Super Deluxe is a movie that is beautifully directed and deals with multiple themes and genres at the same time. It questions a lot of gender and social stigmas while at the same time addressing other issues and biases of society. It inquires into morality and the meaning of life in much more intense ways. It also gives a view of human boundaries and how they are derived varying from person to person. The movie shows four different and variant points of view which are beautifully merged and entangled to create this one intense movie. There are a bunch of eccentric characters that cast doubt upon everything in life. There are a lot of interconnected themes and subjects that come together in this movie which starts as a black comedy and ends as a drama and tragedy on life, sex and spirituality.
The couple at the start of the movie is in an arranged marriage and then a series of funny yet unfortunate events change their dynamic completely. Vaembu doesn't shy away from admitting a 'transgression', to her husband. At the same time, she doesn't see it as a mistake that should push her to bear the burden of seeing her husband shocked. Instead of the major issue at hand, she focuses on why she and her husband were not even able to strike up one good conversation despite being married. Towards the end, the farting corpse seems to play the part of a marriage counsellor.
Elsewhere, a motley group of sex-deprived teenagers visit a CD shop to satisfy their quest. Another storyline emerges from that and deals with a completely different issue. One of these boys’ parents is a porn star.
There is mention of the transgender community in the form of Shilpa and Raasukutty’s story. Shilpa is an honest portrayal and is very much humanised, we can see why society rejects her here. We can feel her helplessness when she is assaulted at the police station, there is a certain vulnerability in her character. On the other hand, Raasukutty doesn't care if his father is a man or a woman. All the little kid wants is a parent and their love towards him. His innocence and his way of dealing with a trans person teach volumes. This movie draws dark humour from the most unexpected places. One example is when Shilpa demonstrates how transgenders earn money with a sharp clap. Even in our day-to-day lives, we differentiate between right and wrong. We don't do the right things all the time. For the most part, we act upon what society pushes us to do.
There are not one but two scenes of threatened rape in the movie, one of which has an ugly outcome as seen in the movie.
There are various references to religion and belief in the movie as well. It is portrayed properly in the plotline of a deeply religious person who has neglected important information in the name of his god. He later realises that his whole life has been a lie and thus breaks open the sacred statue in anger. A brilliant touch is added to his story when he finds diamonds inside the broken statue.
Super deluxe, overall, is good entertainment with a compilation of multiple genres and contrasting issues. There’s dark humour, and elements from science fiction, noir etc. On my first watch of the movie, it is pretty overwhelming at the start where the facts are exploding one by one and keep accumulating; the middle part kind of takes a slower seat giving me time to process the happenings; the end then becomes more overpowering and profound.
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