Remember that one guy you found really funny the first time you met him? The guy who took the excessive liberty to crack half-offensive drinking jokes and those fully offensive fat woman jokes? Remember how laughing out loud at those jokes had felt before you realised that what you’d mistaken for funny was just political incorrectness.
Now imagine meeting the same person again, years later, only to notice he’s still cracking those same jokes, the same way. Kadavul Irukaan Kumaru (KIK) feels like the seventh such meeting with that guy.
KIK is Rajesh’s seventh film and it’s amusing to see how little his cinema has evolved.
The novelty has worn out and replacing a Jeeva/Arya with G.V. Prakash, or Santhanam with RJ Balaji hasn’t done this film any good. It’s time to rest this one trick pony.
Writing a Rajesh film, I assume, has become so easy that the only conflict he must be facing is deciding whom to cast for the cameo in the climax…Arya, Vishal or Jeeva.
Just like in any other Rajesh film, the hero of KIK too is aimless. Kumaru (G.V Prakash) is a locality (local + city) boy, quick to rattle off lines in English that’s validated by his CBSE school education. By CBSE, he means Corporation Boys School, E section and he makes terrible, BSNL-style advertisements for a living.
He’s all set to marry Priya (Nikki Galrani) and he chooses to go to Pondicherry with his best friend Balaji (RJ Balaji) for his bachelor’s party. The trip, peppered with memories of his love story with his ex-girlfriend Nancy, revolves around him making up his mind if he should go ahead with the marriage or not.
For a Rajesh film, the only novel aspect of KIK is there isn’t a single scene set in a Tasmac. This self-imposed prohibition restricts the actors from acting silly, draining this film even further.
But that isn’t to say that the film is devoid of alcohol. In fact, the role of booze is biggest in KIK. It’s the plot itself. For Kumaru and Balaji get caught as they try to smuggle a boot load of alcohol on their way back to Chennai. What follows are their efforts to get back home in time for the wedding, avoiding police officers hot on their trail.
For a comedy, there are exactly two instances where I laughed. The first being a hilarious scene in which Kumaru, a Hindu, goes to church, to find out what communion bread tastes like. The priest, to check if he’s a Chrisitan, asks Kumar to sing religious hymns and he duly reciprocates… by singing a series of Harris Jayaraj songs. The pleasures of seeing one music composer poking fun at another.
The film also spoofs a TV show, modelled around Zee Tamil’s ‘Solvathellam Unmai’, mocking how it manipulates human relationships for the sake of TRP.
If two jokes that work is your idea of two hour comedy film, then KIK is perfect for you. For others, it’s lesson that there are other things that are more painful than standing in line to withdraw your own money.
VISHAL MENON
Kadavul Irukaan Kumaru
Genre:Comedy
Cast:G.V.Prakash Kumar, RJ Balaji, Anandhi
Director:M. Rajesh
Storyline:A bachelor’s trip to Pondicherry turns awry as they attempt to smuggle in cases of alcohol into Chennai
Bottomline:No wine and an empty bottle
