After a break of 4-years, Shankar's S Pictures is back in limelight and this time he is distributing the film made by his former protege, Karthik G.Krish, which is produced by I Studios Entertainment. 'Kappal' promises to be a comedy-riot and is mainly targeted at the urban youngsters. When ones love is in trouble, he/she depend on his/her friends. But what if the friends are the actual problem here ? 'Kappal' explores this situation and did Shankar's protege make his mentor proud ?
For Vaibhav, who has been doing supporting roles, this is a big break for him and his role is an apt character for his style of acting. The character had enough comical shades to it and Vaibhav has made good use of his opportunity. His comic-timing is getting better and even his acting his improving as well. More experiments with his dialogue delivery and voice modulation can help him improve his performance. Debutante heroine Sonam Bajwa looks super cute, elegant, hot & sexy, all rolled into one. She scores in some portions and shows promise. With better choices of films, this young lass can shoot herself into the A-list of Tamizh cinema heroines ! 'VTV' Ganesh was in his usual elements and rocks in a few scenes, with his unique style of dialogue delivery. The team of Karunakaran, Arjunan Nandhakumar, Venkat Sundar and Karthik Priyadarshan complemented Vaibhav well and they had their own moments too. Robo Shankar, George, Steve and etc had supporting roles and among them, Steve stood out for his performance in a character, which strangely mimicked Silambarasan.
S.Tamil Selvan is in charge of costume designing and as per the script's demands, the characters looked their roles, especially Sonam Bajwa, who was looking charming and sexy, in her chic costumes. Art direction is handled by K.Arusamy, and his work gave the rich detailing in terms of set properties. 'VTV' Ganesh's house set-up, as well as the posh houses shown in the film, were aptly propped. K.Arusamy certainly made good use of the budget given ! Anthony's editing was surprisingly jerky, and he could have certainly trimmed many portions, which was slowed the pace of the film. Dinesh Krishnan.B of 'Soodhu Kavvum' fame has handled the cinematography work and it is very slick and functional. The way he has did the lighting for the indoor locations, gave the sequences the apt look and the rich-look of the film was achieved, thanks to his camerawork.
Natarajan Sankaran's musical score works well with the script's presentation style and the flow of the screenplay. "Oru Cup Acid" sung by Santhosh Narayanan is shot in Vaibhav, Karunakaran, Arjunan Nandhakumar, Venkat Sundar and Karthik Priyadarshan and serves as their introductory song. The whole song was shot in a college campus and has montages of the quadruplet of friends spoiling every attempt of Vaibhav in a finding a girlfriend. "Kaali Pasanga", also sung by Santhosh Narayanan, is a comical situation song, in which Vaibhav thwarts a group of rowdies by spewing bad words at them. The VFX executed by WEFX team is commendable. "Ekka Chakkama" is shot on the lead pair and has montages of their love scenes, shot in and around posh and urbane locations of Chennai. The pick of the lot, "Kadhal Cassatta" was shot on the lead pair and a group of dancers, against a candy & sweets themed, set work done by K.Arusamy. Both the sets and Sonam Bajwa looked yummy, indeed ! Dinesh Krishnan.B's camerawork deserves mention for this song. The cult-hit 'Isaignani' Ilaiyaraaja groove number, "Oore Vittu Ooru" from the film 'Karakaattakaaran', is used in this film, though the audio CD had a different remix-version. It was shot against Vaibhav, Karunakaran, Arjunan Nandhakumar, Venkat Sundar and Karthik Priyadarshan, in and around Chennai locations and they were accompanied by a group of dancers, dressed up as super-heroes. "Friendship" is a pathos song, and has montages of the main lead and the supporting artistes, dealing with the break-up between the hero and heroine. Natarajan Sankaran's background score is quirky and works well for the film's mood.
Karthik G.Krish's simplistic but realistic approach and treatment of the script, makes 'Kappal' a fun viewing for most of the time. The hero and heroine's characters were well etched and handled, and the detailing in their characters, could have been a little more articulate. The screenplay was simple and straightforward, although there are some lagging moments, which could have been edited out, alongside some unwanted song sequences. Karthik G.Krish's plus point seems to be his dialogue writing and there are plenty of one-liners, which were very funny and entertaining, especially in the first half and mouthed by 'VTV' Ganesh. There are some loopholes and continuity mistakes in the film, which the makers could have been more careful of, but Karthik G.Krish manages to divert our attention away from those mistakes, with back-to-back comedy sequences. The climax is a riot, especially with Steve's character and the antics played by Karunakaran, Arjunan Nandhakumar, Venkat Sundar and Karthik Priyadarshan. There are some adult-oriented comedy portions and dialogues, which we believe, is a toned-down version from the original scenes.
'Kappal' - Some rough water, but a safe sail overall !
Ratings: 2.5/5 STARS
BY:TAMIL
After the grand success of 'Kumki', Prabhu Solomon is back with his next love story and this time, its set against the devastating tsunami disaster which occurred on the 26th of December 2004. Produced and distributed by Escape Artist Motion Pictures and Prabhu Solomon's own GOD Pictures, 'Kayal' promises to be an impactful love-story backed by D.Imman's melodious music. Can Prabhu Solomon score a hat-trick with 'Kayal' ?
