Aandavan Kattalai -

It’s been ages since I watched a tamil movie on the opening weekend. I watched the movie Aandavan Kattalai, just for the name M. Manikandan. This is Manikandan’s third movie after Kaaka muttai and Kutrame thandanai. Although I liked Kaaka Muttai, felt it was a bit overrated. His second movie proved that he is not among the typical one hit wonders, so was curious about his third venture. Even before the noise of his previous movies could subside, this movie comes out of nowhere.

Vijay sethupathy seems to be making sure to get at least a release per month. This year he is working some extra hours to feature every movie possible. He seems to be like the Jai Shankar of 80s who kind of gave a movie every week or month. The fact here is that the movies chosen by him are driven by the stories. Vijay sethupathi is pretty much clear on his fan following and is using the same to drive audience to the movies. Kudos to him for that.

The movie starts off with the title cards in a retro manner, which I was happy to see. The director says that the movie is made to create an awareness among the audience. So Kind of expected a dosage of preaching and hell lot of melodrama. This is where the success of the director and writer comes. The movie was a light hearted comedy. The intentions were communicated clearly without being preachy and no hard melodrama to make drain your eyes.

Gandhi (Vijay Sethupathy) and his friend Pandi (Yogi Babu) are from Madurai. They learn that their friend has gone to London and earns well. So they decide to travel to London and earn a lot to settle the loan they had to pay. They take a shortcut to reach there by contacting a middleman. What happens forms the crux of the story. The first half is completely owned by Yogi Babu. What differentiates his comedy from many other actors of today is his innocence and the way he delivers it. It was totally a treat to watch. Vijay Sethupathy plays the role casually, overacting would have killed the character. His performance feels like a cool breeze. Then it Rithika Singh who debuted in Irudhi Suttru, who plays a media reporter. Her character is something we see in real life, no nonsense character. Especially the way she emotes at few places that make you fall for her talent totally. In the second half it is George and Vinodhini, who act as the Lawyer and Junior Lawyer respectively, that steal the show.

I can’t find a boring moment or an unnecessary glitch in the movie. If you are in for spending some time enjoying then this is the perfect movie. Communicating a message without sounding preachy and at the same time making a movie commercially viable is the toughest job which many miserably fail at. Manikandan has excelled in that and has proved that he won’t stick to a particular genre of movies. And has successfully joined in the list of the must follow filmmakers of our age. It won’t be fair to compare this movie with his previous ventures, but it is evident that he is experimenting with genres. Hoping that his next movie will be something like Kutrame Thandanai.

My final words on the movies are that you must watch the movies not only for Vijay Sethupathi but rather for all the supporting characters. I personally felt that whether has the comedy diluted the message? Or it is the right way to communicate the message. I am still not sure of that though. This shouldn’t stop you from enjoying the movie.

P.S: I am hoping that this movie title is not to say that the venture of the filmmaker into commercial space.