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| Wednesday, 11 February 2004 |
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Film Review: Lacklustre family drama by Karthiga Rukmanykanthan Tamil cinema has already seen a series of movies about conflicts in love. These conflicts could arise due to religion, caste or status. Kovil has chosen religion as the conflict. The outline of the story slightly reminds of the blockbuster-hit movie Kadhaluku Mariyadhai. A Hindu boy named Shakthivel falls in love with a Christian girl named Angel knowing the serious religious conflict between their fathers. Shakthivel successfully convinces his parents but the innocent Angel conceals her love realizing her father's narrow-minded mentality. The movie has tried to get across the message that religions are made for leading a problemless life and not for creating problems. The movie is also a family drama with some of the experienced artistes doing the important roles. The hero Silambarasan has been given a light role which has eased his job and the heavier roles have been given to the experienced to carry out the message of the film. The most important requirement for a movie to be successful is newness in at least one of the aspects. In this movie, none of these aspects including story, music or cinematography contains inventiveness, which increases the tedium as the movie proceeds. The movie totally lacks originality and reminds of some old movies. It is also short of some twists and turns until the climax, which makes it lengthy and unmemorable. Two villages called Wepamkulam and Pulliyamkulam are at loggerheads due to religious conflicts. One village is dominated by the Hindus and the other by the Christians and frequent conflicts arise due to discrimination. The first scene of the movie itself gives a chance for the audience to predict the rest of it. Nasser who plays the role of Angle's father is a strict follower of Christianity and he doesn't even allow people of other religions to enter his village. Rajkiran who plays the role of Shakthivel's father is liberal and a broad-minded man. He tries many times to unite the two villages by friendly talks but Nasser breaks the talks. Meanwhile, Shkthivel and Angel who attend the same campus fall in love. Angel's cousin brother suspects the relationship between the two and complains about it but Nasser refuses to believe it. These scenes create a little bit of suspense but the pace is not maintained until the end. When Rajkiran finds out about this, he shows reluctance for their marriage but Shakthivel convinces his father obeying his feelings. These are the scenes where a little bit of the storyline of Kadhaluku Mariyadhai has been copied. Shakthivel promises his father that if his love could bring disgrace to his family he would forget it. After understanding his son's feelings Rajkiran asks him to wait for sometime until he convinces Nasser. Naseer who comes to know about this matter beforehand warns his daughter and plans to send his daughter to a nunnery. The turning point is introduced very late to awake the audience. At one point Angel comes to know that she was a Muslim at birth. The rest of the story moves by solving the problems and by changing the wrong notion of Angle's father. 'Little Super star' Silambarasan has satisfactorily performed but he could still improve his performance by showing realistic expression rather than imitating other popular stars. His dancing style is an example to this. His dancing style is very much similar to that of Vijay. If he builds up an original style for himself, he could surely succeed in this field. This is the second movie for Sonia Agarwal who has played the role of Angle. She has not been given a heavy role therefore she has performed without any intricacy. Vadivel who does the comedy part of the movie is introduced as the uncle of Silambarasan but later he starts moving in a separate comedy track. All his comedies end abruptly and without any meaning testing the patience of the audience. Many fabulous actors like Rajkiran, Nasser, Rajesh and Rekha have admirably performed some of the matured roles. This is the third movie for the director Hari who directed Thamizh and the box-office his Saami but this movie can not be compared to the previous two as it lacks the fast pace, suspense and cinematic essence they had. The dialogues and screenplay are clear without any confusion and are sometimes thought provoking while dealing with the issue of inequity. The costumes, music and choreography are simple and monotonous. Music director Harris Jeyaraj has not given his best songs for this movie. The only song, which is melodious to hear, is the "sillu sillu" to which the cinematographer and the lyricist have got together to bring the mood of the song. The cinematographer Priyan has flown with his camera around the characters in the songs giving a little life to the situation. Kovil could have been appealing had the director taken more interest in giving flavourful scenes with gripping twists and turns. **** Back **** |
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