Putham Pudhu Kaalai

The five short films of Putham Pudhu Kaalai talk about hope, love, and new beginnings in the COVID-19 pandemic.^[4]

It's a breezy love between two senior citizens.

Rajeev (Jayaram), a widower, lives in a big apartment all alone. Just before the government announces a lockdown in India, his girlfriend Lakshmi (Urvashi), arrives at his home to spend a few days with him. They catch up and spend more time together when the lockdown is announced. Their respective children, unaware of their relationship, are worried about their safety during the pandemic while they get to know each other better like a young couple (Kalidas Jayaram/ Kalyani Priyadarshan). One day during a petty argument between the couple, Rajeev's daughter and son-in-law show up unannounced to check up on him. Lakshmi hides in a closet and witnesses Rajeev and his daughter sharing a warm moment together. When Rajeev finally manages to get rid of his daughter and son-in-law, the couple realize that they were both at fault for getting mad over something petty. Their bond grows deeper, and they express concern over how their kids will react to their relationship. The film ends with the couple taking the leap to introduce each other to their children over a video call.

It is a building of a bond between an elderly man (M. S. Bhaskar) and his estranged granddaughter (Ritu Varma). They get past the differences between them and begin to understand each other.

The grandfather is a retired scientist and living alone. His granddaughter Khanna, who works in the IT industry, comes to take care of her grandfather on the insistence of her father. Initially, Khanna is not happy with her grandfather as he did not accept her mother. Once Khanna starts spending time with her grandfather, she understands the reason for his anger (he wanted her mother to continue her singing as he considered her voice to be divine, but her mother chose to get married and discontinue singing due to her husband's insistence, thus causing the estrangement) and decides to visit her grandfather's house regularly.

Two daughters, Valli (Suhasini Maniratnam) and Saras (Anu Hasan) are visiting their comatose mother Soundara (Komalam Charuhasan). They are upset about their father Mahendran (Kathadi Ramamurthy) treating her at home and the fact that their younger sister Ramya (Shruti Haasan) has decided not to come meet their mother over past fights. Yet they overcome their differences and try to emotionally connect with their mother. That is when they realize that she is showing signs of improvement. They want to share all that is happening in their respective lives with her. Finally, they are more than happy to see their mother wake up from the coma.

Sadhana (Andrea Jeremiah) and Vikram (Gurucharan C) are school friends who share a passion for music. In the present day, Vikram is a doctor, while Sadhana follows her childhood passion and has an event management company. Due to the lockdown, Sadhana is forced to spend some time with Vikram and his mother Bhairavi (Leela Samson) at their house, and she gets especially close to Bhairavi. It is later revealed that Sadhana is struggling from a drug addiction which she believes helps her with creating music. Vikram and his mother help her through this phase, and she later decides to seek help from a professional to deal with her addiction. In the closing scene, Vikram admits that the poetry he wrote back in college was not for his then girlfriend, but for Sadhana.

A young filmmaker, Michael (Vettai Muthukumar), watches a Guruji (Ezhil Arasan Babaraj) on the television. Two poor thugs, Devan (Bobby Simha) and Rocky (Sharath Ravi), want to make quick money by believing in the miracle that the Baba talks about. The story of the three comes to a funny climax where the thugs remain poor, Michael finds a lot of money to make his film, and the Guruji loses a few millions.

On 30 September 2020, Amazon Prime Video India, had announced the film, which features five segments by five different directors from Tamil film industry.^[4] The title of the film Putham Pudhu Kaalai is based on the song of the same name from Alaigal Oivathillai (1981),^[5] whereas the titles for the segments Ilamai Idho Idho and Avalum Naanum were based on the songs from Sakalakala Vallavan (1982) and Achcham Yenbadhu Madamaiyada (2016).^[6] The film was shot in compliance with rules and regulations set by the Film Employees Federation of South India (FEFSI) for filming during the "Unlock" phase.^[7]

The film's background score were composed by G. V. Prakash Kumar, Nivas K. Prasanna, Satish Raghunathan and Govind Vasantha, whereas the soundtrack album for the film were composed by Kumar and Vasantha respectively. The title track of the film, sung by G. V. Prakash with lyrics by Kaber Vasuki, was served as the film's lead single. It was launched by actor Suriya,^[8] on 7 October 2020, along with the film's soundtrack album.^[8] The album features six songs including the title track, with one song composed by Govind Vasantha, and rest of the songs were composed by G. V. Prakash; the lyrics for the songs were written by Kaber Vasuki and Madhan Karky and the vocals were rendered by Prakash, Bhavani Sre, Bombay Jayashri and S. P. B. Charan.^[9]

Putham Pudhu Kaalai was released through Amazon Prime Video on 16 October 2020.^[2][6]