Review Overview
Performances
Screenplay & Direction
Technical Aspects & BGM
Dreary and lifeless!
Kaadu is an ambitious debut from Stalin Ramalingam, but the film falls flat, the screenplay is cringe-inducing and ends up a ho-hum effort.
Cast: Vidharth, Samuthirakani, Samskruthi, Thambi Ramaiah, Aadukalam Naren & others
Cinematography: Mahendran Jayraj
Music: K
Editing: Kasi Vishwananthan
PRO: Nikkil Murugan
Written & Directed by: Stalin Ramalingam
Produced by: Nehru Nagar Nandu for Chakravarthy Films International
Release Date: 21-11-2014
Run Time: 02:26:00
Before we take your through Kaadu movie review, lets tell you its an audacious movie. Wait. Yes, unlike films which run for hundred plus minutes and end up with a tribute message in end credits to awake the social consciousness of cine-goers, debutant director Stalin Ramalingam decides to let the audience know that the film is indeed a tribute to environmentalists, social activists, tribal communities and sincere forest officers who relentlessly strive to preserve forests and its invaluable resources in the title credits itself. You are warned.
Debutant director Stalin Ramalingam has an eye for details. He has captured the nuances of the village life with appealing details with great support from cameraman Mahendran Jayraj. The story, which happens in a remote village called Eettiyampatti in Dharmapuri district (from where Ramalingam hails from), unfolds at a leisurely pace with scant respect for plot development, leave alone characters’ maturation. In fact, the first half is full of scenes which are neither coherent to the subject dealt nor has any impact towards the story.
Though Stalin Ramalingam earnestly attempts to make a sweeping statement on Global Warming through Kaadu, the film doesn’t have synergy at all. The scenes spread out as different chapters from different books, loosely joined together and assembled as a film. The screenplay is dreary, lifeless in a subject which gravely needs life. It fails to evoke empathy.
The film’s best part happens when Samuthirakani comes in to transform Viddharth (who puts in a good performance), but only to recite few meaningful lines with leftist leanings. His inclusion, too, looks like a forced one. Kaadu is funnily pretentious and is replete with scenes which glow emotional manipulation.
Thambi Ramaiah and Singam Puli try to evoke laughter at regular intervals but manage to succeed only on few occasions. Otherwise, the combo looks tiresome after a point. Music director K is the star of the film who elevates even the most ordinary scenes with his brilliant background score. Kaadu is an ambitious debut from Stalin Ramalingam, but the film falls flat, the screenplay is cringe-inducing and ends up a ho-hum effort.