Kadal - Darkness to Light !!!

 Mani Ratnam is one director who never ceased to attempt new genres of films right from start of his career. Kadal is also one such experiment, a tale that showcases the evil and demon in human minds and the fight between the two. Even though, this one liner can be applied to almost all the mainstream Indian movies, the treatment of the movie keeps Mani way taller than everyone else. Be it showing the helplessness, loneliness in a 5 yr old or portraying love deprived 8 year old or how an adult gets transformed into an outcast completely, only Mani can do it. 

Kadal has some brilliant moments in the form of Riveting portrayal of Thomas's(Goutham) character - His childhood struggle, his first sea experience in the boat, his first encounter of goodness(helping during the delivery), Arvind's(Sam) character - Portrayal of his resoluteness of the goodness in trying situations, and Arjun's(Bergmans) undramatic character portrayal of Satan. However, the huge problem is those brilliant moments never takes presence into the script and fails to captivate the audience. The story of Evil and Satan told with biblical references in the backdrop of fishermen lives is an interesting knot and waiting for that Mani magic but never came. It appeared every now and then it has come but fades away immediately leaves the audience dispirited.

Goutham gets a dream debut and his role is extremely demanding and as always Mani pulls it off quite convincingly from him. He is terrific and is sure to stay. Arvind is quite brilliant as the embodiment of goodness. He has amazing screen presence and hope the film makers make use of him more. Arjun has everything to freak out as Satan and he has underplayed extremely well. Thulasi’s character is the tricky one. Even though conceptually the character is an interesting one but it might not or doesn't go well with the audience and can be ridiculed. 

Mani Ratnam's penchant to make international theme movies and the complexity of the scripts attempted by him has always been inspiring. Despite flaws, Mani still doesn't alter his way of movie making for reclaiming his lost commercial success. However, it can be only seen as consoling factor. There are many jarring scenes that are uninteresting that goes against this movie despite its genre. A R Rahman's songs were already chart busters and provided the much needed buzz to the movie. Moongil Thottam and Eley Keechan were conceived and shot brilliantly. However instant hit Nenjukulle is not convincing and most importantly picturized on the wrong character. It was originally picturized on Celina's(Lakshmi Manchu) character which would have made more sense given the acclaimed lyrics. 

Rajeev Menon is clearly the star of the movie. His work truly is international and many lows in the movie were compensated. Each and every shot is a painting. Only stand out in the movie. 

Verdict - 3.25/5. The concept of an angel(Thulasi) brings light into the dark life of Goutham is probably the key angle which was mishandled and not Mani Ratnam'ised and thus made this movie falter leaving Kadal as arguably the weakest film made by Mani Ratnam till date. Carrying the reputation of being a master story teller failed to create the magic consecutively the second time disappoints not only his fans but also the general film buffs hoping he would come back strongly.