Debutante Chandran makes a very promising debut. His earnestness in performing well is apparent on screen and he glides into the emotional scenes, with ease and comfort. His rugged and athletic nature makes him fit for the character and with sound decision-making, Chandran can definitely make it big in Tamizh cinema. Heroine Anandhi, get the attention here by playing the titular character. After 'Poriyaalan', this is a big leap for her and an apt choice for her character. Her pleasant and sweet looks complements the character very well and her gorgeous, beautiful and expressive pair of eyes, wins us over. Definitely one of the next sought-after upcoming heroines of Tamizh cinema ! Vincent as Socrates was splendid with his unique dialogue delivery style and comic timing. The rest of the cast such as 'Gemini' Rajeswari, Aarthi Ganesh, 'Yaar' Kannan, Bharathi Kannan, Jacob, Yogi Devaraj, Floent C.Pereira, Vetrivel Raja, Balasubramanian, 'Mime' Gopi, Archana Ravi, Divya and etc did a good job as well and blended well into the story-line. A very good work in terms of casting by Prabhu Solomon. Don't miss out the special cameo appearance by Prabhu, as well !
Technically, 'Kayal' speaks volumes for the hard-work put in by all technicians and putting into account, that the film's budget was on a moderate scale, what the makers have achieved is something everyone should appreciate. VFX by F!REFLY though not top-notch, was very convincing, and they have handled the water elements very well, for the tsunami portions. Tapas Nayak's Dolby Atmos sound mixing added more value to those sequences, and its an experience watching it in Dolby Atmos-available theaters. V.P Senthil Azhagan is in charge of costume designing and his work minimal, though it was very apt for the script and each artiste looked the character they portrayed. 'Miracle' Michael's action choreography was functional and sufficed the needs of the script. Vairabalan deserves applause for his meticulous production design and art work in pulling off the tsunami-ravaged coastal area set-up. Every set-work looked very realistic and brings out the ugly and sorrowful state of the tsunami-affected areas. Watch out for the opening scene, where Chandran stands on top of a left-over staircase ! I.Samuel 2:8 takes care of the editing work and though the climax portion was well cut, the film could do better with some trimming, especially in the first half, which takes its own sweet time unraveling. Complementing the screenplay and Prabhu Solomon's vision is Vetrivel Mahendran's cinematography work. The makers have taken us to every nook and corner of India, unexplored by Tamizh cinema before. The awesome visuals gives us a feeling of watching National Geographic or Discovery Channel documentaries. The climax scene, shot in Kanyakumari, featuring the Valluvar statue and Vivekanandha Ashram, set against the monstrous tsunami, was very eye-catching. Very well, done !
D.Imman's musical composition serves as the backbone of the film. The Prabhu Solomon-D.Imman-Yugabharathi combo has served another simple, melodious and soothing track numbers, in which some of them are absolute haunting numbers. "Paravayaa Parakurom", is a travelogue-type song and features Chandran and Vincent, exploring various parts of India such as Leh, Ladakh, Kaargil, Ajmer, Pushkar, Cherapunji, Shilom, Meghalaya, Kanyakumari and etc. The locations were breath-taking and serves as a great canvas for Vetrivel Mahendran's lenses. "Engirunthu Vanthayo" is a haunting number sang by Shreya Ghoshal shot on Anandhi. The pathos song had the female character mired in a state of confusion. Check out the majestic and beautiful Living Root Bridges of Meghalaya, in this song ! "Yen Aala", shot is a montage-filled dream song, shot on both Chandran and Anandhi. The lush green orchards and naturally brightly-lit paddy fields serves as great backdrop for the song. Anandhi's expressions speaks hundreds of words, in this song ! "Koodave Vara" is a situational bit-song and featured the main leads in search of each other. "Unnai Ippo" is the pick of the lot and the soothing melody was featured montages of the lead pair, searching for each other in different portions. Anandhi's Kanyakumari shots were particularly noteworthy. "Deeyalo" was shot against a Christmas festival celebration backdrop and featured a real church festival as its location. The colorful lighting and crowd factor, added value to the song's concept. "Enge Pulla" sung by Balram, is a very haunting number and is shot on Chandran, getting caught and losing himself in the devastating tsunami waves. The dusty and chaotic atmosphere of a tsunami-affected area was aptly portrayed and presented. D.Imman's heavy and haunting background score helps to sustain Prabhu Solomon's melodramatic writing of his sequences. Though the songs are good, it sort of spoils the flow of the screenplay, especially when you have too many songs.
What worked big in 'Mynaa' and 'Kumki' was the love quotient between the lead pairs, which traveled throughout the films. But in 'Kayal', characters are the ones' travelling and the love takes a backseat ! The film's love angle has no depth in it and its too light to be taken serious. But, the stretch of sequences, which brings the hero and heroine to a meeting-point in the film, was brilliantly written and handled. Prabhu Solomon's handling of drama, comedy and love in those portions was dealt in a nifty manner. The earthy background and simple characters, brings a refreshing element into the script, and the melodrama in the film, certainly helps to elevate some portions of the film. The problem starts when Prabhu Solomon tries too hard and too much in establishing the melodramatic moments, and overdoes it. A little bit of underplaying, would have done wonders to the film. In 'Kayal', nature plays the spoilsport of the lovers, but as mentioned earlier, the impact it needed to create was not powerful enough, to drench us into a sorrow and pitiful state. Prabhu Solomon's quirky humor element worked out well, especially with the character and supporting artistes. Prabhu Solomon could have toned down the philosophical-heavy scenes in the first half, which gets preachy at times. With 'Kayal' Prabhu Solomon tries hard to churn out an classic which can stand against the test of times, like how the lead pair stood against the tsunami, but unfortunately, the film doesn't reach that dizzy heights, though its good in bits and pieces.
'Kayal' - Anandhi is a 'Kayal' indeed !
Ratings: 2.75/5 STARS
BY:TAMIL
