“Super Deluxe” is a 2019 Indian Tamil film directed by Thiagarajan Kumararaja. Vijay Sethupathi, Fahadh Faasil, Samantha Ruth Prabhu, and Ramya Krishnan star in this ensemble film. The film comprises four interwoven stories, each of which delves into a unique aspect of humanity’s multifaceted being within the time frame of a single day. It has been described as having a multi-layered plot structure and was awarded an extraordinary piece in Indian cinema.

Plot Overview

“Super Deluxe” is set in a single day to tell four different but parallel stories.

• Shilpa’s Return: Manickam comes back home as Shilpa, a transgender woman, after being away for seven years. She faces rejection from her wife, Jyothi, and son, Rasukutty, and society at large. Her journey is one of searching for acceptance and trying to balance societal standards with family expectations.
• Vaembu and Mugil’s Dilemma: An extramarital affair by Vaembu becomes challenging after her lover dies suddenly, more so, when she and her husband, Mugil, try to hide the body, leading to a series of darkly funny events that reveal the moral and legal boundaries society has put in place.
• The Boys’ Adventure:A group of teenage boys decides to skip school and go watch a porn film, not knowing they would later recognize one of the actresses as Soori’s mom, Leela.
• This insight pushes them into a wild adventure filled with gangsters, an alien sighting, and a search for forgiveness and understanding.
• Arputham’s Crisis of Faith: A survivor of the tsunami Arputham believes that a statue saved him, but suffers from severe crisis of faith. His quest touches upon belief, chance, and the human’s desperate need to find meaning even in dire circumstances.

These fragments of stories seem to intertwine out of the blue. The actions of each character affects the other, and in the end, we get a blend of human life that is bizarre, yet very real.

Character Descriptions

• Shilpa/Manickam (Vijay Sethupathi): A transgender woman coming back to the family after being away for a long time and trying to get over her family’s discrimination.
• Jyothi (Gayathrie): Wife of Shilpa who has already made her own judgments even before the husband comes back home.
• Rasukutty (Ashwanth Ashokkumar): The tender and young hearted son of Shilpa and Jyothi whose love gives everyone renewed faith, comes as a blessing.
• Vaembu (Samantha Ruth Prabhu): A woman who engages in an affair that opts her out of the box in every sense, testing her ethics and strength.
• Mugil (Fahadh Faasil): Inflicted with questions of faith and skepticism, is the husband of Vaembu facing the hurt and violence of his wife’s betrayal.
• Leela (Ramya Krishnan): A flawless into the woods of reality adult movie actress who once shined is forced to deal with her past that now affects her son while giving into society’s perception of her.
• Arputham (Mysskin): A man deeply religious because of belief in the supernatural that starts to shift rapidly because of life turning events.

Themes and Style

“Super Deluxe” introspects themes such as:

• Identity and Transformation: Shilpa’s voyage stands as a testimony for the battles implementations of identities faces while society tackles her transformation.
• Morality and Consequence: The ethical thoughts that were on the head of Vaembu, Mugil, and their impact serves as a study for morality and consequence.
• Faith and Skepticism: Nature of belief and the perplexity inclined to a world full of bedlam is certainly put to question in this storyline of Arputham.
• Interconnectedness: The story helps fathom that different lives do interconnect but these overlapping veneers have to pay the price of the ‘butterfly effect’ of human interconnections.

The movie uses the mark of neo-noir visual storytelling intertwined with stunning cinematography full of saturated colors and textured environments creating a surrealistic, grounded, yet surreal atmosphere. The movie erases the thin line through the use of non-linear narrative, dotted with humor, and drama.

Conclusion

Like many other parts of the globe India has amazing cinematography but makes them ‘super deluxe’ by putting them all on one level and questioning their existence straying away from normal conventions.

The film is deeply thought provoking in how it tackles issues of self-improvement, character development, and philosophy; making the viewer want to take a peek deep inside themselves. The ending remains unsolved and therefore makes the viewer think deeply as to how every person is connected and whether there is an omniscient force that controls it all.