Kaatrin Mozhi Movie Review

November 16, 2018

2 minutes read

Review Overview

Performances

Story & Narration

Technical Effects & Music

A colorful, heartwarming family drama.

Kaatrin Mozhi is a breath of fresh air bringing you a lively feel-good drama that is easy to connect with. Such women-centric films in Tamil cinema sometimes end up over-exploiting the feminism angle, but Radha Mohan knows where to draw the line and we should thank him for that.

Cast: Jyotika, Viddharth, STR (Cameo), Lakshmi Manchu, MS Baskar, Manobala, Elango Kumaravel, Sandra, Mayilsamy & others

Cinematography: Mahesh Muthuswamy

Music: AH Kaashif

Editing: Praveen KL

Art Direction: K Kadhir

PRO: Johnson

Story by: Suresh Triveni

Dialogues: Pon Parthiban

Screenplay & Direction: Radha Mohan

Production Banner: Creative Entertainers and Distributors

Produced by: G Dhananjayan, Lalitha Dhananjayan, S Vikram Kumar

Release Date: 16-11-2018

Run Time: 02:28:00

Eleven years after their successful collaboration in Mozhi, Radha Mohan and Jyothika get back on the sets once again for Kaatrin Mozhi. The film despite being a remake, is special in its own ways making it a lively, feel-good watch on the whole.

A film in such a circle could have easily gone astray as it has high chances of becoming a boring affair, but Radha Mohan does a lot of things right in quick succession. The way he handles his characters and situations proves why he is an important filmmaker in Tamil cinema over the years, the amount of smiles and cries are well balanced all the way. The first half may have its liveliness in count, but the second half is replenished with four to five solid emotional sequences which up the film’s value.

Pon Parthiban’s dialogues are a huge plus to the film’s structure, as each and every scene is packed with pages and pages of lines which all have to make sense for the film to work. His work is full of relatable references, comic one-liners (which mostly work) and the rooted, usual language that is found inside one’s home. The huge ring of the film’s supporting characters would not have stood in our minds if the combination between the writer and the director hadn’t worked well.

After all the commendable work on paper, this film needed a hugely talented protagonist who could carry it on their shoulders. And definitely, the team found their fit in Jyothika, who is simply fantastic in her role as Vijaylakshmi. Kaatrin Mozhi is easily her best performance in her second innings, and will also go down as a memorable outing in her entire career graph. The actress has a lively face to sport in the first half, but her real strength comes to the fore in the second half where she single-handedly gobbles up your attention with emotionally entangling scenes. On the other hand, Vidaarth offers good support as the restrained husband trying to find solutions to the problems in his household. Just like every other Radha Mohan film, the supporting cast filled with well-known names such as MS Bhaskar, Manobala, Lakshmi Manchu, Sandra Amy and others work in favor of the film. While MS Bhaskar’s role is surely the best of the lot reminding us of Mozhi, STR and Yogi Babu add on the smiles with their cameo appearances.

Technically, Kaatrin Mozhi plays it fine with neat cinematography and cuts. AH Kaashif contributes good songs to the film, with BG scores being born out of them too.

Despite the inconsistency and the odd feel of a TV soap, Kaatrin Mozhi is a breath of fresh air bringing you a lively feel-good drama that is easy to connect with. Such women-centric films in Tamil cinema sometimes end up over-exploiting the feminism angle, but Radha Mohan knows where to draw the line and we should thank him for that.