Kadaikutty Singam

There is a tried and tested joint family drama formula in Tamil that mainly pops up as festival entertainers. Kadaikutty Singam starring Karthi is one such film where director Pandiraj applies that formula and somehow ends up with a product that is less chaotic when compared to a Hari movie. With all the farmer pleasing elements in its narrative, it might please that category of masses who aren’t bothered about fresh content, but for me, Kadaikutty Singam was a letdown.

So our hero Gunasingam is a farmer. All the other members of the family have a good educational qualification whereas Gunasingam is only a 10th pass. The hardworking family guy is like an all an all for every family member and even for the local people (typical hero). So the movie is basically about the conflict that arises in the family when Gunasingam decides to marry a girl outside his family. How Gunasingam tackles this situation is what Kadaikutty Singam showing us.

Pandiraj usually has clarity on what he wants to address. Kadaikutty Singam at times feels like a movie with a random screenplay. It introduces itself as the story of a farmer. Then the plot shifts to a romantic equation where we have our hero entangled in a Bermuda triangle of commitment. That chapter is leading to an elaborate family fight which at times looks ridiculous and if you look at the way it gets resolved at the end, you might scratch your head and think “why wasn’t this applied in the first place?” And for the sake of having an antagonist, we have a villain whose only use is that the director can end the movie with a fight. Pandiraj wants to touch upon every possible political issue like Jallikkattu, farmers issue, moral policing etc and he never manages to create a scene that would please the audience.

Karthi has a typical style in playing these eccentric loud heroes and he was kind of okay in being Gunasingam. Sathyraj as Ranasingam is more of a cool dad here. Sayyesha is the female lead and much like most of the commercial movies, she is a mere prop for the hero to stalk and also to have a couple of romantic songs. Arthana Binu is way too naïve and Priya Bhavani Shankar is way too loud. Soori returns as the hero’s right hand and is a relief at times due to the unimpressive content. I will need an entire paragraph to just name the other actors and as none of them have managed to make an impression I won’t take that effort.

Pandiraj has previously tried the feel-good track and also the action track. This time he sorts of mixes both and he seems to be clueless about creating the masala. The way the hero character addresses the whole marriage issue will make you question his maturity. There is a semi sensuous song between the hero and heroine in the second half when the whole family is on the verge of a breakdown. It was disheartening to see someone like Pandiraj going after the formula and not looking at the sensibility. Like I mentioned in the beginning, there is cluelessness in how to mix and merge the multiple tracks that are happening. Some of the family fight sequences are desperately tweaked to look funny and they were all ridiculously annoying. Songs are typical, visuals are ordinary and the cuts aren’t that crisp.

Kadaikutty Singam is a template that we have seen a zillion times in the family drama category. They can claim that it’s about farmers and their issues. But that argument is a fragile one as the film is only using it as a cover-up for a humongous cliché.

Rating: 2/5