Director Manikandan after the celebrated ‘Kaaka Muttai’ and the brilliantly crafted ‘Kuttrame Thandanai’ has ventured into the commercial arena with ‘Aandavan Kattalai’ and brings all the finesse to the genre riding on yet another awesome performance from Vijay Sethupathi.
Gandhi (Vijay Sethupathi) is from a remote village in Madurai who is neck deep in debts, particularly to his sister’s husband and plans to go to London on a tourist visa and earn money. He comes to Chennai along with Pandi (Yogi Babu) and the two approach a seemingly decent travel agent Kumar (Director S.S. Stanley). In the application form as per the suggestion of Kumar, Gandhi adds the name Karmegha Kuzhali as his wife because there is more chance of UK officials granting a visa to a married person. Here the duo befriends a Srilankan refugee Nesan () who is searching for his lost wife and child from the refugee camp. In the interview by a twist of fate Yogi Babu gets through while Vijay Sethupathi fails. A dejected Sethupathi joins as an accountant with the straight forward Nassar, who runs a drama troupe and there he again gets a chance to go to London for a performance. Afraid that Nassar would come to know about his fake marriage, Vijay Sethupathi is forced to again resort to fraudulent ways to remove the name of his "wife" from the passport. The Lawyer suggests that they get an ID of a girl with the same name and file for divorce in the court. Enter Karmegha Kuzhali (Ritikha Singh) and what ensues next is a highly entertaining film which is also equally educative.
Vijay Sethupathi once again scales another peak with his awesome acting, which is consistently natural, subdued and brilliant in every frame. The way he lets Yogi Babu hog the limelight in the earlier scenes is commendable. He brings down the house with his impersonation as a dumb man while with just the most minute of expressions he tears into the heart during the emotional scenes with the Sri Lankan refugee. He has one of the dullest hero entries ever in a opening scene, but the innumerable applause he gets in each and every scene stands proof that he is indeed the Makkal Selvan. The ‘Irudhi Suttru’ girl Ritika Singh proves her acting talent in a completely different role showing that she is here to stay. Her cute expressions and subtle reactions will bowl you over for sure. Yogi Babu as Pandi is so good with his spontaneous comedy that the film and the audience take quite some time to recover when he flies off to London. He is also very convincing in his emotional outburst in the climax. Singam Puli has also gotten his best comedy outing after a long time here. The actor playing Nesan brings the tragic refugee to life and he deserves the highest praise for his portrayal. Nassar, Pooja Devariya, M.A. George (Senior Lawyer), Vinodhini (Junior Lawyer), The Enforcement Officer and all other players are uniformly good.
Music director K has rendered one of the best works in his career providing beautiful songs that work with the story and a neat background score. Cinematographer N. Shanmugasundaram has put in a lot of work to make every shot look natural and has won. Editor Anucharan who is also one of the screenwriters has given a smooth cut, but could have done something to the nosediving pace for half an hour when Yogi Babu leaves for London. Arul Chezhiyan, Manikandan and Anucharan have sculpted a wonderful script and have driven home many messages within the story itself, right from the plight of becoming a tenant in Chennai to the frauds that happen in the passport office. There is also an underlying theme of how one lie leads to another and to another to turn against the perpetrator. Manikandan has proved beyond any doubt that he is one of the best filmmakers of his generation who has the ability to elevate Tamil cinema to the next level possessing a distinct voice as a creator. Kudos.
On the downside as mentioned earlier the pace suffers in the middle of the film for a noticeable time and a few logical loopholes also exist but can be forgiven for the other great joy the movie offers.
Verdict : Don’t miss this Gem that speaks the truth and only the truth through the maze.
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