Reviews

Maniratnam movies always evoke a loud 'boo', from supposed mass-oriented audience,for the characters of his movies are usually upper middle class intelligentsia, who speak in measured tone and this pattern is fitted on to characters from other social classes as well.

This cliché is broken, for the dialogues are written by acclaimed writer Jeyamohan and the screenplay is jointly sketched by Maniratnam and Jeyamohan. They bring out the raw energy through usage of slang that is prevalent in Christian fisherman villages of South Tamilnadu.

The initial scenes in Seminary and the dialogues sets the landscape for the story of 'Kadal', which is essentially a clash of ideologies between God seeking Aravindswamy (Sam) and self proclaimed son of Satan,Arjun Sarja (Bergmans). The dialogue of Arjun, wherein he says,he came to Seminary just to escape poverty does make the intent of the antagonist much clearer and also reflects the realism. The first 15 minutes of the movie essentially portrays what to expect from from the whole movie itself. The love affair of Maniratnam with Raavanan is not yet over for, Arjun is portrayed as a well learned biblical scholar who engages in wishful sins.

The Hero of the movie, Gautham Karthik (Thomas) is introduced as a bastard son and the social interactions push him towards becoming Anti-social. The scenes in village transport you there as an observer and makes you realize the effort, the director has put in artist selection for supporting and background roles. One of the background roles which get etched in your mind is a fisher-woman who hawks in the market and picks up a duel with Aravindswamy.

Religion itself has to play a major role in the movie and the reality of how the religious functions are commoditized is brought out. The tape recorder which Aravindswamy uses to connect the people with God travels along with the movie till the very end. For the first time, Maniratnam completely deals with people who live in the fringes of society and morality.

The immersive experience that the movie offers can be attributed to the picturesque cinematography of Rajiv Menon who has unobtrusively sewed vast unending landscape of ocean and ocean associated land and the haunting background score of AR.Rahman. 'Magudi' song by Aaryan Dinesh Kanagaratnam, a Sinhalese Rapper sets the tone for the movie in either halves of the movie, by showing how the character of Gautham Karthik develops itself from child to brash teen and his experiences with Sins.

The milestone scenes includes the scene were the young Gautham breaks down before the tape recorder, the first experience of Ocean by Gautham, the scene were Aravindswamy is implicated in the sin of flesh, When Arjun proclaims himself as Satan before Aravindswamy, When Gautam experiences the first blood of birth on his hands, The mental torment of Gautam when he tries to explain about what is Sin to Thulasi , the climax in mid of rough seas and of course the rousing song near the end credits.

One cannot stop admiring the energy in débutant Gautham Karthik and the comeback performances of Aravindswamy and Arjun Sarja. Thulasi (Beatrice) fits the limited scope offered by the story and Ponvannan as usual brings out a standout performance.

The story can be pushed aside by many as a classic "Truth Alone Triumph" formulaic film, but what makes it stand out is the layered treatment which the makers have brought in to make it more realistic. Though a fairy tale ending, it brings out the grey nature of human, wherein do- gooder saintly Father Sam is pushed to kill Bergmans, Proclaimed Son of Satan Bergman's inability to kill his estranged daughter Beatrice and the sinner Thomas insistence in saving Bergmans. The movie ends with the supposed Angel, Beatrice spending her time in a rehabilitation institution.

Overall, a truly immersive visual, aural experience and watch it for the wonderful acting performances of lead and supporting artists.

And Yes, Kadal is not a Romantic movie.

And with respect to the ad films that were played before movie titles, the news ads for National Sample Survey Office (NSSO), shows the desperate need for creativity among government based public relation offices. The syntax and the template of the ads are so shamelessly the same that I can recall the mid 90's ads for oral contraceptives in Doordarshan, which once monopolized the broadcasting industry in India.

Actors: Arjun Sarja, Aravindswamy, Gautham Karthik, Thulasi Nair, Ponvannan

Directed by: Maniratnam

Editing: A.Sreekar Prasad

Cinematography: Rajiv Menon

Produced by: Madras Talkies

Music Composer: AR Rahman

Released languages: Tamil (as Kadal), Telugu (as Kadali )

This was one among the most awaited movie of the season for the following reasons. The return of Gautham Vasudev Menon to rise above the success of his previous outing ' Vinnai Thaandi Varuvaaya', Buzz created by the soothing rhythms of Ilayaraaja and the on screen chemistry of Jiiva & Samantha in teasers. So were the expectations satisfied? Let's see it at the end.

The whole movie had a feel of a mash up between a sitcom and a musical which was very new to the audience. The never changing attitude of the pair (literally) plays the villain in this romantic story. In fact we shouldn't blame the director for this because within 15 minutes of the movie, there is a dialogue by Samantha (Nithya) which goes like the core character of a person is fixed by the time he/she celebrates second birthday. So by that logic, the protagonists never change their attitude or their way of approach in mending their lost love. Though logical, it was excruciating for us to sit through the climax and watch them brood over their failed connect in the same manner again and again.

Santhanam plays a mellowed down, friend of protagonist role and he largely succeeds by his timing and body language. In fact he pushes the movie through scenes which would have been dampener without him.

The classic dilemma of a boy from middle class is well brought out by Jiiva (Varun) and it could have been portrayed much better, for his character is not well written as Samantha's. The Director does go overboard with evoking nostalgia factor, and it makes us wonder if we are watching a Murali or Mohan movie of early 90s in select scenes. Though the songs were wonderful to hear, the placement of the songs in the second half tested our patience and it played spoilsport in understanding the intensity of the feel that was supposed to be created between the protagonists.

On the whole, NEP fares a bit low when compared to its nemesis VTV because of its shoddy character development and asynchronous writing. Climax aids its descent in audience satisfaction graph to a new low making them squirm in their seats. Instead of making the audience feel passionately about Varun and Nithya to reunite, the shoddy climax makes the audience go ballistic, for them to unite so that the movie would end.

Hence the conclusion is, though the expectations were all satisfied in various degrees; still the overall feel among moviegoers is bit damp for they were felt letdown by the director for his haphazard climax Yet the best part is the arrival of Samantha as an able actress to play a pivotal role in a movie and she deserves due appreciation for it.

NEP : Still qualifies to be an Ideal Date movie, but take care to guard her ears from the verbal abuses in theatre, towards the end of the movie.