Review: Kadaram Kondan
Film: Kadaram Kondan
Director: Rajesh M Selva
Cast: Vikram, Akshara Haasan, Abi Mehdi Hassan, Lena, Vikas Shrivastav and others
Music: Ghibran
Cinematography: Srinivas R Gutha
Director Rajesh M Selva, who shot to fame directing the Kamal Haasan-starrer Thoongavanam, returns with Kadaram Kondan, a sleek action thriller featuring Chiyaan Vikram in the lead.
The film is more like a Hollywood thriller than a Tamil one. There are no songs, no romantic sequences like those that one generally gets to witness in a Tamil film or family drama. The only drama, if one can call it that, revolves around doctor Vasu (played by Abi Mehdi Hassan) and his pregnant wife Aadhira(Akshara Haasan). In fact, the film has a run time of exactly two hours and one minute.
The film begins on an interesting note. KK (Vikram) breaks out of the Petronas Towers in Malaysia one night with two others hot on his heels. Eager to get away from his pursuers, Vikram hastens his pace only to meet with an accident that leaves him unconscious.
The accident gets the cops on the scene and keeps the pursuers at bay, at least for the time being. KK is admitted to the ICU of a hospital. Interestingly, the doctor on duty that night is young Vasu, who has joined this hospital only a week ago.
Vasu is a worried man. His wife Aadhira is in an advanced stage of pregnancy and he has left her at home all by herself. To add to her troubles, she knows no other place other than their home and the clinic to which Vasu has been taking her for treatment. This is because both Vasu and Aadhira have just migrated to Malaysia from India.
Just when thoughts of his wife being all alone at home fill his mind, KK is brought in by the cops. Treatment is provided and his condition stabilises. The cops leave after instructing Vasu to call them once KK regains consciousness.
Time ticks by but not before long, an attempt is made on the life of KK. Vasu thwarts the attempt and saves KK’s life. Who is KK? Why are people trying to kill him? How are Vasu and his wife Aadhira’s lives going to change as a result of this rescue? Kadaram Kondan gives you the details…
The film’s biggest strength is, without a speck of doubt, Vikram. The man is a class act and steals the limelight as and when he appears on screen. The only problem is that one does not get to see him long enough on screen.
The story revolves more around Vasu and Aadhira than it does on KK. So, one longs for Vikram to appear on screen. Every single time he appears on screen, Vikram lifts the standard of the film by a big margin.
His style is just too good for one to not notice it. In fact, he has the swag of a Hollywood star and is a treat to the eyes. One wishes one can say the same of the other actors but alas! that is not to be.
Akshara Haasan, in particular, as Aadhira looks totally unconvincing. Her expressions, at times, comes across as overacting and at other times as being artificial.
Abi Hassan does a decent job of playing Vasu. Vikas Shrivastav, who plays Vincent, and Lena, who plays another cop, do a neat job as well.
Rajesh seems to have realised the fact that the attention spans of audiences are coming down. Therefore, he has made a concerted effort to keep the story line tight and looked to finish to make a film that has a run time of less than 2 hours. He has attempted to make a thriller that races from start to finish. However, in his attempt to tell a really racy story fast, he puts out crucial details of the plot in a hurried fashion. These facts are actually put out at such a blistering pace that even if you stop paying attention to a dialogue for a few seconds, there’s a good chance you might end up not understanding the entire plot.
In all, Vikram is the highlight of Kadaram Kondan. The man has very few scenes to appear and even fewer dialogues to reel out. But despite the limited space he is accorded, he still manages to deliver an awesome performance!
If there is a reason to watch Kadaram Kondan, it clearly is Vikram.
