Laughter
Episode 2 of Navarasa begins in the summer of ’92. The camera pans across beautiful green fields. This soon paves way for a small town, where the townsfolk introduce Mr Veluswamy. He’s there to inaugurate the event but finds himself awkward in the presence of Madame Lakshmi. This was his old teacher back in the day but now the attention is on Veluswamy. Specifically, the episode centers on a number of different stories through this joker’s past. This mostly comes in the form of a number of different pranks, interlaced around Veluswamy’s poor grades in every class. These antics, while humorous to Veluswamy and his gang, soon take a turn for the worst. Madame Lakshmi is due to be married but her big day is ruined by this prank. Veluswamy loses a dog, which looks to be drowning in a disgusting cesspool of disgusting brown water. It looks like sewerage to be honest. Anyway, Veluswamy chases after this dog, which hitches a ride on the back of a truck bound for the two families. This dog bursts into the room and shakes itself free, sending this disgusting brown gunk all over Madame Lakshmi and the two families. While this story gets a good kick out of all in attendance, Veluswamy approaches Lakshmi and apologizes for what transpired between them in the past. She leans forward and tells him the smell still hasn’t left her house.
The Episode Review
This second episode changes the focus here from anger across to laughter. Specifically, we see Veluswamy return to town as a celebrity and relive his glory days at school. With the teachers at their wits end with him, it’s clear that Veluswamy’s pranks eventually go too far. Poor Lakshmi is humiliated and this guy has clearly carried this guilt with him all this time. However, most of this episode focuses on the laughs and brings a much more lighthearted tone to proceedings. While the episode itself is okay, it doesn’t hold a candle to the first chapter. Despite that, there’s some nice plot beats here and some pretty decent editing too.
