Kaatru Veliyidai - L'Étendue du Vent

This is a Ravi Varman film, not Maniratnam's. Each and every shot screams the cinematographer's talent. It's like he painted them rather than captured them. RV just enhances the beauty of everything through his skills. If RV is one side of the Kaatru veliyidai coin, ARR is the other. He does what he always does, especially with Maniratnam. A soundtrack that's gonna keep ringing in our ears forever. Songs and scores, ARR nailed them both.

But the same can't be said about Maniratnam's story. Bit of lazy writing. In one scene a character asks another "y does the heroine put up with a abusive, misogynistic hero?" and the answer is "LOVE". It's disappointing that Maniratnam resorts to this age old drama after his last modern outing, OKK. Lot of the scenes are inconsistent. The interval between Azhagiye and Sarattu Vandiyil songs is just 2 min, and the latter seems forced. The film is promoted as a poetic Romantic tale, but I see is an toxic relationship between an abusive hero and stupid heroine. The heroine here wants to be respected but she gives in to the hero for the sake of love.

Aditi Rao does a splendid job, but Karthi does falter. He needs to work in emoting vulnerabilities. The production design is great.

Overall RV and ARR have put their best to save MR's weak story.

A Maniratnam movie. A familiar journey that brings joy yet due to his recent inconsistency, an unpredictable one. The benchmark is so high that anything short of exhilarating, full-on cinematic orgasm, it's a failure. We go to movies to judge. We judge them the moment the final credits roll as we make sense of what we feel.

With "Kaatru Veliyidai" (Breezy Expanse), you aren't happy when you come out of the theater. It still feels unfinished. Something left over. The journey is complete for the protagonist but as a viewer, you're still perplexed. That's when it hits you. You don't like the protagonist. You don't like his flaws, his demeanor, his behavior nor his antics.

Mani's hero's have a higher benchmark. Mani's heroine's, stand on an even taller pedestal. So, while as a film maker, you appreciate his latest character study, it fails to bring any kind of sympathy towards the protagonist. Even when he is a war hero, fighter pilot and becomes a prisoner of war. That's a big bummer as a viewer.

The female protagonist on the other side is flawless, evocative and shimmers in the snow. She is like a snowflake, sensitive, quiet but strong. Her only sin is falling for the bad boy. Karthik has the tougher role among the two and he almost succeeds but like Olympics, it's not good. Not even silver. Bronze, maybe. While he emotes the angry young man with ease, he loses completely when he needs to be vulnerable. Perhaps the biggest flaw is when he convinces his lady love on screen to forgive him but he doesn't even scratch the surface with the audience of his innocence or vulnerability. And that's like missing the penalty kick. Nothing else really matters.

Mani has broken new ground by focusing on just two characters for the entire movie. It's an engrossing ride until interval and a slow, drag in the second half. Ravi Varman, as promised, paints a wonderful background to these two characters in white snow and brown desert. Mani's flawed depiction of Raavan comes to haunt his Officer VC. There is no redemptive sparks in him when he acts immature and being a jerk.

Aditi Rao Hydari has arrived. She is spectacular in every shot and her range of emotions and acting craft is a treat. I had to remind myself that she is not Shobana from Dalapathi. "Kaatru Veliyidai" is a wonderful character study. It just feels like a television drama in the second half ending in a whimper than thunderous applause. It misses the goal post and loses but the journey is still interesting in parts.

It's a Mani Ratnam film. One of the rare filmmakers, whose films does not need to be analysed or enquired to decide to watch, despite whoever the actors are. The best thing from his flicks are the production quality and this film too had an excellent presentation. Always high standards, even for a simple storyline. A perfect line drawn between reality and cinematic. His films are always a family friendly as this one. This is another love story, but with the backdrop of Indian Air Force during the Kargil war. You should not anticipate more actions, because those parts were only part of the story in a small scale. So it is totally a love tale, though not your regular one. That's the highlight.

