Kandaen - Stinks a bit!

The story is pretty old for Tamil Cinema. To summarize the plot, Vasanth (Shanthanu) wants to escape from his grandfather (Vijaykumar) who has arranged a marriage and hence convinces Vijaykumar that he is already in love and comes to Chennai promising that he will bring his beloved within a month’s time. But the real factor is that he needs a hunt for his girl. How he hunts what happens next is the simple plot spoiler of the movie.

It's been long time since I have seen such classic pile of shit! Every time, I see Shanthanu, his magnum opus Sakkarakatti strikes my mind hard and believe me, I am still struggling to come out from the Hangover! But I must say Kandaen is not in the same league of Sugar cube. As a matter of fact, no other movie can ever come close to Sugar cube. Alright, back to business on Kandaen.

It has become a trend these days to pull Santhanam to boost the show. It’s at least good for the audience when the screenplay is dull. But, to make the optimum use of the comedian is another let down. He evoked laughter then and there with his share of space that was given to him and did a good part. Overall, when you come out of the theatre, you will certainly tend to feel that more space should have been given to the comedian.

I was thinking if I can think of any other positives for the movie, believe me, I cannot crush my mind anymore. But the negatives are available in bundles.

Screenplay

I accept that for the screenplay to be a kick ass it often needs twists and turn and more importantly the pace should never decrease to make the audience scratch their ass. The director has made a tug of war play. To validate this phrase, I have quoted the following lines from the movie.

அப்பா! நான் வசந்த்-அ ரொம்ப LOVE பண்றேன் பா! அவன தான் கல்யாணம் பண்ணிப்பேன்.
அப்பா! என்ன மன்னிச்சிடுங்க பா, நான் ஏமாந்து போய்ட்டேன். சத்தியமா நான் இனிமேல் அவன பாக்கமாட்டேன்.
அப்பா! சாரி பா, அவன் என்ன ஏமாத்தள, என்மேல இருக்கிற லவ் நால தான் அப்படி பண்ணான்.
அப்பா! அவன் ரொம்ப மோசம் பா!

And this doesn’t stop between the lead characters, but it continues to their parents as well. Till climax, we could see the battle between the two parties.

Now coming to what the characters have done, Shanthanu, forget him, if he is going to do such scripts, I could see a new Vijay and Ajith in the new future, clearly with respect to selection of scripts. The scope doesn’t demand acting caliber for Shanthanu, even otherwise I have confidence in him. Narmada, played by Reshmi is good except for the scenes where she comes in saree or half saree. She impresses with her beauty and definitely a worthy candidate for so-called Tamil cinema heroines. Santhanam has been discussed initially in the positives but again, he is not utilized to the fullest. Vijaykumar was desperately fit to the movie with an aim to bring the Nattamai fame. Some point in time, it becomes very boring and irritating. Aasish Vidyarthy is wasted abruptly for not using his villain skill in which he would have done a cake walk.

Music and camera needn’t to be discussed at all! But certainly these songs especially in this movie are a serious pain! I didn’t get a relief with the songs after a dull screenplay. Camera! Come on, stop being a technical critic. For a debutant director, he has to make more effort to capitalize the chance and he eventually failed here. Illogical scenes, unnecessary shots, boring screenplay make Kandaen a boring place to spend time.