Kadhalil Sodhapuvadu Yeppadi (KSY) - Movie Review 

Kadhalil Sodhapuvadu Yeppadi (KSY) will give a lease of life to many love affairs that are currently at the verge of break-ups or put band-aids to broken relationships, at least temporarily. The movie is based on the premise that most common relationship problems between men and women are a result of fundamental differences between the genders -- similar to the concept explored by a popular book "Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus".

Director Balaji Mohan, Siddharth, Amala Paul, Nirav Shah, Thaman and other cast/crew deserve a round of applause for taking a simple story and narrating in a refreshing manner. There are a number of highly relateable scenes and dialogues which are the main strengths of this movie. A few examples include the scenes where Siddarth sits idle without having anything in his mind (or just 'randakka randakka' looping in the mind) while the girl has flashes of thoughts constantly crossing her mind. Another scene is Siddarth's parents curious about their kid's girl friends on Facebook, scenes showing sweet-nothing conversations about studying before exams, etc. There are many such scenes shown in a light-hearted manner. 

Screenplay, Dialogues and Direction

Director Balaji Mohan deserves a lot of credit by taking a simple concept and making a full-fledged movie without feeling compelled to make it dramatic for the sake of large screen audience. He has also been an inspiration to all the aspiring film-makers by showing how one could release a short video on Youtube and use it as a way to showcase their talents. Balaji has developed a full-fledged script almost as good as the impact left by the short version. The dialogues are thoroughly engaging and highly identifiable. By making a few cameo appearances during the first, middle and last scenes, Balaji will become an overnight celebrity as people will be able to spot him at public places from now on.

Performance

The movie with so many monologues talking to the audience could have easily mis-fired without an actor of Siddharth's calibre. Siddharth keeps you glued with amazing spontaneity, timing and terrific screen presence. Siddharth is able to hold the audience interest from start to finish with never a dull moment whenever he appears on the screen. It is difficult to imagine any other actor performing this difficult role with so much ease. Siddarth scores a perfect 10 as an actor and also as a producer.

Amala Paul is such a natural performer with expressive looks. She can keep you arrested even when she is doing nothing on the screen. This movie will give her the big break to stardom. Ravi Raghavendra(Music Director Anirudh's father) delivers a steady performance of an understanding father, husband and a lawyer. Suresh and Ravi Raghavendra along with their respective pairs provide the necessary support and variations away from campus settings. Rest of the characters appearing as Siddarth's friends have done their job extremely well.

Cinematography & Editing

The movie is shot mostly in and around Hyderabad at a very low budget. But, every frame is made to look rich and fresh in perfect sync. with the mood of the movie by Nirav Shah who is also the DoP and Co-Producer for this movie. In terms of visual story-telling and fast paced working style at the sets, Nirav Shah's reminds you of late cinematographer Jeeva who also had the unique sense of selecting the right scripts irrespective of the budget. After making wide genre of movies like Dhoom-2, Pattiyal, Madrasapattinam and Billa, Nirav Shah shows his versatility in this movie and proves he is one of the best in the business today.

When you are not noticing the 'editing' is when the editor is really doing his job well. Editor TS Suresh did just that in KSY. TS Suresh knew when to give screen time to Siddharth's monologues and when to go for quick cuts while maintaining the rhythm & flow of the story. 

Music

Thaman strikes a difficult balance in song department by catering to both Telugu and Tamil audience. Thaman deserves bigger credit for the excellent background score which perfectly gels with the story. Also, he brings out the right emotions and evokes guffaws with apt re-recording. Lyrics by Karky will strike a chord when you watch it along with the movie, especially in songs like "Thavarugal Unargirom" and "Azhaipaaya". 

On the negative side, the movie's second half drags and staggers a bit. When the movie is focused on framing the problems between the lead pairs, the movie works just fine. Once the movie takes itself a bit seriously and enters into counselling mode offering solutions to lovers, it makes you look at your watch. As one would expect, the climax portions move along expected lines and ends on a necessary feel-good note. Other than a few minor lapses in the second half, the movie is overall fantastic.

Box Office

The cost of production for this movie must be under 5 Crores given that Siddharth and Nirav Shah will earn their salary from the profits generated based on the BO run. The movie has released in both Telugu and Tamil with strong positive word-of-mouth. Expect this movie to reach a must-watch status in college campuses and schools in the coming days.