Parking is a 2023 Indian Tamil-language black comedythriller film written and directed by Ramkumar Balakrishnan in his directorial debut. Produced by Passion Studios and Soldiers Factory, the film stars Harish Kalyan, M. S. Bhaskar and Indhuja, with Rama Rajendra, Prathana Nathan, Ilavarasu and Vetrivel Raja in supporting roles. In the film, a young couple relocate to a new house, but face escalating tensions with a neighbour over a parking.
Eshwar, a 28-year old IT professional, and his pregnant wife, Aathika, rent the first floor of a house. S. Ilamparuthi, the Executive Officer of KundrathurTown Panchayat, lives in the ground floor with his wife, Selvi, and daughter, Aparna. Ilamparuthi is an old-fashioned man in contrast to Eshwar. Despite these differences, the two families initially get along well until Eshwar buys a new car for his wife to travel in comfortably. Ilamparuthi, who has lived in the house for the last ten years and has kept the entire parking space to himself since he and the previous first floor tenants never owned a car, is not comfortable with Eshwar's car parked in the parking space. After a couple of incidents, both begin to fight for rights over the parking space. Ilamparuthi sells his motorbike and buys a car just to ensure that Eshwar does not park his car in the parking space.
A cat-and-mouse game begins between Eshwar and Ilamparuthi over the parking space, which culminates with Ilamparuthi breaking Eshwar's car window when the latter manages to park his car ahead of him. They quarrel in full public view, which turns ugly when Ilamaparuthi insults Eshwar's mother, causing Eshwar to slap him. Seeking revenge for the slap, Ilamparuthi and his brother-in-law force Aparna to file a false case of harassment against Eshwar. Eshwar is arrested, but Aparna, feeling guilty for what she did, withdraws the complaint and Eshwar is released. Eshwar, in retribution, then frames Ilamparuthi for accepting a bribe of ₹30,000 (US$350), leading to his suspension. Despite Aathika pleading with Eshwar, and also at the same time Selvi and Aparna begging Ilamparuthi, not to escalate their quarrel, the duo refuse to budge. Ilamparuthi goes to the extent of loosening Eshwar's front tyre, which leads to a near-fatal accident when Eshwar is taking Aathika to hospital for her regular checkup.
Enraged at this attempt to kill him and his wife, even though she is pregnant, Eshwar wrecks Ilamparuthi's car. Fed up with Ilamparuthi's behaviour towards Eshwar, Selvi and Aparna leave him. Eshwar, on Aathika's insistence, decides to move out. He manages to find another home and then meets with Ilamparuthi to inform him of the same and make peace with him condescendingly. But instead, Ilamparuthi knocks him out in rage. At this juncture, he finds that Aathika has gone into labour but seemingly does nothing. Some time later, Eshwar regains consciousness and brutally attacks Ilamparuthi, who has returned home, refusing to listen when he tries to inform him about his wife's condition.
After knocking Ilamparuthi out, Eeshwar starts heating Ilamparuthi's mobile phone in a microwave oven and orchestrating a gas leak with the intention of killing him, but when he eventually finds out that Ilamparuthi had helped Aathika by driving her to the hospital, where she gave birth, he gets horrified and switches off the main power supply for the house, averting a major disaster. At the hospital, Eshwar and Ilamparuthi apologise to each other for what had happened, and both feel they could have adjusted and handled the parking issue in a matured manner.
Some time later, both families have vacated the house. A broker shows the house to two prospective tenants, with one condition being that they must not own a car.
Parking, the directorial debut of Ramkumar Balakrishnan, was announced to the media in June 2023. By that time it was close to wrapping.[1][2] Ramkumar said the film was inspired by his and his friends experiences with parking trouble. M. S. Bhaskar was cast after the director was impressed with his performance in 8 Thottakkal (2017). To finalise the house that features in the film, the makers saw around 150 to 180 houses.[3] Filming was completed in 35 working days; the film was primarily shot in Virugambakkam and Valasaravakkam, neighborhoods in Chennai, while a few scenes were shot at East Coast Road.[4] The lead actors Harish Kalyan and Indhuja promoted the film by appearing as guests during the seventh season of Bigg Boss in late November 2023.[5]
Music
The music for the film was composed by Sam C. S.[6]
Parking was theatrically released on 1 December 2023.[7]
Home media
The film began streaming on JioHotstar from 30 December 2023.[8]
Reception
Critical response
Parking received positive reviews from critics.[9] M. Suganth of The Times of India gave the film 4 out of 5 stars and wrote, "Even though Parking is in the space of a domestic drama, Ramkumar Balakrishnan narrates it in the tone of a thriller, ratcheting up the thrills, with help from Philomin Raj's sharp editing and Sam CS's suspenseful background score".[10] In a positive review, Gopinath Rajendran of The Hindu said, "Harish Kalyan's Parking might get predictable after a while, but the exceptional lead cast and an intriguing plot make it a winner."[11] Janani K of India Today wrote, "Parking is all about two exceptional performances from legendary MS Bhaskar and Harish Kalyan. Beyond them, the film hardly moves forward".[12] Sruthi Ganapathy Raman wrote for Film Companion, "The filmmaker does run out of the same steam that once kept this chaotic car ride going, towards the last act. But despite its lack of know-how, Parking is still a trip worth your time for all the raw discomfort it makes you feel".[13]
Box office
According to a report by News18, Parking, made on a budget of ₹6 crore (US$710,000), grossed ₹17 crore (US$2.0million).[14] Raisa Nasreen of Times Now noted that the film struggled at the Chennai box office due to the effects of Cyclone Michaung in early December.[15] Despite this, the director and producer of Parking donated ₹2 lakh (US$2,400) for relief efforts.[16]
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