The film, directed by Desingh Periyasamy, is a pleasant diversion. I had a lot of issues with it, but here’s what I really liked. It’s wonderfully amoral.
Spoilers ahead…
Is Ritu Varma a Great Actress™? I’m leaving this question out here, as it’s essentially unanswerable right now, with her small body of work. But here’s why I’m asking. When I saw her first, in Pelli Choopulu (2016), I liked her the way you like a kitten. The words that came up were “sweet”, “cute”, “harmless”… But fast-forward four years, and she’s the best thing about Kannum Kannum Kollaiyadithaal. Now, it’s hard to say how much of this Great Acting™ is due to the writing (this is a much tougher, more textured character than the one in Pelli Choopulu), or even how much of it is from the guidance of the director, Desingh Periyasamy. But my gut tells me that a lot of what Ritu does — it’s coming from her, and it’s coming from the inside. I think this is the case of an actor really feeling the part and shaping her reactions with those feelings.
Read the rest of this article on Film Companion, here: https://www.filmcompanion.in/tamil-movies-kannum-kannum-kollaiyadithaal-baradwaj-rangan-dulquer-salmaan-and-ritu-Varma-desingh-periyasamy-on-netflix-rewind-amoral-tale
Continued at the link above.
Copyright ©2020 Film Companion.
Baradwaj Rangan 
ar
March 29, 2020
Link is broken?
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brangan
March 29, 2020
Oops, sorry! Fixed!
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krishikari
March 29, 2020
Enjoyed reading this review, despite there being no organic farming in the film. (What? Why?!)
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Devarsi Ghosh
March 29, 2020
I liked Peli Choopulu so much more than Arjun Reddy. The film made much more sense to me, emotional logic-wise and also as a narrative film, and I did not get why this film did not become a Telugu sensation and Arjun Reddy did.
Anyway, for a while, I had a crush on Ritu Varma. Had forgotten about her till I read this…
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Naren
March 29, 2020
Why is the hero’s friend always so supremely annoying and immature?! OMK, this one. Kallis is overtly sentimental and completely reliant on Siddharth . . . traits that r detrimental and so not suitable in the lives of grifters. But the movie plays it safe by not driving a wedge between the two, thereby justifying those traits.
The choice between romance and grifting cud’ve been presented as a dilemma. But instead the men stick with their sentimentalities right from the start and the women, guilt-ridden, fall for them without much of an opposition just because the men r sentimental. Ritu was atleast given an opportunity to differentiate her character a little bit before and after victimisation of the men but Niranjani was a flatline through out. After the men catch up to them in Delhi the women talk about being frosty and skeptical but I don’t understand how doing one job together cud completely change their minds and that too even after the men play a trick on them at the end. For a bunch of people who have been grifters all their lives they’re so trusting and r so easily convinced. Whether they fall for each other or not cud’ve been left open ended, leaving the audience to draw their own conclusions.
Primary traits that r out of place with grifters – Sentiments, emotions, trust, reliability. The inclusion of all these only begs the question whether the grifter lifestyle was just an excuse to get the protagonists to romance each other.
Yes, Gautham Menon’s character had a cool and a more realistic intro only to fizzle out eventually. The fact that his daughter was almost killed due to a defective laptop simply vanished from his mind as soon as he catches wind of the fact that the two con men are victims themselves. Aspects like him blindly trusting two known con men, lack of foreshadowing of his obsession with Meera made the cop a loser. A loser as in not a victim of a con for whom u feel sorry but a joke at which u laugh. That’s a hard 180 from how he started out.
No grifter, however skilled and confident he might be, wud ever give up a huge sum of money just like that for the sake of love. That was the pinnacle of the comical immaturity of the protagonist. The women were so guilt-ridden that they didn’t even bother to check the bags for the money. This makes them lousy con women. I’d have settled for a combination of benign selfishness along with the romance but it was a classic simple-mindedness of one or the other.
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Kay
March 29, 2020
Krishikari – guess you haven’t watched Surya’s last two movies?
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Amit Joki
March 29, 2020
Ritu Verma definitely deserves that first paragraph you’ve put here. She has a magentic screen presence.
I don’t know if Rakshan’s presence made any difference. But he definitely looked the part of Dulquer’s friend.
One of the places which didn’t work for me is the film takes too much time to set up a red herring – Dulquer and Rakshan’s crimes; but their investigation is stopped abruptly to focus on Meera’s.
It is explained away in a blink-and-miss scene of GVM saying to his friend, “It’s a random theft.” but apart from that, I enjoyed the movie alright.
Ritu Verma got herself a fan in real life and a follow in Instagram. Pelli Choopulu is a must watch now.
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krishikari
March 29, 2020
@kay no, but I was joking. I know it’s started to be a silly trend. In Malayalam movies when they stick that in, it somehow seems more ‘organic’ to the story and characters.
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krishikari
March 29, 2020
I wish they would show movies like this on international Netflix. But I did just bingewatch Imtiaz Ali’s ‘She’ series. It wasn’t bad, they were problems but I liked the ending!
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Madan
March 30, 2020
” You want to serve a fine single malt, but you also want a side dish of pickle.” – You mean you guys don’t have channa with whisky/rum? Besant Nagar nesamave vera level pola, ippadhan puridhu.
Jokes apart, agree completely with the review. Great concept and generally well executed but also kinda loud and unrefined. OTOH if you went fully Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, it would probably bomb at the BO which might have been what the director was hedging against. Overall, the film felt like a cross between Soodhu Kavvum (the tone and emphasis on amoral comedy) and Adangamaru (hi tech heist/crime).
