'Kadhalil Sodhappuvadhu Yeppadi' (Tamil)
Director: Balaji Mohan
Cast: Siddharth, Amala Paul
Men are from Mars, Women from Venus, is the premise on which Kadhalil... is based. Debut director Balaji Mohan brings his 10 minutes short film of the same name, to a two hour length feature film here. Breezy and engaging, it is an intuitive take on the boy-girl relationship. The screenplay is spiced with repartees and engaging one liners, as various couples go through their love and break-ups, goof-ups and bumbling, as they try to understand each other’s mind set.
The director has planned each shot meticulously. There are numerous characters, each well fleshed out in the screenplay. Arun’s break-up with girl friend Parvathi and his many failed attempts at patch-ups, he goofing up each time, are all engagingly depicted. For Sidharth (film’s co-producer) it’s probably his most suitable role in Tamil films, he bringing out the innocence and confusion of the character impressively. Amala Paul is the perfect foil (Deepa Venkat’s dubbing perfect) fitting in adequately. As Arun’s best buddies, the diffident Vignesh with his loves never taking off, and the cocky Siva who thinks he is the best problem solver, (Vignesh, Arjun), steal the show many a time. There is this hilarious scene where Siva tries to mediate between Arun and Parvathi, and ends up worsening the situation. The Ram-Cathy-John love triangle is sorted out interestingly, Arun and friends going on a trip to Pondi with the trio. The director has depicted each of the relationships with intuitive understanding and perception.
Thaman’s songs peppy, and youthful are well placed.
The communication and understanding between urban parents and their grown up children are well brought out through the characters of Arun’s parents (Raghavendra-Sriranjini). The part that modern technology plays in making and breaking relationships also finds a place here. The film does have a couple of lagging moments. Like the extended track of Parvathy’s parents (Suresh-Surekha) who are on the binge of divorce.
Also, youngsters frequently expressing their opinions on matters of the heart straight to the camera like in an opinion poll, become monotonous after a time. Targeted at the urban youth, Kadhalil... is refreshing, engaging and definitely worth a watch.