'Kaathuvaakula Rendu Kaadhal' review: Double trouble

Kaathuvaakula Rendu Kaadhal

Tamil (Theatres)

Director: Vignesh Shivan

Cast: Vijay Sethupathi, Nayanthara, Samantha

Rating: 2/5

You know a film suffers from the dearth of creativity when it obsesses over the ‘mother sentiment’ angle. In Indian commercial cinema, this idea has been squeezed out like a well-served tube of toothpaste.

In ‘Kaathuvaakula Rendu Kaadhal’ (KRK), Vijay Sethupathi plays Rambo, a man who is jinxed. He has forgettable childhood memories, in which people ostracised him for bringing bad luck to them. Fearing his presence will harm his bedridden mother, Rambo leaves his village for good.

This backstory reeks of artifice but you persist to see what director Vignesh Shivan has to offer when the plot shifts to Chennai. Rambo is an Ola driver during the day and bouncer in a bar at the night.

In his two lives, he ends up loving two women, Kanmani (Nayanthara) during the day and Khatija (Samantha) during the night. Trouble begins when he is forced to choose one of them.

The film is neither an intense relationship drama nor an enjoyable comedy. Every juncture of the film is marred by shambolic writing. The women fall in love with him because he wears the ‘saviour’ mask, an idea as old as the hills.

Rambo saves Khatija from an abusive relationship while he helps Kanmani get back her property. He does this by using brute force and it’s not hard to yawn at the film’s old-fashioned approach.

The logical loopholes are plenty as you wonder how Kanmani, a saleswoman and Khatija, an unemployed with singing dreams, wear designer clothes. Why do they meet their guy at only one particular time in a day?

If a filmmaker gives the defense of cinematic liberty for such decisions, then he should back it up with genre specials. Comedy in ‘KRK’ is so outrageously bad that you watch the scenes unfold with a straight face and disbelief.

Humour around two women fighting over one man is a trope that doesn’t work if you don’t put the three people in hilarious conflicts. David Dhawan and Govinda created magic with situational comedy.

In ‘KRK’, Vijay Sethupathi tries to gain sympathy by saying he has a dissociative disorder and the women don’t care to cross-check his claim. Trivial, isn’t it? The film doesn’t give us strong reasons why the leading man is worthy enough of being loved by two women. Worse, it glorifies patriarchal behaviour.

Vignesh wastes the talent of Nayanthara and Samantha. Sethupathi is terrific, trying to make sense of his puzzling role and giving an earnest performance. The real hero is music composer Anirudh, who, this year, has saved Tamil films from being absolute disasters. His foot tapping and melodious songs apart, even his score, in the middle of bland dialogues, is music to ears.

‘KRK’ makes sense in the final few minutes of its bloated run time of two hours and 40 minutes. By then, you have already given up on the film.