I waited for a long time to watch Kalyana Samayal Saadham. I’m not really sure what, but something about the movie really intrigued me. A part of it was because of the name Arun Vaidyanathan and the pleasant cast (after a long time we see everyone on screen to have taken bath and cleanly dressed). I expected it to be a satisfying and a well-made Class A film. After all, that was what the promos suggested. But then, I was in for a total surprise when I watched the movie. That was an unpredictable twist by the director.
Assuming that you would have already known what the movie is all about from your friends, I’ll let out the major spoiler. What started as a normal contemporary Tambrahm arranged-marriage based movie with decent dialogues, typical maamas and maamis, high class families and modern youth, took a major U-turn when the heroine finds out that her fiancé is impotent. Right from that point, every single scene has something related to impotency. No, it is not vulgar. You won’t close your eyes and ears. At the same time, everything isn’t subtle either. You don’t need to dig into many layers to find out what they actually mean.
We get that the hero is impotent but why emphasize on that part so much? Almost the whole first half and certain parts in the second half were about how he deals with it and how he gets mocked at because of it. Though it would seem that certain audience enjoyed it, most people did not appreciate the humour. This is the kind of movie where you neither blame the makers nor the audience (not that I want to blame them). The makers may have believed that the audience are mature enough to appreciate this type of content but I think there’s time left (but they could’ve at least given an A certificate so that we would have been warned).
But all that apart, Prasanna’s performance deserves praise. A really brave move. And he has pulled it off flawlessly. Though irritating in parts, Lekha Washington too was a treat to watch. The movie didn’t need any brilliant performances, but nobody seemed artificial either. The not-so-typical NRI friend, this time Raghav, definitely deserves a special mention.
Utter realism (except for the climax hoopla. Unnecessarily infusing thoughts into soon-to-be brides) and those small innuendos are the things that took this movie forward (cutting short a few would’ve helped though). The ingenious characterisation also needs to be appreciated. Ever-horny friends making fun of their friend who can’t get horny, the modern father-in-law who was first afraid of sending his daughter alone with a guy for a cup of coffee, is later found advising the same guy on his problem, the typical mothers-in-law from both sides and the not-so-typical NRI guy who doesn’t mind hugging a girl on the night before her wedding, but needs a sidecar to take her to someplace. Very thoughtful writing by R.S. Prasanna.
Technically too, Kalyana Samayal Saadham seems to be very fashionable. With pleasant music and steady cinematography all over the movie, flaws, if there were any at all, weren’t much evident.
With contemporariness sprinkled all over, Kalyana Samayal Saadham is definitely a feast that you don’t want to miss, if you are okay with nuances about some things that you are not very comfortable talking about in public.
Kalyana Samayal Saadham – Enjoyable feast with a few inedible items.
[rating:2]
