‘Kaathuvaakula Rendu Kaadhal’ movie review: A sincere Vijay Sethupathi and a superb Samantha deadlift this safe love triangle

She thinks he’s hers and hers solely, as does she. 

This tug of battle step by step snowballs right into a wrestle, the place the 2 ladies battle all of it out for the person. Our man, however, tries to diffuse the scenario, pacifying the women, generally taking the blame on himself. This isn’t Kaathuvaakula Rendu Kaadhal starring Nayanthara, Samantha and Vijay Sethupathi however Panchathanthiram that featured Simran, Ramya Krishnan and Kamal Haasan within the terrific ‘Vandhen Vandhen’ tune. 

This parallel between these two movies can also be the place it differs. Not like Panchathanthiram the place a love triangle was simply playful and suggestive, it’s direct in Kaathuvaakula Rendu Kaadhal. And this steadfastness is what makes the Vignesh Shivan directorial scarcely gratifying and completely superficial. Oh, there may be one other parallel: Simran in that movie was introduced as a ‘homely’ lady, whereas Ramya Krishnan was the vamp. Although Samantha (who seems attractive and deadlifts many of the movie) isn’t written as a vamp, her character does come throughout as an object of want with little or no emotional authenticity.

Allow us to face it: Vignesh Shivan shouldn’t be a transgressive filmmaker. Really, none in mainstream Tamil cinema, is. So, if such a love triangle have been to be made in Tamil, exploring the psychological state of a person and two ladies, the one logical decision to your movie can be to have a handy ending, the place the ethical boundaries stay untouched and concepts exist merely as contemplations. Someplace you’d remember that Kaathuvaakula Rendu Kaadhal wouldn’t be even half fascinating of what Okay Balachander or Balu Mahendra had carried out of their movies. However once more, this isn’t a movie that desires you to assume however expects you to affix in for a jolly journey, with a nadaswaram-heavy rating by Anirudh. 

Certain, however is the movie at the least entertaining? Completely not. Aside from just a few well-thought-out concepts, Kaathuvaakula Rendu Kaadhal ( KRK) stays firmly bland. It is a crime for a movie that has three sensible actors in Vijay Sethupathi, Nayanthara and Samantha who would not have a lot to do for the straightforward motive that the screenplay itself doesn’t have sufficient oil to maintain the engine working. 

Give credit the place it’s due: Vignesh Shivan units up the premise fairly effectively a few boy named Rambo (Vijay Sethupathi), who’s born to a Muslim mom and a Hindu father. After Rambo is born, his father dies and the mom will get a paralytic assault. He’s quickly considered the harbinger of dangerous luck and despair. A lot in order that rain stops for him, when Rambo steps out to get drenched. This superstition turns into perception. However Rambo’s mom (oddly named Minah Khalif) reminds him that “when it rains, it pours”.

There’s a very good second in KRK when Rambo will get to expertise rain for the primary time with out being apologetic for who he’s. The best way Vignesh Shivan treats this second, it’s as if to recommend that Rambo is lastly cleansed of his curse and kissed by the rain gods. This occurs when the ladies of KRK — Kanmani (Nayanthara) and Khatija (Samantha) — specific their love for him. Rambo calls them his “angels”, though one believes that the demon have to be the dearth of a weighty script. The primary half is so lengthy that, at one level, you lose monitor of what’s taking place and begin occupied with the calculations, provided that the movie has two prime actresses. 

So, whereas the ‘homely’ Kanmani will get the soulful ‘Naan Pizhai’ tune, the pub-going Khatija will get the groovy ‘Dippam Dappam’. After all, Rambo is in love with Kanmani throughout daytime and with Khatija at night time. I hope why. Every of them will get a scene the place the hero involves the rescue of his lady. The style during which Vignesh Shivan has conceived the ladies of KRK raises questionable doubts. Nayanthara as Kanmani will be seen as a illustration of the on a regular basis lady from the earlier technology. She is single, has a sister and a brother with a developmental incapacity, and has an ancestral property below debt — if solely the late actor Sujatha was round. Samantha as Khatija, however, is written as this technology’s lady coping with points equivalent to home abuse from her boyfriend and lecherous seems from males. Even the best way these women fall in love with Rambo appears like a straightforward route to resolve the screenplay issues. You don’t should look elsewhere. The 2020 Telugu movie Krishna and His Leela dealt with this oddity moderately superbly.

However then there are just a few situations when KRK comes really alive as what Vignesh Shivan might need imagined, courtesy Vijay Sethupathi. There’s a scene when Kanmani and Khatija confront Rambo in a temple. They ask him why he has been avoiding them, not understanding concerning the two-timing. Vijay doesn’t reply them. He simply steps backwards, prostrating earlier than them within the guise of looking for blessings from God. No different male actor would have agreed to this. The viewers went nuts. There are some laugh-out-loud moments when Vignesh imagines fashionable love tales as a love triangle along with his actors. Who would have thought that the enduring Titanic pose would have three as an alternative of two? See, that’s what KRK ought to have been. You additionally get just a few scattered laughs right here and there however these are undoubtedly not sufficient to maintain your curiosity.

This apart, one thing must be mentioned about Vijay Sethupathi and the astonishing skill he possesses to stay honest to the character he performs. Simply be careful for him ultimately when somebody asks how he may love two ladies on the similar time. Vijay provides a lame rationalization utilizing the movie’s title. However one thing about his voice, the best way he says it, makes you really feel it comes from the center. He makes you consider. Maybe individuals have been proper in pointing this out. KRK would have been much more fascinating had it been a romance between Nayanthara and Samantha. Possibly.

Kaathuvaakula Rendu Kaadhal is at present working in theatres.