Sadly Over-hyped

Good idea lost in the noise

This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

This is a well-written, well-acted, well-scored, well-edited, well- shot, and well-paced movie. Sure, there are some directorial mistakes such as city raised actors butchering the accent, disruption of the narrative by some song sequences, etc. However, I don't understand how this movie was regarded as a POS when it came out. I'm disheartened by tamil audience's verdict. OKK is a subpar movie and in no way can compare to this. Mani, if you get a chance to read this, please consider collaborating more with Jayamohan and other prominent writers in the future. If you believe love stories is what would get tamil audience celebrate a movie, please work on one along with a writer. I'm giving 10 just to boost the score. This is an easy 7+ movie.

Its a profound catholic message about Reconciliation, Baptism and Resurrection. The true meaning of sacraments. The director must be deeply understood and touched by the Christian message. All men are called to be saints. Even in the most evil men goodness is present. All they have to do is to explore and find it.The music is great with A.R. Rahman. Nice lyrics by Viramuthu. Tamil cinema will acknowledge this movie as one of the best ever after ten years, its an usual response time taken by audience to understand what Manirathnam has done.I am proud about Manirathnam for this movie, for both direction and the message. GOD bless, he is also a carrier of Gospel.

Visit: http://movies.chennaivision.com/tamil/review.php?id=1177A story that hardly kindles any interest, a narration that fails to impress and dialogues which heavily remind Neerparavai sum up the hugely expected Mani Ratnam's Kadal.But for Rajeev Menon's cinematography, which is the big saving grace of Kadal, the flick disappoints movie-goers a lot. And it is doubly so for who love Mani Ratnam's films.No doubt A R Rahman's music is great as usual. But it fails to gel with a rural story which deals with the lives of fisherfok.It was more than three decades ago Karthik and Radha made their debut together with Alaigial Oyvadhillai. Now Gautham and Thulasi, Karthik's son and Radha's daughter respectively, have debuted with Mani Ratnam's Kadal.Both Gautham and Thulasi are good in parts. Considering that this is their first film, all that we can say at this point of time is experience would mould them well.Aravind Samy is back and he is here to do a character with some different shades. And Arjun plays a meaty (negative) role.Coming to the story, Sam Fernandez (Aravind Swamy) and Bergmans (Arjun) undergo training to become priests. But over a period of time, they take different paths.As years pass on, Thomas (Gautham Karthik), an orphan, is showered love and affection by a priest (Aravindsamy). He falls for Bergman's daughter Beatrice (Thulasi Nair). What destiny has in store for them is the crux of the story.Kadal presents us never seen before locations in a beautiful and tasteful way. A R Rahman has blended the music of the east and west.Dialogues in Kadal differ a lot from earlier movies of Mani Ratnam, courtesy Jeyamohan. But he could have avoided repeating Neerparavai. Also there is a feel as if we are attending a Christian missionary meeting.The minus point is the narration by Mani Ratnam. Though the ace director got it right in terms of beautiful locations and best output from the cast and crew, his narration takes the sheen away. At many places, the script moves very slow.Kadal - Coastal FlavourVerdict - Poor

After Raavanan, Mani Ratnam has returned behind the camera and has delivered us Kadal (English: The Sea), a drama film which revolves the story of the life of Indian-Tamil Christian fishermen. It features an ensemble cast that includes Aravinth Swamy, Arjun Sarja, Ponnvannan, Lakshmi Manchu and débutantes Gautham Karthik (son of actor Karthik Muthuraman) and Thulasi Nair (daughter of actress Radha). The film's score and soundtrack were composed by the two time Academy Award winner A.R Rahman and the voices were lent by A.R Rahman, Vijay Yesudas, Sid Sriram, Abhay Jodhpurkar, Harini, Shakri Sri Gopalan, Haricharan, Chinmayi, Tanvi Shah and rapper Aaryan Dinesh Kanagaratnam. The lyrics were penned by Kaviperarasu Vairamuthu, his son Madhan Karky and rapper Aaryan Dinesh Kanagaratnam. The film was written by Jeyamohan while Rajiv Menon and A. Sreekar Prasad handled the cinematography and editing. It was produced by A. Manohar Prasad and Mani Ratnam.The film has two story lines that become one. The one features Father Samuel Fernando aka Sam (Swamy) and Bergmans aka Meesaikaaran (Sarja) while the other one features Thomas aka Tom (Karthik) and Beatrice aka Bea (Nair). The film marks a comeback for Swamy. He was last seen in Mani Ratnam's Alaipayuthey which was released 13 years ago. We can say that Aravinth Swamy owns the film even if the main actor is Gautham Karthik. The film's strongest point is the screenplay which was handled by Jeyamohan. The screenplay was simply amazing, specially the childhood scenes of Thomas. Both the child and the teenager who portrayed the younger Thomas have done a fabulous job. Both Karthik Muthuraman and Radha can be proud of their children. They have delivered a wonderful and neat performance. Specially Gautham Karthik. His acting skills, dance skills and action are pretty impressive. Thulasi Nair is natural, but I didn't feel that Beatrice was a suitable role for her. Aravinth Swamy was at his strongest performance after Bombay (1995). He was simply the perfect choice to portray Father Samuel Fernando. Arjun Sarja, the action king who has delivered a bunch of successful action- packed films in the 90's has portrayed Bergmans, the main antagonist. Sarja has played a role with negative shades and has shown us another side of his acting skills. Ponvannan who portrayed Thomas's unknown father has also done a good job.Rajiv Menon, the cinematographer has pictured the whole film beautifully, specially the songs Elay Keechan, Moongil Tottham and Adiye. You will still have the shots of Thomas as a teenager when he surfs in the ocean in your mind even when you leave the cinema. A. Sreekar Prasad, the editor, deserves to be praised for his work as well.A.R Rahman, who has been Mani Ratnam's usual composer since Roja (1992) has given the film a soundtrack with different genres. Chittirai Nila describes the difference between life and death, Elay Keechan has a farmer-humpback tune, Adiye has a jazz feel, Nenjukkulle, a romantic touch, Anbin Vaasale, a religious song, Moongil Tottham, a slow tune of Nenjukkulle and Magudi Magudi, a Hip-Hop track which gives energy in the action scenes. Kadal is the third best album of the Mani Ratnam - A.R Rahman combination.Overall Kadal is a beautiful journey you never want to miss. It is a story that tells us about the good versus the evil. It has emotions, action, love, heart melting music, extraordinary shots of jumping waves, a good message and a small piece of comedy. It may not be a usual Mani Ratnam flick, but if you want to look and experience something different, then Kadal is definitely the right choice. Strongly recommended for everyone. Specially non-Mani Ratnam fans.