Kalyana Samayal Saadham (Wedding Feast) (Tamil)

If I remember correctly, the last Tamil movie I reviewed was also coincidentally the first movie on this blog.  It was called Ravanan (Ravan in Hindi starring AB Jr.).  It was one that I enjoyed quite a bit.  Sadly, it took an alignment of my schedules to accommodate another movie to watch my 2^nd Tamil movie in over 3 years – on the big screen that is.  Mental note made – should watch more Tamil movies in 2014.

Kalyana Samayal Saadham or Wedding Feast, as the name suggests, has a lot to do with a Kalyanam (wedding).  But, it doesn’t have anything to do with the Samayal Saadham (Feast).  So to that extent it is quite misleading.  In fact, if you watch the trailer, you will probably not get any idea of what the movie is actually about.  It is a deftly made trailer that generates reasonable interest without giving any part of the actual story away.

Meera Chandrasekaran (Lekha Washington) is of course from a traditional South Indian family where you can BE whatever you want to BE so long as it is a B.E.  She grows up around The Hindu (with something not too Hindu thrown in between the pages).  There is of course the traditional Patti (grandmother) who starts talking about getting married from age 3.  Bharatanatyam & Classical music is of course a must.

All of this to ensure that after Meera completes her Mechanical Engineering, she finds a suitable groom.  Which she does.  After several rejections. In the form of Raghu Viswanathan (Prasanna) who is an ordinary everyday boy who is fine with the idea of getting married the arranged way and is yet modern enough to get Meera interested.  The couple actually start seeing each other, fall in love and one fine day when things get hot and heavy between them is when the trouble pops up – or should I say it doesn’t?

KSS (that sounds like a condom product with extra features and hence will not be referred to through the balance of this review) is actually fresh off the oven.  It deals with a highly sensitive topic of Stress Induced Erectile Dysfunction – as the doctor asks, “Tamil le sollanuma… vendaam” (Should I translate it into Tamil… never mind).

Director R S Prasanna seamlessly moves the movie through the initial introduction period of the nuances of a South Indian family to the modern day setting and then into the actual topic in under 45 minutes.  The rest of the movie involves the trials and tribulations of the married couple, the couple’s friends, their family – all of it in a funny, inoffensive and tasteful manner.  It takes a lot of maturity to handle such a topic and the director comes on tops on that count.

However, he could have done with a class in editing – the movie was about 30 minutes too long for my comfort – 15-20 minutes on either side.  In an attempt to squeeze too much comedy, the first half gets stretched.  He could have well kept it to around 90-100 minutes instead of the eventual 120+ minutes.

Next there are several continuity errors.  Like when Meera is supposed to be getting her Mehndi done Punjabi style on one scene and then next shows the traditional Tamil Style.  A Sangeet in a Tamil wedding? Raghu’s father could have done with a different bit of casting because he seemed terribly uncomfortable.

Prasanna is normal actor which is what was required for the role and so full marks there.  Lekha Washington is probably the prettiest face to hit South India in some time.  She cannot speak Tamil but does a fine job lip syncing.  The support cast is however not up top – just about average.  Overall, the movie makes the cut – worth watching.  6 on 10.  And the subtitles help if you don’t know Tamil – in fact most of the subtitling is good.

Trailer on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SLEbxNLsYv8