Kaadhali Review

'Kaadhali', the rom-com that wears its female character's choice on its sleeve, hits the screens.  Here is our review of the same:

Story:

Bhandavi’s character played by Divya K. Doshi is a physiotherapist at Osmania Hospital. After a tragic incident involving her father, she starts believing that he is the reason why she is not getting married.  So, she decides to hunt for that elusive Mr. Perfect.

It's at this juncture in life that Bhandavi meets Kaarthikeyan at a restaurant and they both seem to hit it off quite easily. They start to date anon.  Except that Kaarthikeyan keeps disappearing whenever he is confronted with some sort of emotion, be it pain or anger.  He doesn’t want to deal with those hard emotions.

Bhandavi's life once again is at a cusp of change.

She meets an arrogant rich kid, Kranti. From here, Bhandhavi's comfort level gives way to a dilemma - who must she choose?

A love triangle between these characters, with lots of twists and turns, ensues.

Analysis:

Pattabhi R Chilkur deserves appreciation for narrating the love story from the female lead’s point of view.  The idea of “respect(ing) her choice” is a leitmotif

Love triangles are difficult to handle for sure, especially for a debutante.  'Padesave' (2016) is a case in point.

The characters in 'Kadhali' seem quite immature for the range of their characters.  Maybe Pattabhi should have stressed more on the real emotions, instead of dragging the plot until the end.  Jaded and lame conversations abound.

The theme goes haywire mid-way through the journey as Bhandavi decides to hurt both the guys with her emotional tactics on purpose.  Maybe, it’s because of her traumatic past.  Maybe, that’s why she finds pleasure in emotionally draining the guys with her no-so-attractive personality.

Even the most modern of the generation should not take dating advice from this movie.  It’s one thing to have two guys fall in love with you unintentionally, but it is entirely different to have them around you for attention-seeking pleasures. Not cool.

Love stories are not everybody's cup of tea.  And the less said about love stories, the better.   In such stories, you always run the risk of sounding repetitious.  This is the reason why triangular romances are generally not romanced by newcomers unless they are inspired by someone's story they have seen from close quarters in real life.

Actors Sai Ronak and Hrish Kalyan show promise in their own way.  In the hands of an experienced director, they could well surprise the audience.  Pooja Doshi's best may be yet to come, but for this film, the fledgling actress seems quite light-touch.

As for technical aspects, Prasan Praveen Shyam's music is fairly good.  Complementing the film's backdrop is the cinematographer's decent output.

Verdict:

A rom-com that starts off well, only to descend into mediocrity in the later portions.  A middling one, so to speak.