Kathanayagan - Screenplay is the villain
The posters of Vishnu Vishal and Foxstar Studios ‘Kathanayagan’ is truly enticing what with the color and vibrance, a hot heroine Catherine Tressa, presence of Soori and Rajendran and the ever affable Vishnu Vishal to boot. Does the film live upto its expectations remains to be seen.
Thambi Durai (Vishnu Vishal) is a timid young man who is even afraid to cross the road, joins a government office as a revenue inspector and there he meets Anna Durai (Soori) who is his long last childhood friend. A pretty young girl Kanmani (Catherine Tresa) voluntarily gives him a lift on her scooter and it is love at first sight for the hero and with the help of his friend starts stalking her. As fate would have it Bhavani’s father is harassed by a rowdy (Arul Doss) right in front of Thambi Durai who unlike a typical hero actually runs away. Later on the heroine’s bidding when the hero and his family visit her house to seek her hand they are insulted by the father who refuses to give her daughter to a coward. A heartbroken Thambi Durai in a drunken stupor beats up the rowdy and has them gunning for him and to make matters worse a mistaken test report from a hospital gets him in further trouble with another dreaded don Dubai Sheik (Anandaraj) and what happens next leads to a rip roaring climax that will have you in splits.
The role of a easy going cowardly young man sits beautifully on Vishnu Vishal and he is adequate most of the time. The only problem here is there are no challenging traits in his character to get the best out of him. Catherine Tresa is made to go through the clichéd motions the leading ladies of these kind of films are destined to. She might get the young brigade hooting for her in the scene where she tries to bed Vishnu in 7G Rainbow Colony style. Soori, sparkles every time he appears on screen and is a scream in the climax sequence when he innocently becomes the scapegoat. Anandaraj of late has smoothly transitioned as a comedian and here too he is extremely hilarious in the role of Dubai Sheik in search of a kidney. Not to forget Mottai Rajendran as Mike Maari, who murders more than a few classic songs during the climax to thunderous applause from the audiences. Saranya Ponvannan, Arul Doss and K. Natraj are the others in the cast who have done a neat job. Then there is the surprise appearance of Makkal Selvan Vijay Sethupathi as a bungling doctor who has a philosophical take on life and death which goes down well with the crowd.
The second half of the film is where the comedy comes off good and especially the last half hour is laugh out loud fare. The references to movies like '7G Rainbow Colony', 'Kadhalukku Mariyadhai', 'Karnan' strike a chord.
The director has attempted to weave a screenplay that is based on the trials and tribulations and co-incidences that happen to a typical Tamil cinema hero and hence it gets its title ‘Kathanayagan’. The trouble is he has forgotten to draw the line between where the audiences are supposed to laugh and where they should take the proceedings seriously. The film suffers from a lackluster first half, which drains the viewer with jokes few and far between. The uneven pacing is also another major dampener.
"On Nenappu" sung by Anirudh and Sean Rolden and "Tappu Tippu" are the songs that make an impact, but Sean Rolden leaves a lot to be desired in the background score. J. Lakshman and Sridharan have taken care of the cinematography and editing which are both passable. Muruganandam who is better known for his hilarious acting in the "friendu love matter" sequence in ‘Idharku Thaaney Aasaipattai Balakumara" is the director. Basing on his personality one would have expected much more in the comedy department from him but he only manages to impress in parts. One more good idea that is made to look ordinary by an unimaginative screenplay.
Verdict : Go for it to enjoy the climax sequence which is good enough compensation thanks to Soori, Anandaraj and Mottai Rajendran.
