In the new Telugu anthology Addham (mirror), three distinctive short films are connected by a single theme: 'Morality is an ever-changing goalpost'.
The omnibus features short films written by Siva Ananth (who had also directed one) while Sarjun KM and Bharath Neelakandan have helmed a short film each, produced by SNDS Dreamcatchers LLP. Addham is now streaming on OTT platform, Aha.
The film starts with Sarjun KM's (Maa, Lakshmi) 'The Road That Never Ends', a layered story that truly explores the potential of Addham's underlying theme. Featuring solid performances by Rohini, Jayaprakash and Praveen, the film explores the grey area of deception with an emotional twist at the end. The story plays to the filmmaker's strengths of portraying grey shades of morality and delivers a gripping tale.
The next in the lineup is 'Crossroads', directed by K13 fame Bharath Neelakantan and stars Prasanna, Abhirami Venkatachalam, Gowtham Sundararajan and Dr Pavithra Marimuthu. This segment explores infidelity and the need for companionship in marriage. Although the short film fails to pull off a surprise, it is packed with some immersive conversations between its characters.
The last of the lot, The Unwhisperable Secret, helmed by Siva Ananth, presents an interesting conflict in its plot. A therapist (Varalaxmi Sarathkumar) is tempted to break her confidentiality pact when one of her patients (Kishore) confides in her a crime he got away with. Despite the interesting premise, The Unwhisperable Secret falls short of its potential due to the ambiguous final twist, which could've been conveyed visually.
In terms of visuals, Addham is elegantly shot (Road that Never Ends is shot by Selvakumar while Shelly captures the other two). But except for Road that Never Ends, Addham could've made better use of its common theme. Despite a few rough edges, Addham is an uneven, yet interesting assortment of short films that keep you engaged.