9 years back when we went to watch this movie in Santham (one of the screens in Sathyam), we didn't have a clue and thought it would be breezy romance in Madurai milieu but the director chose to stun us with a shocking climax that broke everyone in to tears. The movie was Balaji Sakthivel's Kaadhal.
Aadhalal Kadhal Seiveer (AKS) will not make you cry. It will shock you at the very end and give you a reality check about the lives around us. After watching the movie, I was thinking whether Suseenthiran (the director) had given an ironical twist to his title or urges us to love in the way it has to be. Aadhalal Kadhal Seiveer is setup in urban Chennai inside an Engineering College where Karthik (Santhosh Ramesh) falls in love with his friend, Shwetha (Manisha Yadav). After tribulations and a jump attempt from a bus by Karthik, Shwetha accepts his love even against her friend Jenny's consistent warnings. Karthik and Shwetha take their relationship to “next level” that gets Shwetha pregnant. What happens to them is shown through a shocking climax.
AKS gets it's strength because of crisp writing. Suseenthiran's unwavering focus on the issue and able support from the dialogue writer makes AKS what it is. Although, Santhosh and Manisha needed a little more maturity with acting, their rustic acting skills has actually helped their characters. The supporting characters are the pillars of this movie. Be it the heartwarming portrayal of Jayaprakash and Thulasi as Shwetha's parents or Ramanath Shetty as Karthi's father, they provide the necessary impact that the story warranted. Arjun as Karthik's friend is hilarious like he was in Kadhalil Sodhappavadhu yeppadi and Archana as Jenni is perfect . The only blot in the paper was Poornima Jayaram. Why use such a talented actress for an inconsequential role?
Yuvan's songs were already chart busters. But the final “Aararo” is arguably one of the best pathos songs in recent times. And his background score shines throughout the movie.
Suseenthiran has touched a very sensitive issue. The criticism he levies is not against the dating culture but on the flippant way love is taken by the people. The fact is that most of them don't want to take control of their lives when there is a crisis and even worse, they are not in control before the crisis too. Love has become an elusive idealism and not so surprisingly the criticism levied on it are based on the frivolity of the people involved in love. Suseendran also makes subtle references to caste and status differences that takes fore front even during dire situations. Although the climax might seem exaggerated, this movie needed such an end to make it hard hitting and get across the point. The only problem I have is this movie might create a “friendship” phobia among parents and the more closed we become as a society, we are going to face more such problem. As a society, we are not matured enough to handle dating culture. We need to move on and understand it rather devising a control mechanism. Whether we will mature as a society is a question mark but we need to. Only hope remains.
If this movie creates that debate, Suseenthiran has succeeded but if the society becomes phobic, he has failed. As a director, I should say Suseenthiran is back with what he does best. Thank you Suseendran for making me forget Rajapaatai. Welcome back…
A 3.5/5 and a must watch for Aadhalal Kadhal Seiveer. You will not regret this 106 minutes.
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