Spoilers ahead…
There’s no melodrama in Suma and there’s no melodrama in the movie. Even love is treated with the lightest of touches.
The press note for Sundari Gardens, directed by Charlie Davis, has this synopsis: “Our protagonist is Sundari Mathews popularly known as Suma. She is a quirky, geeky and bold school librarian. She lives with her mother. Suma meets Victor, the school’s new English teacher. Through several meetings, Suma and Victor get to know each other. Over the course of several months, Suma falls for Victor. Suma decides to follow her heart despite the apparently overwhelming implausibilities.” You’re probably thinking, as I did, that we are in for a sweet rom-com, or a light romantic drama. But the story we get has cancer, divorce, domestic abuse, teen pregnancy, Facebook stalking, sibling rivalry… The film feels like that synopsis. It underplays everything. It opens with an image of rain, and behind there’s blurred greenery. It’s the most soothing image you can find to open a movie with this subject matter.
You can read the rest of the review here:
https://www.galatta.com/malayalam/movie/review/sundari-gardens/
And you can watch the video review here:
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Baradwaj Rangan 
Anu Warrier
September 2, 2022
This must be one of your shortest reviews yet! Loved the punchline, though. 🙂
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karthik_somasundaram
September 11, 2022
Such a gentle, beautiful movie despite its rush to make conclusions fast towards the end Rightly said, this movie is like a breeze. Just moves around and it’s upto the receivers to enjoy or not.
I am not sure why everyone wants a “strong” movie.
The use of rains and greens throughout feels like a short novel. Like the opening and ending with the rains, the movie too rains on its own terms
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