Review Overview
Performances
Story & Narration
Technical Aspects & Music
An earnest, feel-good take on love and relationships!
At a time when most romantic films in Tamil cinema get the idea of love totally wrong, July Kaatril has its boundaries set right. It even puts across true thoughts on handling break-ups, rejection and stalking too. Overall, a likeable take on love and the maturity surrounding it.
Cast: Ananth Nag, Anju Kiran, Samyuktha Menon, Sathish & others
Cinematography: Daniel Xavier Edwards
Music: Joshua Sridar
Editing: Anucharan
PRO: Yuvaraj
Written & Directed by: KC Sundaram
Produced by: Saravanan Palaniappan for Kaviya Entertainments
Release Data: 15-03-2019
Run Time: 02:42:00
The demise of cinematographer-turned-filmmaker Jeeva left a gaping hole in Tamil cinema’s romantic stories. Though directors like Gautham Menon and Mani Ratnam have still held onto their brand of romance, the genre has been betrayed with tons of films which portray ‘love’ in the wrong light, taking it for granted. However, debutant director KS Sundaram’s July Kaatril comes in as a whiff of fresh air amidst the romantic films that we got to see recently, setting its boundaries right and making the chronicles very relatable to the audiences.
July Kaatril, which is basically a love triangle between the characters played by Ananth Nag, Anju Kurien and Samyuktha Menon. To go about his job a little differently, Sundaram narrates his story through different chapters which are told through the perspectives of the three different individuals. Though the first half takes its time to establish its characters while paving way to Sathish’s lame comics too, the second half becomes really good in bringing important plot points to the limelight and putting it across in the best way possible. Where July Kaatril stands out from being a normal affair is how matured the treatment is when it comes to handling the post-breakup mindsets of the characters. The dialogues are written with care, with the advice is slowly stitched in and not preached out. Most importantly, the film shows us how to handle rejection, which is one of the most trending stories that men out here struggle to deal with. The final 30 minutes of the film edge out a new space in the romance genre, which has not been explored much in Tamil cinema.
With such great positives running for it, the film suffers from a major letdown in the form of Ananth Nag, the male lead. It would have turned out to be a lot better if the team had picked a livelier, expressive actor who could carry off the role with confidence. On the other hand, the film’s two female leads in Anju Kurien and Samyuktha Menon are very impressive and perform their parts superbly. Out of the two, it is Anju who excels big, and could stack up a lot of opportunities if the film manages to meet the people. It is great to see the director not being judgmental when it comes to his supporting characters too – a woman is shown having a very clear-cut motive, while the parents of the leads are very understanding and up-to-date with today’s world and its thinking.
The music by Joshua Sridhar is July Kaatril’s biggest asset. It is a great sign of why the composer should do many more films, for his songs gel beautifully with the narrative and are not pee breaks. The editing and cinematography are good enough too.
July Kaatril definitely could have done with a better lead and the trimming of about 15 minutes, but the film still stands as a very good romance flick that does a lot of things right. This is indeed a surprise we didn’t see coming!