Aandavan Kattalai Movie Review

• Cast: Vijay Sethupathi, Ritika Singh, Nassar, Pooja Devariya
• Cinematography: N. Shanmuga Sundaram
• Music: K
• Editor: Anu Charan
• Director: Manikandan
• Produced by: G. N. Anbu Chezhiyan

The film traverses through the encounters of Gandhi (Vijay Sethupathi), who comes all the way from his little village near Madurai to fly London and get settled there as a refugee so as to make good money and settle the debts. Alongside him is his close pal Yogi Kumar, who surprisingly gets VISA but Vijay Sethupathi fails to make it. The complete movie is about his encounters with different characters that influence his life.

This turn to be a mandatory line in review of every Vijay Sethupathi movie – He is Genius and yes ‘Aandavan Kattalai’ too carries the same tag, where his performance peaks up to the pinnacle of wizardry turning the cinema halls into laughter and claps. On the other end, National award winning filmmaker Manikandan just packages a simple tale of stark reality into boxes of entertainment that balances an impeccable humour on pars with emotions. It’s hard to tell a love story without cuddles and kisses these days, but the filmmaker has narrated the story of two contrastive personalities – Vijay Sethupathi and Ritika Singh. When we might imagine, their love portions could be somewhere similar to Madhavan’s Rom-Com Nala Dhamayandhi, it actually deviates into a different zone with hilarious and emotional mix. Manikandan can ardently thank his team of screenwriters that include ‘Kirumi’ fame Anu Charan, where they keep the momentum of narration perfectly. Maybe, the first 30-40 minutes of the film might have nothing to do with the actual conflict, which is more serious during second hour, but the hilarious impact created by Yogi Kumar keeps the audiences sparkled up with laughter. But in most of the sequences involving Ritika Singh, we see her as the boxer in Irudhi Suttru. It looks she is still stuck in that fever, where her body language is same as that girl boxer.

Manikandan has done justice to the genre ‘Comedy-Drama’ with the screenplay involving 150 minutes approximately. But the biggest thing that has to be mentioned is that if not for Vijay Sethupathi, this film would have lost half of its interest. Musical score by K adds up some intensity to the visuals though you might not feel this to be a worthy one in your list. But when you see it blended with the visuals, it’s at the best.

Overall, it’s Aandavan Kattalai is a feel-good worth watchable film that you can surely enjoy with your friends and family. The film has as simple plot, but Manikandan throws up some lights on the existing issue in the contemporary society laced with humour and emotions.