Kalavani – Movie Review

How will it be if Bharathiraja"s village based love story is retold in a new fashion? Debutant Sargunam strikes with a comedy drama that revolves around a couple from two different villages falling in love in spite of the villagers being hostile to each other. Winning rave reviews for his pleasing performance in his debut film Pasanga, actor Vimal continues with a good performance in this film as well. What makes the film so special irrespective of the fact that it holds a time-worn script is Sargunam"s refreshing screenplay.

Laced with comedy, romance and emotions, the film offers the best in entertainment for the universal audiences.

Arikki (Vimal), a freewheeling rural youth has the habit of getting into fun-filled acts that includes proposing to each and every girl he comes across. His father (Ilavarasu) employed in Dubai keeps transferring money for his family, which is misused by him. In fact, he threatens his mom (Saranya) and his sister about breaking the TV if he isn"t provided with the money. Fearing that they may miss mega-serials, his needs are granted. Everything goes well until he comes across a belle Maheshwari (Oviya) and falls in love with her. As they profess their love for each other, Arikki learns that she"s the youngster sister of Ilango (Thiru Murugan) with whom he and his friends had locked horns before. What unfolds next is a series of hilarious moments with a few emotional encounters and a laugh-riot of a climax.

As mentioned earlier, Vimal"s characterization as the fun-loving chap has been well established and his comic gestures merits a special mention. Just watch out for his gestures when he receives messages from his tutorial school that he has passed his 12th grade after several attempts. Newcomer Oviya is impressive in her performance, all thanks to Sargunam for finding the right girl for this character. Thiru Murugan (associate director of this film) deserves a pat on his back for the best performance while Saranya and Ilavarasu are back with their cliched performances as the parents. It"s been a very long time since we saw Ganja Karuppu in an imposingly funny role as this. It is simply fantastic! The way he struggles after being the victim of Vimal and his gang partially reminds one of Vadivelu"s role in most of his films.

Technically, cinematographer Om Prakash deserves special mention for his innovative placement of angles while the background score and songs by SS Kumaran isn"t as best as his previous film Poo. For those, who had felt that village based love stories have a gloomy backdrop and tragic climax, Kalavani stands out as an exception and we"d prefer you watching it.

The film is sure to be a success at the box office as there aren"t any big releases scheduled for the next couple of weeks and Surya"s Singam and Mani Ratnam"s Raavanan are dropping down the charts after a grand opening.

Verdict: Best Entertainer of this season

Banner: Sherali Films
Direction: Sargunam
Casts: Vimal, Oviya, Thiru Murugan, Saranya, Ilavarasu and others
Producer: Nasir
Music: SS Kumaran
Camera: Om Prakash
Stunts: Dhilip Subbarayan
Rating: 3.5/5