O Kadhal Kanmani - It's all about living together!

O Kadhal Kanmani - So, So! Mani Ratnam

Cast - Dulquer Salmaan as Aadi, Nithya Menon as Tara aka Kanmani, Prakash Raj as Ganapathy, Leela Samson as Bhavani and Balakrishna

& Crew - Story/SP/Dir - Mani Ratnam, D.O.P - P.C.Sreeram, Music - A.R.Rahman, Edit - Sreekar Prasad

Produced by - Mani Ratnam

Duration - 138 mins

The Indian cinema industry more particularly 'Kollywood' is agog with the talk of, wow! 'Mani is back'! Is Mani really back with a bang or a mild ripple is the real question! My take is that Mani is back in his favourite comfort zone - the genre - a soft love story, with all his good old bag of tricks; but not with a bang but manages to create a semblance of a mild tremor. 

After two successive fiasco's in the recent past he finally and thankfully decided to herald all his resources in putting together a film relating to the new age concept of todays young and old - 'living together'. 

No thali or thamasha, no festivities or celebrations, no wedding or hullabaloo but to live together , have sex, have fun, have a great time till the relationship becomes stale and its time to move on probably the relationship may last a day, a month , a year, ten, or forever! As long as it lasts lets make the most of it! Didn't our ancestors the apes and the cave men do it! Nothing new yaar! 

In his story Mani Ratnam talks about a boy (an animation gaming professional)  and a girl ( an interior designer/architect) who by chance meet at a church wedding, later fall in love and decide to live together. They are aided greatly by Prakash Raj and Leela Samson a once upon a time renowned carnatic singer (who suffers from Alzheimer's) who have a sprawling old bungalow in Mumbai (The IT dept surely missed checking Prakash's source of income; especially being a retiree from a bank, probably his wife's hard earned income?) Mani is Mani; he can do anything and do no wrong! In fact the house is even furnished like a Mahindra guest house! Well Mani is Mani! Anyways there are some poignant and lovable moments as Mani establishes the couple's most intimate moments; and so are some real boring and long drawn sequences; the dialogues are so juvenile and such a drag that at times it makes you yawn with boredom; but here again Mani is Mani! Why complain! a director who has to necessarily make a come back for the good of Indian cinema and who am I to grudge him that! if as in cricket Tendulkar decides to make a come back even now a place will be readily made available in the Indian cricket team in whichever format he wants to play in! After all he is a legend; and will always be so until kingdom come! Anyways after a some unforgettable and a few forgettable scenes the couple finally decide to get into bed together and have great sex and all; After all the feel good moments the hero's brother, sis in law and kid land up and their entry triggers a few lighter moments which is funny and makes you chuckle and here Mani of old showcases his skill as a filmmaker with authority . Leela Samson plays her part to add to the humour quotient along with hubby Prakash Raj. The entry of the heroine's mother ( a rich widow and an industrialist) adds a bit of intrigue and expectation at the interval point. In fact the choreography and picturization of the song inside the lodge is very new and ups the story quotient which up and till this point appears to be a rehash of Manni's earlier film 'Alaipayuthey! Two songs sung by young and fresh voices are very refreshing indeed. During the entire first half the visuals by P.C.Sriram are a rare treat indeed. Background score by A.R.Rahman and editing by Sreekar Prasad are the other two major contributors and this trend continues unabated during the second half. 

The second half is mostly how the hero succeeds as a gaming animator, as the company he works for decides to send him to the U.S of A and the girl bags a trip to Paris too! How does this happen? Well! Mani is Mani! At this point now and and then Leela disappears, gets lost owing to her advancing Alzheimer's and aids Mani's efforts to advance the story too! While helping Prakash Raj find his wandering wife the young couple become closer and discover their true love for each other by watching the intimacy between the old couple. At this point is the couple also have to decide whether to end their living together or not ! A few mushy moments and a couple of songs later we end up at the point of ....

Climax - to know if they continue living together or decide to part as friends, or do they commit.... or.....etc etc etc.. 

No spoilers please!

What I liked - The intimacy and chemistry between the hero Aadi (Dulqaiur) and the heroine Tara (Nithya Menon), Nithya Menon's performance definitely stands out. The scene at the Gynecologist's great! The choreography of the song in the lodge different! ( though such a lodge may never exist in Mumbai! Well! but as you know Mani is Mani!), P.C.Sriram's Visuals great! A.R.R'S background score and Sreekar Prasads' editing stand out!.

What irked me - The hero's coimbatore visit left hanging.Too many copy cat sequences and visuals from Mani's old films, the steps, the train, the pigeons, the rain, etc, the clipped and dreary dialogues which only Mani's characters can and will ever deliver; but there again Mani is Mani! Far too many repetitive shots from Mani's memory archives, nothing fresh to take home!

Bottom line - Camera, Music, and the Editing have contributed more than the Director! But then once again Mani is Mani; Tamil cinema and all his die hard fans want him to make a comeback and succeed after all he is  such a nice guy! 

P.S. Even unqualified critics!

Finally a quote - A good  Director will succeed if he can effectively translate imagination into visuals!

My Rating - 2.5 plus .5 for Mani's sake Total 3/5

Until Next Time,

Director Haricharan

18/4/2015