There is a point in Disney+ Hotstar’s Chutney Sambar where its protagonist Sachu (a brilliant Yogi Babu) decides to leave Ooty after being subject to another humiliating episode. The next day, his newly discovered step-brother gets a call from the cook Sophie (Vani Bhojan) saying a leopard is hiding in their motor room. We then find out that it isn’t any wild animal but just Sachu snoring away to glory. Now, this style of comedy is a tightrope walk. Is it funny? Well, that depends on your perspective. But is it troublesome? It could have been, if Sachu doesn’t say the next line. “Oh, siruthai maadhri kaettucha? Enga amma karadi maadhri nu solluvaanga! (Oh, did I snore like a leopard? My mother often likened it to a bear)”. This is the level of self-awareness that is peppered throughout the series, which more often than not, errs on the side of caution.
The series is about a famous Ooty-based restaurateur Rathinavel (Nizhalgal Ravi), who reveals to his son Karthik (Chandran) that he had an affair with the late Amudha (a terrific Deepa) when he was young, and he has a son in Chennai. As his last wish, Rathinavel urges Karthik to find the person, and bring him to Ooty. After a brief struggle in the city, Karthik, his brother-in-law Ilango (Nithin Sathya), and driver Peter (Elango Kumaravel) find a lonely Sachu, who is a roadside restaurateur. From here, starts a drama of Sachu understanding the father who abandoned his family, and forming new friendships and equations in Ooty.
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Chutney Sambar is titled so because Rathinavel’s hotel is known for their sambar, and Yogi Babu’s roadside eatery is known for its chutney. Both have a secret ingredient that no one knows about, and there are enough proceedings in the series to make us believe that exchanging this information might be a crucial plot point. However, Radha Mohan finds a wonderful way to subvert these expectations consistently and deliver a seemingly simplistic series that has enough layers to make us empathise with each of the characters. And there are so many characters in Chutney Sambar, and the series almost suffers from the classic case of overcrowding. But, Radha Mohan knows when to let emotions take precedence, and when to undercut it with just the right dose of humour to not let it overwhelm the audience.
A poster of Yogi Babu-starrer Chutney Sambar
Most of the worlds created by Radha Mohan have one thing in common — dignity. Despite the characters going through a lot, or saying things out of line, there is never a moment where they are painted as evil. The same continues in Chutney Sambar too. Rathinavel, despite being a bad father to Sachu, and a bad husband to Amudha, isn’t painted with broad strokes. The same holds good for Charle’s Subbaiah, Sophie’s father, who is as selfish as they come, but even this character has an arc that doesn’t rob him of his dignity. But then, Radha Mohan gives another angle to both these fathers through the reactions of their neglected children. It reminds us that underneath the easy jokes, and the smart repartees, there are actual lives that are always affected by one person’s selfishness, and it is their large-heartedness that allows such parents to live their lives.
Talking about dignity, Radha Mohan lends it to each of the characters, especially Yogi Babu and Deepa. It is beautifully exemplified in the scenes where he has a smart repartee whenever someone hits him with a below-the-belt joke about his appearance, barring one instance. When Rathinavel’s wife Jayalakshmi (Meera Krishnan) insults Sachu by saying, “Will anyone look at your face and believe you are the son of Rathinavel?” he doesn’t respond. He doesn’t have to, because as an audience member who has travelled with Sachu for all these episodes, we are automatically feeling bad for him. Here, it is not Yogi Babu who is being subject to body-shaming but Sachu, and Radha Mohan has written the series in such a way that we realise the difference.
But this doesn’t mean the humour is perfect. There is a gag about “my wife doesn’t know how to cook” that overstays its welcome. There is the rampant use of cuss words by the Anglo-Indian family of Sophie, Peter, and Subbaiah, which feels out of place, and completely inorganic. There are intended inconsistencies in the responses of the characters to just push the plot forward. There are multiple plot points that are cute when they unfold, but don’t exist long enough for us to throw our weights behind them. The resolutions are too quick, and arbitrary, despite the conflicts carrying a certain heft. Be it Peter’s equation with his wife or Sophie finding her feet in the world, these scenarios give us wonderful dialogues by Pon Parthiban, and in fact, I quite liked these portions that might seem like a detour from the original narrative.
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As long as the series has Sachu, at least in the periphery, the series coasts without an issue, but the cracks start forming when he isn’t on screen. The portions between Samyuktha and Chandran are just a filler for the real conflict featuring the former’s father Mohan Ram. The same holds true in the case of Sophie’s conflict with her ex-husband and his mother. But holding them all together is the prowess of one actor who towers over everyone else — Yogi Babu. He does well with the script in hand, and does even better with his now-famous ad libbing in the dubbing studios. While he scores in the humour front, his quiet disposition in the emotional scenes, and the uncanny confidence in a random action sequence that comes out of nowhere feels so good to watch. If Pariyerum Perumal, Karnan, Bommai Nayagi, and of course, Mandela presented Yogi Babu in a different light, Radha Mohan does something that he has done with consummate ease throughout his filmography. He allows Yogi Babu to be in his comfort zone, and yet presents a facet of him that is not often explored.
At one point in Chutney Sambar, a character starts narrating a flashback, and Yogi Babu cuts him short by saying something like, “Seekram sollu, Season 2 eduthuda poraanga (Tell it fast, otherwise, they would make a season 2).” Honestly, I wouldn’t actually mind it.
Chutney Sambar Web Series cast: Yogi Babu, Vani Bhojan, Chandran, Ilango Kumaravel, Charle, Nizhalgal Ravi
Chutney Sambar Web Series director: Radha Mohan
Chutney Sambar Web Series rating: 3 stars
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