Name: July Kaatril

Director: K C Sundaram

Cast: Ananth Nag, Anju Kurian, Samyuktha Menon, Sathish and Paloma Monappa

Music:Joshua Sridhar

Cinematography:  Dimal Xavier Edwards

The nature of director K C Sundaram’s  July Kaatril is just what its title suggests —  a delightful breeze that leaves you refreshed!

The romantic drama scores on four fronts. The first of these is the style of narration that is reasonably new to Tamil cinema. First time director K C Sundaram tells a love story from the points of view of all those involved in a romantic relationship. This style of narration is something which is not entirely new to Tamil audiences.

We witnessed this is in Kamal Haasan’s Virumaandi, where a gruesome tale is narrated first from the point of view of the anti-hero and then from the point of view of the protagonist.  However, that was a crime-action-drama while this one is a romantic  drama.

It is a difficult format to narrate a story as this would mean narrating the same set of events again and again. Doing so without boring audiences would require some amount of skill and director K C Sundaram proves that he has mastered this skill.

The story is simple. Rajeev (Ananth Nag) is a successful professional who heads a sales team. Like most individuals, he is in a hurry to find a life partner.  He happens to meet psychologist and student counselor Shreya(Anju Kurian) at a wedding through a friend. Eventually, the two develop a liking for each other and begin seeing each other.

More than them, their families too take a liking for each other. Like most parents, the parents of both the boy and the girl urge them to take the next step and get married. Although Rajeev isn’t exactly in love, he sees no reason to turn down the alliance as he finds Shreya to be a good girl from a good family.

Shreya, meanwhile, is genuinely in love. The two get engaged.  It is when he is engaged that one day, Rajeev meets Revathi (Samyuktha Menon), a photographer, who is passionate about her profession. Rajeev realizes that he is actually in love with Revathi and believes that she is the one he cannot live without.  What happens next is what the film is all about…

The story is first told from the point of view of Rajeev and then from the point of view of Shreya. Then, comes Revathi’s life and her equation with Rajeev. The film is not preachy but it shows each of its characters learning a thing or two from the whole experience.

The film has some fantastic visuals and cinematographer Dimal Xavier Edwards must be congratulated for this. But the biggest highlight is the film’s music.

Joshua Sridhar, one of Tamil cinema’s finest composers who hasn’t got the recognition that is due to him,  comes up with yet another set of brilliant songs for this film. More than his songs, his background score is extraordinary and actually plays a big role in enhancing the impact of the emotion of the film.

The film has some pretty impressive performances coming in from its lead actors. Ananth Nag as Rajeev, Anju Kurian as Shreya  and Samyuktha Menon as Revathi impress.  Samyuktha Menon in particular seems to have relished playing this character of Revathi, who is portrayed as a strong woman who pretty much calls the shots on everything that the couple do.

K C Sundaram does not come across as a first time director. His work has class and he shows immense promise.

In all, July Kaatril is quite a refreshing experience.