Kandukondain Kandukondain

I came to this film with the background of having watched and thoroughly Bride & Prejudice, and having not read Austen's Sense & Sensibility. (I did re-read P& P after watching B&P and enjoyed the contrast.) I was intrigued to see a "real" Indian movie, since Bride & Prejudice is by its own admission a blend of Bollywood and Hollywood. When I read the reviews of I Have Found It on Amazon, I was intrigued by comments about the difference between Tamil movies such as this and Bollywood musicals. With that and of course Aishwarya Rai to attract me to this film, I was expecting something good, and I was very much rewarded. I have the Kino DVD which has good subtitles. I particularly liked Major Bala--my hat's off to Mammootty for his portrayal of a man torn between love and the fear of pity. He is the steady center-point while the rest of the characters whirl tumultuously around. In addition to funny scenes, as when Manohar meets Sowmya, there are many funny comments (e.g., about the necessary elements of Tamil films) and visuals (e.g., the opening shot of a waterfall that seems so romantic but turns into a military scene). Probably a lot more if you know India and its film industry. The songs do manage to convey some of the story and not just stop the speeding train (another of Menon's comments on Tamil films), especially my favorite in which Meenu laments losing her poetry. This is a film one can enjoy over and over.

The few Bollywood films I've seen have usually thrown me for a loop - I have trouble holding on to all of the plot points when the music videos interrupt - but this one grabbed me and wouldn't let go. When the dancing happened, the story wasn't destroyed. The constant gorgeous visuals helped carry me through, and the actors were completely engaging. It was great to be able to enjoy Jane Austen again, without knowing quite what would happen next.

Someone must have misunderstood the system when rating this movie. It's far better than the 6.1 it has right now. The only trouble I noticed was that Miss World kept outshining her surroundings, and occasionally drew my attention away from the story. No complaints, though.

I think the fact that this movie has a 5.9 is really sad. This movie is incredible. It is based on a great tale and is an all-out production, so it has to be great. The fact that it features a former Miss World doesn't hurt either. But really, this movie is awesome. I am white, so you can't call me biased. Everyone i know that has ever seen it has loved it. My 10 year old sister and mother are planning to buy it. And if you like the songs in Indian movies, this has some of the best. I would say more, but i don't even think i need to. Just see it. You will see.

At first I didn't really know what to think and I was a bit lost, but as I got used to who was who and what was going on in the story I LOVED IT! It was a great story and the one of the ending scenes surprised me with how well the actors did. I'm not going to lie...I cried a bit. Jane Austen's stories are always good no matter how lose the adaptation. I started to like it for comedic value and then ended up loving it for serious! It is of course not trying to be just like Sense and Senseability so a few of the main story lines are out of order when it comes to the movie, but I think it worked well. The only really odd part was that on the DVD we were watching it seemed as if every line was being dubbed over. I'm sure that wasn't the case in reality, but it almost looked like I was watching a dubbed film at parts.

Indian movies are unlike any other movies I have ever seen--and I've seen a lot of foreign films! I was initially surprised to see some very odd clichés--even in a drama like this reworking of Jane Austin's Sense and Sensibility the actors periodically break into MTV-like music video songs! The first couple times, this movie really surprised me--as out of no where, groups of dancers magically appeared and the main characters suddenly appeared in such diverse locales as Scotland and Egypt! However, once I got past the oddness of this and the music, I found I actually liked the musical numbers--they were strangely endearing.

But, the best thing about this story was the script. It started off weird--with a group of Indian soldiers being ambushed while on a peace-keeping mission. I certainly did NOT remember that when I read the book!! Try to look past this and the singing and you will find a very vibrant script with characters you really care about and that will touch your heart. I found myself getting quite misty-eyed near the movie's conclusion!