Koozhangal

<p>An angry man barges into a school to retrieve his son. He takes the boy out of school and they get on a bus to the neighboring village. It turns out that the mother left them and went back to her mother’s house and that is where the son and father are headed. When the pair reaches the village it turns out that the mother left early in the morning back to her husband’s house. The husband fights with his wife’s family and threatens to kill the wife upon going back to his house. The son tears up the paper money they have to prevent the father from going back by bus. So they walk back towards their village in the afternoon heat. During the walk the son loses a few things and finds a few things such as a pebble and a puppy. The father comes across certain elements that he can’t explain. It makes him question his own mortality and dents his bravado. By the time they reach home the father is worn out. The father learns that the mother has gone to fetch water. He sits down to eat that which his wife has prepared for him. The son lets his baby sister play with his new puppy and places the new pebble on top of his collections of pebbles. The story of the film is based on a real incident of director Vinothraj’s family which inspired him to direct the film. Vinoth stated that he spent a lot of time looking for an arid landscape, which was required for the story and was finally found in Arittapati, near in . The whole film was shot at Arittapati in 30 days. The mountains in the 13 villages where the film was shot are thousands of years old and the villages which Vinoth explored, as a part of the story, too developed on its own. The biggest challenge of shooting the film is mostly the humid weather, for which he stated that “As sunlight was crucial for the story, we would start shooting every day after 10am and wind up by 3pm. We would watch the rushes in the evening and that would give us the motivation for the next day.” On the website , of 11 critics’ reviews are positive, with an average rating of 8.6/10. S. Srivatsan of wrote in his review stating “There has never been a Tamil film that has captured the vastness of rural life in a more austere, art-house fashion. PS Vinothraj knows what are all the basics of filmmaking that is lacking, even in the works of celebrated filmmakers.” of wrote “Despite the many tragedies in the scenario (both natural and man-made), the film doesn’t beg for our sympathies. Only at the very end do we feel a twinge.” Pebbles was premiered at the held in on 4 February 2021. The film was officially selected at the North American premiere of which held on 28 April to 8 May, and also selected at the held in from 29 April to 8 May. The film was also screened at the held on 20 to 27 May, and at the held from 29 May to 6 June. is India’s official entry to Oscars 2022. 14 films were shortlisted for this year’s India’s official entry to the Oscars 2022. Among the 14 films were , , and . , the chairperson of the 15-member selection committee watched the 14 films in . Reportedly, the decision to select for the Oscars 2022 was unanimous. However, the film was not nominated for the award.</p>