After having played a grief-stricken, mentally disturbed lover (Kadhalil Vizhundhen) and then a carefree mischievous youth who fakes a dual identity (Masilamani), Nakul here makes a transition to a more action- centric plot. The story shifts between Chennai and Nagercoil, where the finale is played.
An interesting stage is set in the earlier part, where the director introduces his two protagonists.
Shiva who detests the word ‘love’, and is quite gleeful when he sees lovers on the warpath. And Pooja who on the contrary, rushes to the aid of lovers and re-unites those separated by disgruntled parents.
When the paths of the duo with such contrasting attitudes converge, there was bound to be fireworks, till the duo thaw towards each other. There are some fun moments here, and there is good chemistry between the lead pair, and a lot of youthful vibrancy. Santhanam pitches in his bit to make the scenes lively. The course his love-life takes, thanks to Shiva’s well-meant interference, has its humorous moments.
The story takes a turn, when it shifts to Nagercoil, and to Annachi (Sampath), the bigwig of the place.
Annachi was a bitter vindictive man after his son’s suicide, for which he held Pooja responsible.
Determined that Pooja would never experience a happy moment in her life, Annachi had set his goons on Shiva who had gone there to meet Pooja. Nakul here gets to do a lot of chases and fights, and throwing all those goons like ninepins around the place. Heroism overdone, but how can we grudge him that, as that’s still the definition of ‘heroism’ in our films! Kandhakottai is a film did not raise any great expectation. So there is not much disappointment either, that a script which promised to be different in its earlier scenes, slips into the predictable mode as the story progresses.