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Critics Review
2.50
Not as dense or intense as the forest
This is for sure director Prabhu Solomon's comfort zone. A film close to nature & its elements has been his thing for close to a decade now. While the intention & cause the film sets out to address is noble, the lack of an engaging screenplay & narrative elements take him & the film down.(more)
Source: Meera Chithirapaavai , MovieCrow
3.00
Watch it for Rana's earnest performance
The film's major highlight is Rana and his earnest performance as Kaadan. We can see traces of Pithamagan Vikram in many places. His Tamil dubbing also sounds flawless. Vishnu Vishal comes as the selfish mahout and impresses us with his emotional breakdown scene in the pre-interval episode. Anant Mahadevan comes as the typical cunning politician and the rest of the actors are just okay. Another highlight of the film is AR Ashok Kumar's splendid cinematography. (more)
Source: Moviebuff, Sify.com
2.75
The jungle giants deserved better
The film has its moments. You can guess when an elephant will come in harm's way and yet, when it happens, it shakes you up. When a herd of elephants go in search of water, it's a desperate call for survival. One of the scenes from the final moments, which befits the Hindi title Haathi Mere Saathi, is equally moving. But there are several loose ends. The subplot of romance between the partly-silly-partly-corrupt mahout Singha (Vishnu Vishal) and Zoya's character is done away with after a point.(more)
Source: Sangeetha Devi , The Hindu
2.50
Rana Daggubati's screen presence and the scenes involving elephants makes this a one-time watch.
Right from the word go, the film's engagement is impacted with cliches and one-note characters. There is a lot of potential to develop characters, especially the ones of Zoya Hussain and Shriya Pilgaonkar. Zoya Hussain is earnest as a woman protecting the people of the forest. She is branded as a terrorist by the government, and a backstory regarding how she got into this would have made us empathize with her. Shriya Pilgaonkar appears as a journalist who travels with Kaadan throughout but her role doesn't seem to make an impact because her actions don't affect the narrative much. It is not an eye candy role, but her role lacks flesh and bones. (more)
Source: Editorial Board, Behindwoods.com
3.00
Earnest storytelling keeps Kaadan engaging
Prabu Solomon is more interested in telling us a story. It is only in the climax that the filmmaker starts to sermonise, which feels unnecessary given that we get the movie's 'message' even without the need for any underscoring. But the earnestness in the storytelling keeps the film afloat, making us root for its characters. And then there is Rana, who wins us over with the sheer physicality of his performance. It is as magnificent as the animals and the jungle.(more)
Source: M Suganth, Times Of India