Kaadhal was one of the few movies that I enjoyed last year. Except for the quick not-so-realistic ending, the movie had wonderful sequences and a worthy cast. Now Balaji Shakthivel’s Love (Kaadhal) goes to Times-London Film Festival in the World Cinema category. This is a non-competitive category and they don’t give Oscars here, which is a relief. It’s only for such film festivals we should be sending our ‘good’ films. Even if we were to send atleast one film a year, like this, its an achievement.
Rediff India writes on Kaadhal –
The latest achievement for this little film is its selection to the non-competitive, ‘World Cinema’ section of the prestigious Times-London Film Festival which starts on October 19. The London film festival’s official book says, ‘Director Balaji Shaktivel has deftly adapted the formulae of Tamil commercial cinema to combine with graphic realism, unadulterated joy and seismic action sequences, spun together with some wildcard editing and sparkling photography.’
kirukkal.com 
18 responses to “Kaadhal goes to London”
Very true…after a long time, a refreshing cast
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True Guru .. Kaadhal is such a cute movie .. I was shocked at the ending and was stunned in realising that such a gr8 person exists in real life.
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I was not that attracted to anything of kadhal except the intelligent casting. You had to admit the ending, simply because it was a real life incident. Otherwise ?
May be i have to learn or get matured o appreciate these kind of movies (including Autograph).
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Kaadhal was one of the very few movies that catered to all kinds of movie goers’ tastes! It was beautifully taken and had a refreshingly new cast!
With respect to the ending, i don’t think it was not-so-reslistic, cos it stuck to the true story and was what had actually happened in reality!
In case u didnt know(which i dont suppose), director Balaji Shakthivel was narrated this story by a fellow passenger, while travelling in a second class passenger train!
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Kadhal was the last decent movie that I saw, it had a good cast, i especially liked the interaction between the vadivelu lookalike comedian, and that little kid. But I didn’t like the ending, they could have lengthened the movie a little longer, didn’t have to get to the ending so quick.
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Hmmm, nice to see a movie like Kaadhal get to places. To be honest, the movie made me uneasy. Mainly because I do not agree to some of the references to issues (like puberty and teenage love affairs for example) did not feel positive. I know he was trying to talk about small town semi-urban ethos and that I am contridicting just what I tell other ppl (i.e. not to look for messages in every movie), but I thought some of those references could influence ppl negatively. And when I watched the movie, I was laughing a lot, mainly to disguise the fact that I was squirming! but that shld not take away from the brilliant acting that shone in every frame, starting with the small kid who plays Bharath’s assistant in the shop.
Getting off personal issues with the movie, Doesn’t it feel odd that the movies that get nominated to represent India at the Oscars every year (well almost every year) do not get INVITED anywhere? Does this point to the fact that we are trying thrust a whole genre of movies into the faces of a audience that does not seem to accept it? Or are we choosing the wrong movies from a genre that could be appreciated if the choices were different? IMHO, I don’t think movie making as an art is enriched by movies like Bride and Prejudice. Even respected reviewers like Ebert seem to highlight only the shallow parts of such movies (like the colors) and in all this, the extremely wooden acting by “stars” such as Ms.Rai get past unnoticed. In comparison, first time actors like Sandhya and Bharath are so good and the fact that we notice them is mainly because we are not distracted by other things. Thats how a movie should be, ideally. In fact I am waiting for Ebert to see Kaadhal!
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The reason I like ‘kaathal’ was that it disproved the myth that Producers need big stars and a lot of boobs to sell a movie..
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Nilu: lol.. in a way, yes!
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” Except for the quick not-so-realistic ending…”
What! Why?
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Keerthivasan, No no never grow up. It happens automatically 🙂
Vikram, I do know the real incident.
Anti, Perfect. First, we go to stop the utter nonsense of sending movies to Oscars. Second, if there is not way to stop the bunch of people nominating grossly idiotic movies to Oscars, we got to regulate them. I am sure none of the above will happen and until such time you and me should keep shouting. I agree for a foreigner B&P would be attractive with all its colors but then for our trained eyes, Ash’s wooden face is glaringly visible.
For Ebert to see Kadhal Balaji Shakthivel or Shankar should be the ones taking effort and sending across the movies to him.
Nilu, Perfect and I loved that aspect.
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Hemanth, The movie was succintly made until the climax. It stuck to what it had to say but in climax I thought too many things were rushed so fast that the audience who waqs relating to the movie suddenly could graps what was happening.
Or for me, the movie seemed so true to life until bharath was dragged out of the girl’s house and the camera slowly fades. If the movie completed there, I would left the theatre with a heavy heart. though being a true story, bharath becoming insane and the girl meeting him seemed out-of-place. It could be just me but it didn’t sink in too well.
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C’mon Guru, the movie had to do justice to the guy who was responsible for the film, in the first place and not without showcasing a Husband who, despite the place he comes from, breaks everything that stood between the two Lovers.
The only other place they could’ve placed it, is at the beginning and told the whole story in flashback, but that would’ve put it in league with Shankar’s other flicks.
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Kaadhal surely is one of the best made Tamil movies ever with great characterization, casting and commendable performances, not to forget the creditable debut of Joshua Sridhar.
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Hemanth,
‘despite the place he comes from’ – is that an assumption of intellect 😉
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Nilu, no way. That was plainly a stupid remark.
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‘despite the place he comes from’
Nilu, I meant that according to the Director, despite the grudge his Caste (or predominant part of it) holds against this guy, he goes against the unwritten edicit; which is still not an excuse.
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Wow! nice to know that Guru has finally talked abt a movie, which he hasn’t reviewed!!the most touching part of the movie was the “time warp” that the ppl were inhabiting.this is the other side of india which is living in medievel mindset.caste can still stir ppl’s emotions was what really made me squirm in my seat.truly a mind blowing movie and certainly one of the all time best in tamil film history.
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the movie was sooooo good it is also better then hindhi hits DDLJ,HAKHK,all those are dramatic but this is natural heroin is soooooooo cute impressive at just 15 she got a great response
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