The title credits of Vishnu Mohan’s Kadha Innuvare showcase romantic exchanges featuring the likes of Mammootty, Mohanlal, Manju Warrier, Suresh Gopi, and Prithviraj Sukumaran, spanning films from the 1980s to the last decade. Notably, the film’s lead actor Biju Menon’s poignant lines about love from Pranayavarnangal (1998) are also Included here. This serves as a fitting introduction, as Kadha Innuvare brings together a collage of four love stories that transcend age, religion, and social status.
Soon, we are introduced to Ramachandran (Biju), a 49-year-old middle-aged man working as a peon at a government office. Unmarried and often teased for his single status, Ramachandran navigates life with a feeling of acceptance. Enter Lekshmi (Methil Devika), a newly transferred higher-ranking official at Ramachandran’s office.
A widow with a 20-year-old daughter, Lekshmi gradually develops a friendship with Ramachandran that evolves into something more. The premise of finding love or having second chances at love later in life is not particularly novel in Malayalam cinema. Aside from the change in social backgrounds, this theme was beautifully explored in Anoop Sathyan’s Varane Avashyamund (2020), with Shobana and Suresh Gopi at the centre.
Kadha Innuvare also parallelly narrates three other interwoven stories: one involving middle schoolers in a rural Palakkad setting, another featuring an alpha male and a headstrong girl in Alappuzha, and a third about a bar employee and a sex worker set in a high-range area. Unlike Vishnu’s debut film, Meppadiyan (2022), which had an original plot with familiar characters, Kadha Innuvare feels like an official remake. The film offers little new to viewers familiar with the critically acclaimed Telugu film C/o Kancharapalem (2020). There are very minimal changes to the story’s progression, aside from some minor cultural adjustments to fit the milieu.
While the thread involving the middle-aged couple is watchable despite its lack of originality, the other three stories are hit-and-miss in terms of resonating with viewers. Even with minor changes, these stories often lack the believability factor, unlike the original, where the events felt organic to their setting. This becomes a significant issue in the story involving the middle schoolers, as the events do not align well with the landscape of Kerala.
Although Hakim Shahjahan and Anusree deliver reasonably adequate performances in the segment set in the high-range area, the same cannot be said for Nikhila Vimal and Anu Mohan, whose performances fall flat. Also, the writing becomes rather banal in the story set against the backdrop of the communist stronghold in Alappuzha. Vishnu’s adapted screenplay strives hard to depict the challenges people experience in their romantic relationships through an empathetic lens. The portrayal remains rather superficial compared to the original, where the characters were depicted with greater nuance.
Despite these shortcomings, Kadha Innuvare remains an enduring film over the course of two hours, largely due to its eye-catching cinematography and the charm of the lead pair, Biju and Devika. While Biju sleepwalks through his role as a man unlucky in love, Devika effectively uses her expressive eyes, despite her lacklustre dialogue delivery. If the frames from the Telugu version possess a raw and rustic allure, Jomon T John’s visuals in Kadha Innuvare offer a vibrant and colourful appeal, with shifting landscapes across various terrains in Kerala.
Film: Kadha Innuvare
Director : Vishnu Mohan
Cast: Biju Menon, Methil Devika, Nikhila Vimal, Anu Mohan, Anusree, Hakim Shahjahan
Rating : 2.5/5