I didn’t watch this movie when it came out because I didn’t get good reccomendations for it. Having seen it yesterday, I felt it was worth reviewing, late as I am. The plot is one that has crossed oceans and borders. Rich girl, poor boy, with a twist in this movie. Aishwarya falls in love with Muruga and eventually he, to her. Since Aishwarya’s family is planning a marriage for her, she convinces Muruga to run away with her, which they end up doing. Eventually though, Aishwarya’s wealthy family finds her, and tricks the newly married couple into returning, which leads to the eventual reaction by the family (climax).
First of all, most of the actors are new faces here, and most of the supporting cast does a convincing job. Bharath gives us a innocent kind of character, while Sandhya shows us a girl who is playful at first, but later becomes serious. I have one problem here, while Sandhya’s facial expressions are all good, whenever there is a very emotional scene, her voice goes very high pitched, and I finally recognized it as the voice my father uses when he’s teasing my sister. It’s almost comical, if it wasn’t for the surrounding story. Arun Kumar as the mechanic boy gives us some great laughs also.
My main problem with this movie is it comes off as trying to force sadness down our throats. Right after an extended climax of yelling, crying and angst, I thought the movie was over, but instead we’re treated to another few minutes of added angst and grief. Also, I think the movie portrays some scenes a little too harshly. I really cannot imagine a grandmother telling everyone to kill her granddaughter - and then all the villagewomen, family members and non-relatives alike- obeying and hurting her.
Also, I would reccomend not to think too much about this movie after seeing, because then you start to see it in a different light. For instance, it’s easy to resent Aishwarya, after all she is the one who sparked the relationship, she’s the one who convinced Muruga to leave his mother and run away with her, and she’s the one who convinced him to go back to Madurai with her uncle. But, by the ending, it is clear that Muruga has suffered the worst, and yet if Aishwarya had never done those things, his awful fate wouldn’t have happened. Also, her relatives are portrayed in a bad light, and definitely they did not react perfectly, but you do have to think about what they see - which is a girl, normal and cheerful one day, suddenly disappearing and coming back married to some guy they’ve never seen before.
But anyways, I guess Kaadhal isn’t realy that bad of a movie, but I can’t help but think how much better it could’ve been if they hadn’t tried to keep pushing grief at me, till I had to step to the side.