Kadhai Thiraikathai Vasanam Iyakkam – An invite to a director’s discussion table!

Kadhai Thiraikathai Vasanam Iyakkam – An invite to a director’s discussion table!

The Crew: S/S.P/Direction – Parthiban, D.O.P – Rajarathnam, Music – Vijay Anthony/Alphons Joseph, B.G Score – Sathya/Sharreth, Edit- Sudharshan, Visual Effects – Dhas Karthick

Singers: Premgi Amaren, Shantanu Bhagyaraj, Haricharan, Alphons Joseph, Madhan Karky, G.V.Prakash Kumar, Na. Muthukumar, Ramya N.S, Nakhul, Vemkat Prabhu and Saindhavi

Producer: K.Chandramohan

& the Cast

Actor/Actress	Character
Santhosh	Tamizh
Akila Kishore	Daksha
Dinesh	Aravind
Lalu Alex	Murthy
Sahithya Jaganathan	Shirley
Vijay Ram	Murali
Mahalakshmi	Deepa
Thambi Ramayya	Seenu
Aarya	Guest Appearance
Vijay Sethupathi	Guest Appearance
Srikanth	Guest Appearance
Vimal	Guest Appearance
Prakash Raj	Guest Appearance
Tapasee Pannu	Guest Appearance
Nazriya Pannu	Guest Appearance
Siva Karthikeyan	Guest Appearance
And many many more!

Movie Genre: 

Adventure	Political	Documentary	Horror	Thriller
Comedy	Social Drama	Animation	Romance	Detective
Drama	Musical	Disaster	Western	War
Historical	Science Fiction	Fantasy	Biography	Youth

MOVIE REVIEW

In my opinion Director Parthiban is a cut above Actor Parthiban. He should continue churning out good meaningful cinema which most the other directors of today’s Tamil cinema simply don’t have the guts and passion to do! Let me now address the issue on hand – KLTV! My one line review of this film will be – A series of humorous incidents spoofed, at times exaggerated & probably trivialized to disguise the agony, pain, and heartbreak of a typical aspiring Kollywood Asst Director Tamizh (Santhosh), his wife Daksha (Akila Kishore) and his team of aspiring and passionate film makers which in this case includes a camera man Dinesh (Aravind) more of an enthusiast, an aging but seasoned associate director Seenu (Thambi Ramiah) and Tamizh’s 3 asst directors Shirley, Moorthy and Murali. The first half is once again the best half of this film as has been the case in recent Tamil films. Here the director starts the film with a bang showing visuals of a dramatic footage of a Tsunami kind of disaster etc featuring Vishal (guest appearance). He then reveals that all the visuals are mere figments of the imagination conjured by Tamizh and his team’s narration in their search of a unique plot and premise for their film. The director then steps up the tempo by showing visuals of the reactions of Tamil viewers of different segments airing vociferously their do’s and don'ts  on how a Tamil film should be taken. This definitely is a novel attempt and makes one smile in appreciation and delight. The director then takes you to the core of filmmaking – discussion of the premise by the director and his team. Here Seenu the associate director an old war horse narrates his anecdotes from famous legends of yesteryear like Devar, Sridhar, Balachander, Bhagyaraj etc which are quite amusing and times hilarious. He wisely refrains from commenting on the directors of today. It also makes smarting references to copying and aping of Hollywood films in recent times. The younger assistant directors also share their idea of today’s cinema and film making techniques by talking about examples from the screen play and scenes from directors like Manirathnam along with the nuances and techniques used by today’s younger film makers. This will be of interest to the viewers though somewhat repetitive and boring to film makers and technicians as they go through this type of similar experiences day in and say out. In fact the narration in the first half is the very basis of the second half. Daksha plays a major role too as a person overly in love with her husband Tamizh. She nurtures, encourages and motivates him to succeed as a film director though heart of heart is unconvinced about success stories in the film industry. The narration of the story to a typical Tamil producer and his conception of the King’s English language add hilarity to this half. Though the plot is wafer thin the screen play keeps you glued to your seat eager with expectation to move to the second half.

The second half in my opinion flatters to deceive. Here the director is flummoxed and pushed into a corner as the premise simply cannot afford any more stretching. So what does the director do? He brings in a second female protagonist as jealous quotient to Tamizh’s wife Daksha who has been characterized as an over possessive person. To add some suspense and thrill the viewer is led to believe that the second heroine who is totally guided by intuition is madly in love with Tamizh.  On being spurned by the hero she simply kills herself. In fact this is a borrowed connection from a first half narration by Seenu of an old film in which the heroine is similarly killed but when the hero returns home and to his shock finds her alive. Let me not add any more as this will be a spoiler. On the face of it this may appear to be novel to many a viewer but somehow to me it appeared to be thrust and contrived to add to the footage. The other bizarre incident in this half which simply failed to impress me was the frivolous reasoning given by the director for Daksha removing the Thali (Mangalsuthra) especially after Tamizh turns up late on their wedding anniversary day after an accident and a bloody forehead. Daksha the overly in love wife suddenly turns into a Psycho for an innocuous reason as this! Unbelievable!  In fact he repeats this in the premise of the Tamizh’s film premise in this half. This simply makes it doubly ridiculous and in my opinion the Thali removal was really idiotic even if it was meant as a tribute to director Bhagyaraj (Antha 7 Naatkal). The reasoning given by director Bhagyaraj in that film was rock solid and stood the test of time of tying and removing the Thali! The second half in my opinion petered out into a tame affair by infusing the romantic interlude of Aarya and Amla Paul simply to add weight in numbers and does very little to enthuse the viewer in any manner whatsoever. The finale was the introduction of a producer (Dhanajeyan of UTV fame) who is portrayed as an astute, highly intuitive, innovative and successful producer! Wasn’t 'Anjaan' the last film he produced? This was indeed an irony!

& the climax in my opinion this was the only way to end this film. The climax left me with a feeling that the director had totally overreached in this half. In trying to do too many things he finally ended up with a dampener of a climax which probably left the director guessing much more than the viewer.

What worked for me: The screenplay, the dialogues, Tamizh and Daksha’s performance, camera work. Premise different. Devoid of the unnecessary masala very refreshing. Though a bit preachy and melodramatic Seenu’s dialogue at the hospital trying to dissuade the team in pursuing their passion in film making.

What irked me most: Too many characters with ‘name’ tags to prop the film. The 2^nd half was rather repetitive and tame. Too many nuances and turns confuses can confuse the viewers. Unsuccessful films and incidents could have been used and the director Tamizh and his team could have turned them into positive incidents by using his intelligence. Lot of important factors affecting the Tamil film industry untouched in the premise.

PHOTOGRAPHY: The cameraman had effectively visualized the setting and characters well. His lighting did compliment the film. It was quite aesthetic and helped move the film’s premise.

EDIT:  The 2^nd half would have suffered a worse fate if not for his work.

COSTUMES: The costumes accurately reflected the time period, place, and characters and was not out of place.

MUSIC: Did the music create the right mood for the story? I really wonder!

SPECIAL EFFECTS: Not great but adequate considering the budget.

Finally a quote: Reading's the only thing that allows you to use your imagination. When you watch films it's someone else's vision, isn't it?"

Bottom Line:  The first half keeps you glued the second half squirming!

My Rating: 2.75/5

WOW!	GREAT	DIFFERENT
MASALA	SO-SO	A STINKER

Until Next Time,

Director Haricharan

19/08/2014