Director Suraaj is known to churn out commercial mass entertainers with a good dosage of comedy, glamour and action. This time he has teamed up with Vishal for the first time and Vaigaipuyal Vadivelu after a long gap The first time pairing up of Vishal and Tamannah is also one of the plus factors'. Let's see how the film has lived up to the pre-release expectations.
Arjun Ramakrishnan (Vishal) comes to Chennai to win over the heart of Divya (Tamanna) a psychology student. He achieves this by employing certain tricks with the help of his friend Deva (Soori) who is a comic local rowdy and his assistants.
Divya is the youngster sister of Tamizh Selvan (Jegapathi Babu) the Deputy Commissioner of police. Arjun wins the confidence of the DC also and the latter gives his nod for the wedding of Divya and Arjun.
Only later, Tamizh Selvan learns that the real motive of Arjun entering into his family is not Divya but the huge money he has stealthily grabbed from a criminal (Tarun Arora) who is in jail.
Who is Arjun? What is the background of his quest for Tamizh Selvan's ill-gotten money? Does Arjun achieve his mission? The answers to these questions are answered in the rest of the film.
After an interesting chase sequence between a ruthless criminal driving a container stacked with huge money and a powerful police officer, we get set with our seat belts on for a thrilling ride. But the film immediately shifts to comedy and romance. Soori's comedy gets a lion's share of first half but it does not work out as much as it should have, except raising a few guffaws here and there. The 'Poorva Jenmam' trick is a complete mismatch and is neither interesting nor humorous.
The romance sequences between Vishal and Tamannah works to an extent thanks to the fresh pairing of the experienced hero Vishal and the beautiful and glamorous Tamannah. Only towards the interval the film picks up momentum and two back to back twists towards the interval makes us eagerly expect the second half.
The second half follows the same path of action and comedy stacked one sequence after another. But here Vaigaipuyal Vadivelu takes charge of comedy and does serve the purpose of casting him by evoking laughter at regular intervals thanks to his signature body language and dialogue delivery. The last 20 minutes reveal the mysteries about the hero and his actions. This includes some emotional sequences involving a pathetic state of a village due to political apathy and also has some worthy messages. which may work well with the family audience and youngsters with social consciousness. These portions comes as surprise from a Suraaj film.
The action blocks wants us to suspend disbelief and we are ready for that given this is a mass hero film. Given this concession. the action scenes are likeable mainly due to the fitness of Vishal making the earth defying stunts somewhat believable.
The big drawback of the film is that except the two twists in the first half, there is no scope for any surprise or 'wow' moment showing the scriptwriter-director's intelligence. Even the pre-climax portions fails to make adequate impact as there is nothing new in that except a few good dialogues about politicians and the sate of the poor village people.
'Kaththi Sandai' banks heavily on action sequences with a perfectly fit hero like Vishal and Vadivelu's comedy and it can be a time pass entertainer if you are ready to forget about logic. If the script had more clever ideas like ones employed towards the interval block, the film would have been a much better commercial entertainer.
Vishal as usual excels in action sequences and provides good support to the comedians in comic sequences. Tamannah looks ravishing and oozes glamour in songs but there is no scope for the performer in her. Soori falls short of expectation.
Yes, Vaigaipual Vadivelu's comic sequences are not hilarious and that may be a slight disappointment. Nevertheless the king of comedy provides ample laughter moments as a comic psychiatrist with Arthi, Balaji and another actor as his assistants. He even speaks Hindi without a flaw and gives apt expressions for a English pop song which are surprise treat for his fans.
Jegapathi Babu fits the bill as a scheming police officer while Tarun Arora despite looking menacing is spoiled by lip sync issues.
Hihop Tamizha's songs are peppy and fit their placement in the film despite lacking recall value. The songs are lavishly pictured to make us sit and watch. Re-recroding is apt through out the film and makes a mark in action and emotional sequences. Rich production values are evident in Richard M.Nathan's cinematography and he also proves his mettle in capturing the chase sequences without causing disturbance to the viewer's eyes.
Stunt team should be applauded for the initial and the post-interval chase sequences mainly the latter which comes with some new ideas, shot in a cramped space.
Verdict: A time pass entertainer banking heavily on Vadivelu's comedy and action sequences involving a fit hero like Vishal
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