C/o Kaadhal – My Flash Review!

The tagline to the title says “Love has no age” which is an age old adage and was wondering what could be a new twist to this. So frankly started watching this film which is streaming now on Netflix, with minimal expectations.  As the film progressed, I must say I was in for a good surprise.

C/o Kaadhal is a small film sans stars or star technicians. It is set in a small town – Meenakshipuram in Tamil Nadu and that should ring a bell for those who followed news in TN in the 80’s.  Though the subject of “conversion” doesn’t take centre stage, it is part of one of four threads in the film.

The film can be seen as an anthology of four shorts or as a hyperlink cinema. The film is about 4 disparate couples and as the tag line suggests, – in different age groups of underage teens, 20’s, 30’s and Over 50 in some form of love. In isolation we have seen these kind of love stories in films before. But what makes them stand apart is the “slice of life” tone in the proceedings.

The film is a remake of the Telugu film C/o Kancharapelam which was critically acclaimed when it was released. I haven’t seen the original and so I’m not getting into comparisons. Enough to say that, the director Hemambar Jasti making his debut with this film, has done a good job of adapting it to the Tamil version.

The performances of almost all the actors are very real and endearing. The cast which is all predominantly new faces have done a great job, the pick of the lot being Deepan, who we saw as a debutant 35 years ago in Mudhal Mariyathai. He makes a good comeback!

The film is touching and moving in many parts. It touches upon many social issues which still infest our society particularly in small town India. The narrative is such that there are bad news galore in the film which I felt was an overkill. It would have worked well if at least one story of hope was woven around, particularly with the story involving the craftsman who aspires to become an entrepreneur.  The twist in the last couple of minutes of the film is novel at the same time a bit contrived.

I would group this film with other small but enduring films like Sillu Karupatti, K.D etc. which made a mark in Tamil cinema in the last few years. Watch this for the touching story line and some down to earth performances.