya – Laughter)

Sometime after 2014, Velusamy (Yogi Babu), a famous comedian, is invited as the chief guest to his old school. As he gives a speech to the student body, he reminisces about his time in the school, including being the naughtiest kid who failed 9th grade four times. Each time, he happened to get on the bad side of his teachers, which led to his failing. He recalls that during his last year as a 9th grader (1992), he ended up spoiling the chances of an arranged marriage for a teacher, Lakshmi (Remya Nambeesan), who was also the principal’s (Nedumudi Venu) daughter. Her family had an annoying dog, King, which the principal constantly tried to get rid of, but King is stubborn and always returns home to Lakshmi, regardless of how far away it gets abandoned. As a last resort, the principal recruits Velusamy and his friends to take King far away from his house on the day a prospective groom is coming. However, King escapes, ends up being covered in feces, and starts running back home. Just as the prospective groom’s family is about to formalize the alliance with Lakshmi, King enters and shakes off the feces from its body, coating everyone in the house. The marriage is cancelled, and the principal kicks Velusamy out of school.

At the end of the flashback, Velusamy apologizes to Lakshmi, who has remained unmarried all these years. She says she forgives him and praises him for his accomplishments despite not passing 9th grade. But she adds that the smell from that fateful day has still not left her house.

Project Agni (Adbhutha – Wonder)

The episode starts with Vishnu (Arvind Swami) recording himself discussing his struggles after discovering something about reality and the future. Flashbacks are shown of his wife and son on a beach, where he is deep in thought and not paying attention to his family. Some scenes show him standing alone on that beach with a gun. It is revealed that Vishnu is a scientist who researches space and time. He had rejected a job offer from ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation) as he disliked working in a confined space and preferred his mind to be free.

Sometime around 2020, Vishnu invites his friend Krishna (Prasanna), who works in ISRO, to his home to share something extraordinary. Vishnu shows him the date 21 December 2012, which is when the Maya calendar supposedly predicts that the world would end. Since that did not happen, he theorizes that an intelligent alien species called “Anunnaki” is the one controlling reality. He tells Krishna that the universe is a computer simulation controlled by them, that our whole life is programmed, and we are characters in a game of life and death. He believes that is why astrology also works. Krishna grows increasingly irritated with Vishnu's theories and decides to leave. Suddenly, Vishnu closes his eyes and appears to do something. Another Vishnu and Krishna appear in the house, and both tell the original Krishna to stay and listen to the rest of Vishnu’s theory. Vishnu goes on to say there are two worlds: one is the world we are physically alive in, and the other is a subconscious “dream” world in which we live subconsciously. He believes that on 21 December 2012, our dream world started to be destroyed by population growth. He thinks that if things continue this way, humans will one day lose the ability to use their imagination or dream.

Vishnu invented a machine called Drifter with Kalki (Sai Siddharth), his research assistant since around 2015, in which he could travel in time through his mind to study the "dream state". He believes that our whole life is mapped out already in our subconscious dream world, and we could learn about the future and the almighty ‘Creator’ if we accessed it. He reveals that he has mastered reaching his subconscious mind, which gives him the power to connect with the "creator", but he has been using a psychedelic drug called DMT to help him accomplish this.

During his last Drift, which lasted only 10 minutes, he changed something in the past, which led to his wife Lakshmi (Poorna) and child disappearing in the present. He tells Krishna that while drifting, the person has no control over time or the destination. He believes that when he drifted, he interfered with the simulation created by the Anunnaki and caused a glitch that erased his family. He adds that his ability to make things in his imagination a reality is a dangerous weapon. Vishnu gives Krishna a suitcase labelled ‘Project Agni’ and tells him to open it when he leaves. He wanted to share his knowledge with him and trusts that he will use it for good.