‘Kaathuvaakula Rendu Kaadhal’ movie review: A sincere Vijay Sethupathi and a superb Samantha deadlift this safe love triangle

Except for a few scattered laughs, this Vignesh Shivan directorial remains firmly bland despite featuring three brilliant actors

She thinks he is hers and hers only, as does she. 

This tug of war gradually snowballs into a wrestle, where the two women fight it all out for the man. Our man, on the other hand, tries to diffuse the situation, pacifying the ladies, sometimes taking the blame on himself. This is not Kaathuvaakula Rendu Kaadhal starring Nayanthara, Samantha and Vijay Sethupathi but Panchathanthiram that featured Simran, Ramya Krishnan and Kamal Haasan in the terrific ‘Vandhen Vandhen’ song. 

This parallel between these two films is also where it differs. Unlike Panchathanthiram where a love triangle was just playful and suggestive, it is direct in Kaathuvaakula Rendu Kaadhal. And this steadfastness is what makes the Vignesh Shivan directorial scarcely enjoyable and utterly superficial. Oh, there is another parallel: Simran in that film was presented as a ‘homely’ woman, while Ramya Krishnan was the vamp. Though Samantha (who looks gorgeous and deadlifts most of the film) isn’t written as a vamp, her character does come across as an object of desire with very little emotional authenticity.

Let us face it: Vignesh Shivan is not a transgressive filmmaker. Actually, none in mainstream Tamil cinema, is. So, if such a love triangle were to be made in Tamil, exploring the mental state of a man and two women, the only logical resolution to your film would be to have a convenient ending, where the moral boundaries remain untouched and ideas exist merely as contemplations. Somewhere you would be aware that Kaathuvaakula Rendu Kaadhal wouldn’t be even half interesting of what K Balachander or Balu Mahendra had done in their films. But again, this isn’t a film that wants you to think but expects you to join in for a jolly ride, with a nadaswaram-heavy score by Anirudh. 

Sure, but is the film at least entertaining? Absolutely not. Except for a few well-thought-out ideas, Kaathuvaakula Rendu Kaadhal ( KRK) remains firmly bland. This is a crime for a film that has three brilliant actors in Vijay Sethupathi, Nayanthara and Samantha who do not have much to do for the simple reason that the screenplay itself doesn’t have enough oil to keep the engine running. 

Give credits where it’s due: Vignesh Shivan sets up the premise quite well about a boy named Rambo (Vijay Sethupathi), who is born to a Muslim mother and a Hindu father. After Rambo is born, his father dies and the mother gets a paralytic attack. He is soon regarded as the harbinger of bad luck and despair. So much so that rain stops for him, when Rambo steps out to get drenched. This superstition turns into belief. But Rambo’s mother (oddly named Minah Khalif) reminds him that “when it rains, it pours”.

There is a superb moment in KRK when Rambo gets to experience rain for the first time without being apologetic for who he is. The way Vignesh Shivan treats this moment, it is as if to suggest that Rambo is finally cleansed of his curse and kissed by the rain gods. This happens when the women of KRK — Kanmani (Nayanthara) and Khatija (Samantha) — express their love for him. Rambo calls them his “angels”, although one believes that the demon must be the lack of a weighty script. The first half is so long that, at one point, you lose track of what’s happening and start thinking about the calculations, given that the film has two top actresses.