Oh My Kadavule (2020)
It has become a rarity to see an entertaining movie with a simple story that makes you laugh and have an enjoyable time. Oh My Kadavule (2020) was a movie that delivered that and only that.
The film is about the hero getting a second chance to fix his love life. We see have this in Time-Travel (SCI-FI) films and in films like Click (2006) but OMK comes out fresh due to its simplicity. Arjun (Ashok Selvan), Anu (Ritika Singh) & Mani (Sha Ra) are close friends from childhood days. After completing their engineering together, one day Anu suddenly proposes to Arjun and he agrees to marry her, but due to absence of any “romance” between them, their marriage falls apart. When explaining the reason for the failure, he says it to be a loveless love-marriage (காதலில்லாத காதல் கல்யாணம்). That’s when, by the grace of “Gods”, Arjun gets to rewind and take a different path in his love life. Did it work?
Director Ashwath Marimuthu has taken everyday incidents and turned them comical. For example, the job Arjun gets is to be Toilet commode (Toilet Closet) tester. In two other scenes, it was brilliant timing in playing audio of Vadivelu’s “How did you know I was a toilet cleaner in Dubai” comedy and “Edhukku Pondatti” (எதுக்கப் பொண்டாட்டி) song from Kizhakku Cheemayile (கிழக்கு சீமையிலே).
With all the political marketing of Swach Bharath toilets and movies like Joker (2016) exploring the idea of “free” toilets, the subject may have become banal, but the context in which it was mentioned in the film by Arjun’s father-in-law (played by M S Bhaskar) makes it appropriate.
From her debut in Irudhi Suttru (2016), I like Ritika Singh and with her Non-Glamorous looks and measured acting, she was perfect as the heroine in this film, the story wouldn’t have worked with any of the Barbie girls of Kollywood. Ashok Selvan has given a good performance; I enjoyed his acting. Vani Bhojan (Deivamagal TV-Show fame) as the second heroine has done her role well! And with some luck, she should be doing well on the big screen too. Vijay Sethupathi and Ramesh Thilak have done a slightly big guest role(s).
Overall, go for this one with your family and you can be sure of an enjoyable two-hours.
3 Comments
Karthik
Pls see how notifications of the reply added can reach the email id provided..I did not get your reply in email and I totally forgot to check about it until I checked manually
Karthik
If I enjoyed one film in the recent years it is this. Reason could be I could relate too much to the hero and the main line in many aspects. You might infer what I mean..if you did Whatsapp.
Ritika Singh looked very appealing and pleasent to the eyes. There was a touch of director in every aspect between the two tracks. Every line in the first part had an equivalent knot which was untied in the second half and they were “paired” well. Lines like “naan ponnu da” and a little later the antonym “naan oru paiyan di” to reflect man – women psychology were good tenets of screenplay writing.
One irritant in the film which needs strong criticism is the projection of pub culture and boozing. If it’s a meeting it needs to be a pub and both the boy and girls booze together. A big negative.
Finally the film ends with a message that destiny is final and make the best use of what you have or given before it goes away.
venkatarangan
Glad you liked it. I understand.
Booze and Pub are unavoidable in today’s Tamil Nadu – The State Government runs on Tasmac revenue and Tasmac has to market its wares to expand customer base :-)