Kalyana Samayal Saadham (Tamil, 2013)

Firstly, hats off to Prasanna for taking up such a role. In the midst of ‘Image-Oriented’ heroes he comes as a whiff of fresh air and his performance in the film is splendid. His acting in comic as well as the serious scenes, deserves a lot of praise.

One wonders why Lekha does very little amount of such mainstream movies when looking at the range of emotions she exhibits in this movie. She is very expressive and pulls of such a complex role with elan. Her chemistry with Prasanna is also very good.

The strong supporting cast consisting of Delhi Ganesh, Crazy Mohan, Neelu and Kathadi Ramamurthy who are also renowned theatre personalities really lift the movie. The mothers of the hero and heroine are also cast aptly and perform adequately.

A special pat on the back to the director Prasanna, for the sensitive portrayal of such a taboo subject and to the producer, Arun (director of the classic Achamundu Achamundu) for agreeing to fund a film from a debutant on this subject with no compromises.

There have been quite few movies which have revolved around the Brahmin community but what is unique in this movie is that the community’s accent has not been abused by actors/dubbing artists. The cheeky one-liners (‘bikela starting troublenaa choke podanum, lifela starting troublenaa joke podanum’) as well as the serious dialogues stay faithful to the theme and convey the meaning effectively.

Arrora’s BGM is apt for the movie and his songs have also been used well. The cinematographer Krishnan Vasant has shown the vibrant colors associated with the South Indian wedding ceremonies beautifully. Editor Sathyaraj, in a different follow up from his Vidiyum Munn which released last week, has done his job well with some nice cuts keeping the movie down to 130 minutes.