For decades together Tamil Cinema starts when the lovers first meet and ends when the parents give the green signal. But the reality paints a contrasting story, the brief stint between engagement and marriage creates more drama than Tamil Cinema can possibly handle. Prasanna's Kalyana Samayal Sadham (KSS) explores this period and the atrocities that make it even more interesting.
Ragu (Prasanna) is engaged to Meera (Lekha Washington) and the problems that these couples face together has resulted in the 130 minutes celluloid. Barely a month before marriage, Ragu discovers that he is suffering from erectile dysfunction which he mistakes as Impotence. Along with his four friends, he ponders the streets looking for a remedy which never arrives. This forms the first half.
Second half shows why marriage is a real pain in the posterior. Misunderstandings, wrong words at the wrong time, gossiping relatives, pointless traditions and smiley balls fuse together to form the second half.
There is a genuine discontinuity between the two halves. Impotence, a very sensitive issue looses attention as soon as the first half ends. Apart from the smiley ball, there is no link or reference to it whatsoever. This creates a sombre effect and causes a few yawns. But KSS has its own pros- no songs have been inserted for the sake of inserting; no romantic numbers with the Alps background, reality speaks in every scene and enables the audience to connect with it better.
Prasanna as a debut director deserves praise as he handles with finesse and not charisma which would have spelled disaster for this type of genre. Lekha Washington is a treat to the eyes and the role has spread out her acting wings. A separate comedy track is avoided to keep the story as real and as straight as possible. But laughs are sprinkled all over the scenes right till the end. Quite a few double- meaning one liners might make the family men frown but the younger generations are bound to get a kick out of it."Pallu pona rasave" makes us hum while the rest create a subtle charm. Delhi Ganesh, Uma Padmanabhan add charm to the cast.
KSS: Enter without expectation, you will enjoy it.
