IDHU KATHIRVELAN KADHAL MOVIE REVIEW

Kathir (Udhayanidhi Stalin), a staunch devotee of Lord Hanuman arrives in Coimbatore from Madurai to resolve a minor family dispute and finds himself foregoing his bachelor days after falling for the attractive Pavithra (Nayantara). But as the story begins to unfold we quickly realize that the film is less of a love story than it is a family drama.

S.R.Prabhakaran, in text book fashion, lines up the conflicts in the first half and resolves them in the second. Some of these conflicts find closure through a comic twist and make for the high points of the film. But the track involving the villainous Sunder Ramu takes itself far too seriously than needed in the scheme of things.

From early on in the film, S.R.Prabhakaran prefers to project Udhayanidhi as an unassuming family man, which works both for and against the film over a period of over 2 and half hours of running time. The staple intro song revelation here is not for the hero, but for his best friend Mayilu (Santhanam). Udhayanidhi’s role is downplayed to an extent where the sizeable supporting characters are given prominence in the script. The director is at his best when he’s detailing relationships within the household and, interestingly, between neighbours.

When the film assumes the personality of a family drama, the scenes are seemingly more well written and backed by professional performances from the likes of seasoned actors such as Aadukalam Naren, Jayaprakash, Saranya Ponvannan and Vanitha Krishnachandran. Chaya Singh also makes a neat comeback after a long time. But when the film wants to be a rom-com, the feature seems to rest solely on the comedy of Santhanam, who with his ‘smart’ pants, delivers his usual love punches and manages to keep the proceedings moving. His climax portion is also a nice surprise.

Udhayanidhi shares his best chemistry with Santhanam and looks to be more comfortable playing the ideal son as opposed to a romantic hero, as he’s required to be in the song sequences. Nayantara’s character appears to have the dominant presence when she shares screen space with Udhayanidi. Even while simply delivering stock expressions, she makes them count.

Cameraman Balu doesn’t need foreign landscapes to lock in appealing frames as some of his lighting and cinematography indoors are equally as easy on the eyes. Don Bosco’s editing is crisp but the dragging narration in the first half doesn’t help his cause. Harris Jayaraj’s songs are mostly shot in colorful locations with an army of dancers but are still unable of being visually captivating. Song placements also remain questionable.

In the closing moments, Udhayanidhi is given a moment to voice out on ideal parenting but even with an earnest effort from the actor, the scene falls short of its desired result and leaves you wondering if the true potential of the script was realized?