Kadhaludan

Director Raajakumaran follows the same path laid down previously by directors like Agathiyan. After the failure of his second movie Vinnukkum Mannukkum, he has attempted to find success by virtually cloning his first movie, the entertaining and successful Nee Varuvaai Ena. But while Kaadhaludan follows the same trajectory as the earlier movie, it fails to recreate its charm. So the result here is boredom alternating with the feeling of having seen it all before. Kalyan(Murali), a magician and singer in a troupe, does not believe in visiting a girl and then deciding whether to wed her or not. Instead, his goal is to get to know the girl without her realising that she is his potential bride and then make his decision. So he follows this route with Kavitha(Devayani), the girl his mother has selected. He arrives in her village, helps her in several ways and gradually falls for her too. But just when he is ready to reveal the truth about himself, she reveals that she has a lover Durai(Abbas) and is waiting for his return from Bombay. For the entire first half, one gets the feeling that Eraajakumaran has simply remade his own Nee Varuvaai Ena with Murali and Abbas replacing Parthiban and Ajith. The fact that Devayani, playing the same kind of role, is the heroine in both movies only reinforces this feeling. So we have Murali falling for Devayani and and in a similar fashion, thinking that she has feelings for him too. But Devayani has no such ideas and has a love life of her own and Murali realises this just when is all set to reveal his feelings for her. Again, her flashback is a collection of incidents where Abbas charms her with his cute acts. But the key difference here is that the situations seem unbelievable and silly most of the time. While Murali's policy seems lofty, his actions after seeing Devayani are uninteresting and overdone. For instance, Devayani and her father stand by idly while Murali and his friends go off to work for the man to whom Devayani's father owes some money! And while the suspense in Nee Varuvaai Ena was well maintained with small hints, Devayani's excitement when Murali mentions Bombay makes it clear she has a lover there. The movie's few good moments come after Murali's trip to Bombay. A number of surprises and twists are packed into a short time which helps in keeping us both engrossed and guessing. I especially liked the way something minor from before(two people with the same name) was used later on. But the way things are resolved seems rather anti climactic and from then onwards the movie moves predictably. Murali's final monologue goes on for a little too long, which hides the fact that it does contain some nice lines and good points. Murali plays his usual role and adds nothing new. Devayani is her usual self too while Abbas impresses in a small role. Ramesh Khanna raises some laughs with his dialog delivery though the script doesn't help him much. S.A.Rajkumar's songs remind us of earlier tunes but are soft and pleasing. Saturday evening, summaa veetla irunthaa paakkalamnga intha padam!!!