#KaathuVaakulaRenduKadhal – Triple dose of disappointment

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(Spoilers ahead – though in all fairness, if you had watched the trailer/promos u can hardly blame me)

Every time I watch a movie, I tell myself that I shouldn’t watch it with preconceived notions/expectations caused by the hype around it pre-release. But the heavy cast in KRK, in itself is a double edged sword that causes undeniable expectations, and despite the doubts cast by the trailer, here I was in the theatre, waiting to be proved wrong.

The movie kicks off with a short history on Rambo, who considers his own birth to be an unlucky event and who is certain of the misfortune he brings about to the people around him. Luck suddenly smiles his way as he falls for two women Kanmani and Khatija, who are enticed by him to a level where they are unable to let him go even when they get to know that he hasn’t been loyal. What happens next is the movie. And here is where it gets problematic.

Simply put, Rambo cheats on both Kanmani and Khatija by,
A. Leading two people on simultaneously while,
B. Not being honest to both of them regarding this.

But the movie pays little attention to this fact that Rambo has wilfully lived a dual life, manipulated both of them by creating unrealistic and untruthful explanations and in fact, gaslit both of them by denying any accountability to the relationship. So are we talking about a flawed protagonist who stumbled?

Nope, the storyline promptly removes Rambo from the equation and turns the spotlight on two apparently independent and intelligent women – and uncharacteristically but predictably pits them against each other, competing for Rambo’s affection who has in fact duped both of them, but oh who cares about such unimportant things! They focus their anger/competition on the other woman using silly “coffee/tea, pista/badam, matter/marriage” euphemisms, to the point of Kanmani even subtly slut shaming Khatija – all this in the name of comedy. Frankly, the faceoff scenes between the 2 female leads was cringeworthy and embarrassing to watch. I wonder how they agreed to do the debate between which is more important for a woman – sex or marriage!

What was more infuriating is the resounding cheer and laughter in the theatre when Rambo seemed to be envied for having two women fall for him (here is when I wonder whether such reactions would have been garnered had it been Samantha with 2 heroes, well long way to go there).

Taking a few steps back, this movie was promised as an experimental romantic comedy. Yes, the songs were good and had some funny moments. Apart from a few scenes with Kanmani and Rambo which worked for me, it was hard to digest this as a romantic comedy. The dialogues and screenplay needed more work and seemed lazily put together. Also, only when you are invested in the relationship shown on-screen, would u even root for the couple. However most of the scenes, which needed to show the depth of the bond through heartfelt dialogues, end up as song montages and the repeated “Knight in shining armour” tropes. And so, what you are left with (unsurprisingly) is only a surface-level deep relationship, which is probably due to the lack of vision from the creator.

Off late, it does seem like the theatre audience is satisfied with the bare minimum – a mass hero song/good dance number, a few comedy dialogues strewn about, a beautiful heroine, action sequences – Do this permutation combination and you can get back your investment. Going beyond the bare minimum, seems to be a risk that promising directors are not willing to take with big budget films, which is disappointing.

When Vignesh Shivan mentioned this as an experiment, the only thing I could think of is whether this movie may explore polyamory (an arrangement where multiple romantic partners exist at the same time with consent of all parties involved). After watching the movie, I realised that Vignesh Shivan was about 20 years late in releasing the experiment!