Like most of the Ratnam films, this is also a flashback narration. An ace Indian fighter jet pilot, VC, is locked down in a jail after his jet was shot down behind the enemy line. He has to concern for getting out of there alive, instead he begins to recall his romantic life with a doctor named Leela. How they met for the first time and developed their awkward relationship were slowly revealed. The struggle to patch their differences and make it to work. They saw more downs in their relationship than the ups. Now rotting in a prison, VC has to go back to his homeland to locate her and make everything right from where he had left before going to the war.

Jammu and Kashmir, captured, clumsy relationship, does not it remind you something else from the past. Yes, it was like another 'Roja'. Except it was partially inspired by a real event of the 70s. Great direction. The locations were breathtaking. Like never seen before Jammu Kashmir. The performances were not bad at all. Then what's wrong with this flick? It was the screenplay. Not engaging as a theme like this requires. This should have been a 90 minute film. They had dragged it for another 40 minutes, that did not work.

The story was not to be blamed. You won't see such concept in Indian cinema. All the big star's films are the same old storyline with a slight change. This was refreshing, but they let it slip away from the opportunity. Particularly Dileep Kumar's music was a let down. There are many promising musicians today, Ratnam should consider to work with them for a change. As usual, the songs were the disadvantage of the film. But it has always been Ratnam's strength in his storytelling. Here it completely failed. Just one time watchable film. I hope he comes back strong with his next project.

6/10

After the trailer and promos indeed it made me feel like this movie is gonna be amazing. But I was completely disappointed when I left the theatre. I know it will be slow and it's all about love. But I never knew there would be no story in this movie. This is not a review. Check others reviews if you want to know about this movie. I want to talk about what went wrong in this film. The audience these days do not want love films. That's the main thing. They definitely expect good songs. But they don't want an entire film to deal with romance. Comedy and thriller films have been doing well in tamil cinema. Mani Ratnam made the bench mark films for the all the present day directors but this film would have been better if the content in the film did not just deal with romance and rather something else. We all entered the theatre not for the sake of Karthi(even though he is good actor) but we went in to see the work Mani ratnam has done in this. I'm not comparing this to his previous works cause I hate comaprison but this as a whole film did not satisfy anyone cause it does not engage or connect well with the audience mindset. People should either relate a film to something that has happened or should probably learn about something that the movie maker wants to convey. That's how its working today. Anyhow. We all know what kind of director is Mani Ratnam. He was the best always. Maybe not this time. I'm sure his next film will satisfy all his fans and make his haters shatter.

Ps....Mani Ratnam said in an interview that he would love to have a full bound script from others and make that into a film. Probably it's high time he tries that.

My take on Kaatru Veliyidai : (press see more / read more to read my complete review )

One of this year's expected movie kaatru veliyidai has all the elements that you would expect from a Maniratnam's movie yet it is not the usual smitten by romance type of flick. This time the director has featured a love story that's intense at the same time intriguing.

The love story of a hard Air Force fighter pilot Varun aka VC essayed by Karthi sivakumar who is super stiff , dominant, chauvinistic by character. The female lead Leela played by Aditi Rao who is a doctor she is simple grounded yet expects equality when it comes to a relationship.

With this contrast what else to expect in a Mani's movie they fall for each other and goes head over heels and slowly develops the crack and the usual fights and intense romance ballets goes on. Though seems clichéd the screenplay makes the difference.

First half of the film is a bit light but filled with heaviness of Rahmanism every single no of this album is a pleasure to ears. Second half gets more of a destructive love genre inter woven with times of Kargil Kashmir, prison life.

The supporting cast though was strong which includes Delhi Ganesh Rukumani RJ Balaji and KAPC Lalitha. They weren't having a big scope nor created an impact. It was an out and out Karthi-Aditi romance duo.

Performances side Aditi was pleasing with her looks which resembles a bit of Aishwarya Rai and some times like an re incarnated Shobhana. She has pulled this character perfect portraying maturity. Karthi on the looks side a bit out of sync but scores towards the second half.

The movie struggles with a bit of pace issues and predictability. VFX was another let down. Some might feel clichéd.

Overall get in for an intense romance ride with breath taking taking visuals through the lens of Ravi Varman intertwined with a soul tingling BGM and music by ARR. I am sure you will walk out satisfying if you are a Mani fan.

-Reviewed by Sivakumar Balachandran.