Aravind & Divya, friends from childhood, fall in love and marry each other only for Divya to immediately realise they may not be the right fit for each other. After a separation of four years, she comes back seeking divorce & when Aravind learns she is about to get married to someone else, he does all it takes to woo her back. Does she reciprocate such feelings?
Language:
Tamil
Running Time:
137 min
Rating:
U/A
Release date:
24 November 2016
Directed by:
Deekay
Produced by:
Elred Kumar
Written by:
Deekay
Starring:
Jiiva
Kajal Aggarwal
Bobby Simha
Sunaina
RJ Balaji
Shruthi Ramakrishnan
Karunakaran
Bala Saravanan
Sonu Gowda
Mayilsamy
Music by:
Leon James
Shot by:
Abinandhan Ramanujam
Editing by:
T. S. Suresh
Distributed by:
Abi & Abi Pictures

What’s Hot

  • The film’s director Deekay (who made a promising debut with his horror comedy Yaamirukka Bayamey)can be credited for setting the context that the film is all about some dirty jokes, quirky fun and not a torchbearer for ‘logical’ cinema very early
  • The film revolves mostly around its two prime characters Aravind (Jiiva) & Divya (Kajal Aggarwal) and the duo hold you to an extent with their earnest efforts even though the characters sketched are alien in most ways to normal human emotions
  • Music by Leon is catchy & the jazz-sounding title credit music evokes memory of how a Woody Allen film starts.
  • The film is set in the pristine Nilgiris. Eye-popping visuals arranged by cinematographer Abinandhan Ramanujam, colourful clothing and props, generous glamour add to the visual appeal and the choice of going back and forth is given life to an extent by Suresh’s editing.

What’s Not

  • The quirkiness of the main & supporting cast in Yaamirukka Bayamey was driven with purpose and that made them click. Here, the characters’ reactions to situations make us wonder if they are from some parallel universe. Sci-fi comedy genre, perhaps?!
  • The laziness in screenplay writing is pretty evident all through the film with dumb predictable sequences, poorly written comedy (2 out of 10 wisecracks from RJ Balaji work and for someone wanting to become a comedy actor, that’s a pretty poor conversion rate) & borderline indecent double-entendres and women-objectification make the watch irritable and cringeworthy
  • Randomly placed emotional scenes don’t do justice to the efforts of the actors with the joke being on the viewers who throw it back mocking the ones playing those emotional scenes.
  • The roles played by Bobby Simha & Sunainaa don’t have any purpose. What convinced them to play those roles is a point to ponder. For that matter, it is unfortunate that an actor like Jiiva who has had his fair share of good films chose this script. Is it talking of the desperation of these actors or the dearth of decent scripts in Kollywood?!

Badges

Music
Acting
Cinematography

Verdict

Verdict Stamp

For Deekay, Kavalai Vendaam is one big step in the reverse direction after his impressive debut. He fails to create characters that behave with sanity, comedy that evokes laughter & emotional scenes that hold an impact – 3 essential pieces if you are making a rom-com on relationships that you want your viewers to relate to