Kaathuvaakula Rendu Kadhal Review
A few years ago, a Hindi movie titled ‘Dear Zindagi’ featuring Alia Bhatt and Shahrukh Khan opened up with positive reviews. The reason behind citing this flick here is that both hold a common factor. The girl in this Hindi movie isn’t willing to settle down and is relentlessly entering many relationships, which isn’t stable. In general, a girl with such a nature, in reality, would be judged easily, but instead, the director tries to bring out the inherent issues the girl had as a childhood crisis that later starts affecting her relationships as a grown-up. Eventually, Vignesh Shivan in his latest outing ‘Kaathuvaakula Rendu Kadhal’ tries to touch this domain in a different dimension. Rambo (Vijay Sethupathi) has always felt misfortunate all throughout his life. Born into a family of the genetic curse, where neither men nor women get married, he becomes a bad sign with his birth, when his father kicks the bucket as soon as he is born, and his mother paralyzed. He is bound to the inevitable superstitious belief that being close to his mother will cost her life. His only hope in life is his mother’s statement, “When it rains, remember, it pours. So will be the blessings in your life.” Guess what? It becomes a reality when he has two good-looking and good-hearted women – Kanmani (Nayanthara) and Khatija (Samantha). He falls for them, and they do too. Their presence in his life brings some fortunate series of events, which makes him decide that he shouldn’t miss these lady lucks. However, things get crooked when these ladies bounce upon each other.
As abovementioned, Vignesh Shivan’s core idea is appreciable and it’s quite good. Perhaps, the way, he tried taking it forward as a narration fails to impress us. Either this should have been a poignant tale, where a man, whose ambitious drive isn’t about gratifying his physical desires with women, but instead, adore their presence. There’s a dialogue in the movie, where Rambo (VJS character) says, “I don’t wanna share the bed with you both, and just shooting the breeze over a bench is a boon to me.” The psychology of human deals is bound to certain relationships in life wedged between a thin line of difference between ‘Love’ and ‘Affection’, where it diminishes all the routine aspects. Director Vignesh tries to exhibit this through the characterization of Rambo but fails to be delivered properly. Besides, he tries to give a clear explanation of an individual’s superstitious beliefs. Say, for instance, Rambo feels so much broken that he isn’t able to get a choco bar, which earns our sympathy too in the beginning. But sooner, Khatija breaks that into humor, “What if you don’t get a choco bar in a shop. A walk into another shop would have easily got that.”
So, these two characters keep beautifying his life in a greater way, but the problem again is the director’s confusion in presenting it. All the three main actors Vijay Sethupathi, Samantha, and Nayanthara have done a remarkable job. They have completely breathed more life into their characters. While humour has always been an integral part of Vignesh Shivan’s movies, it goes completely missing here. Anirudh’s musical score is top-notch and the visuals are amazing too.
Overall, Kaathuvaakula Rendu Kadhal has got a good plot, but the way, it is projected eclipses its value.
Verdict: A strong character-driven movie, which with a proficient narration would have made it an appreciable package.