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gnanaozhi
March 30, 2020
Hello All, just watching the movie on Netflix, I just don’t understand how they pay cash. Is it supposed to be counterfeit money?
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Mind Led
March 31, 2020
I really enjoy your reviews… am slightly put off by the slight arrogance (even if earned). Loved the movie! Comfortable with the Hollywoodised Kollywood – that’s us the urban South Asian – why apologise for it? And why run it down? We have so little space as it is – Let’s live I say.
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krishikari
April 1, 2020
For once, I can do the rare thing of watching something while everyone else is watching too. 😊
It took a long while for this film to become enjoyable for me, because the first 30 minutes was just montage after montage with annoying and repetitive bgm. The two charming lead actors were not given space to become people we could engage with. When some actual action and interaction started happening it became watchable, but I felt this was almost a phone in performance by Dulquer. The friend was doing much more to hold this film together, despite his characters uselessness, he did more with that than Dulquer’s one note ‘coolness’. The arrogant and unreflective declaration of love after a bit of self admitted stalking was a turn off. I didn’t know if we were supposed to admire his honesty or what. I thought it was bad writing for the character.
The ice cream scene was another big turn off for me, but felt well written for the character, the way Gautam just disregards his wife, shows his personality. Also really authentic, I know so many fathers just like that, sabotaging discipling efforts to show who is really in charge.
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The Lowly Laureate
April 1, 2020
Hi BR, seems you really liked Ritu Verma in this film ( we like her irrespective) but didnt feel much for this 🙂
But yah, the amoral thing of it all attracted us too, but just thought hero and heroine should not win just because they are hero and heroine etc.
Detailed thoughts etc here : https://lowlylaureate.com/2020/03/30/kannum-kannum-kollaiyadithaal/
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kasthuri
April 5, 2020
I am surprised that you liked Ritus performance. I was perhaps put off by her dubbing voice which i had heard before and it just did not fit her. That immediately put me into the “not another maida maavu actress who cannot speak tamil” spot. Then onwards i assume she is only here for the songs. So i was pleasantly surprised that there werent that type of songs. I was more pleasantly surprised that the match for the hero’s-comedian-sidekick was not relegated to dark skin or overweight stereotypes. Agree with your comments on Kallis character. Loved what a good sport Gautham was with that Jessie scene in the end. Laughed so much at that.
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Kay
April 5, 2020
GVM’s Jessie moment was my most favourite part of the movie.
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Gau
April 11, 2020
It was so nice to watch a movie like this during these times. I heard so little about the actual story of this movie so I did a hard eye roll in the first 15 minutes or so, but it obviously veered off the traditional rom-com and became engaging.
I second that it was also nice to not see the heroine’s friend being mocked for being “lesser” than Meera/Madhu/whatever. Her characterization was BARELY developed though. We know absolutely nothing about her other than her childhood being tough and that she herself is tough too. Even the hero’s friend got a better arc than that, and his was still bad.
Regardless, I love that it made me forget my woes for a little while. Movies can be good even if they’re not masterpieces right 🙂
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Arun Annamalai
April 13, 2020
@Naren the cop does not know that they are con men, the story intersects with the ladies case, the men were successful with their con escape
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Jai
April 14, 2020
While the movie wasn’t bad per se, overall an OK watch, I would term it “supremely underwhelming”. Yes, an oxymoron, I know; but then the movie comes filled with oxymorons which are content to stick out like sore thumbs, without any attempt to paper them over or give any explanation, howsoever unconvincing.
1) We have 2 über smart, ultra brainy crooks Siddharth and Kallis, who have this “amazing” racket going where they scam online retailers by ordering expensive electronic items, pay for them in cash, and then return them for a free replacement after replacing the genuine parts with old ones.
The only issue is, this scam doesn’t actually seem like it would earn them much ill gotten gains. The cash flow makes no sense, if you take a minute to think about it. They have paid for the genuine product in hard cash, all they are doing subsequently is selling the free replacement at a discount on OLX or Quikr (second hand electronic items are always at a discount), and getting some money from the black market when they sell the genuine parts which they removed from the original product. There is no way this would land up making them the multiple lakhs they supposedly get, so as far as scams go, it makes precious little sense.
2) We have 2 other über smart, masters of guile and deception crooks Meera (aka Madhu) and Shreya (aka Varsha aka Thenmozhi), who scam men by honey trapping them. But, we have this completely unrealistic and wholly unnecessary dialogue shoe horned in between Kallis and Varsha, wherein we are told the ladies don’t ever go beyond hand holding and walks to the beach and candle lit dinners at the most. No physical hanky panky whatsoever!! You see, they may be scamsters and cheats but they have ultra traditional mores!! Honey traps for ultra sanskaari men, one presumes!!
3) The chemistry between Sid and Meera was so tepid, the romance never really felt real. Ok, so we are told that Meera was (at that stage) merely pretending to like him, it was all a scam from her side. But what was it with Dulquer’s performance? It seemed as if both parties were only pretending to be in love with each other, Sid feigning affection just as much as she was. There was just this one scene (the one immediately after the girls’ betrayal is revealed), where he genuinely looked shattered and invested in the relationship. It was pretty much one note coolth throughout, apart from that.
Have seen most of DQ’s good Malayalam movies right from his Second Show/ Ustad Hotel days, apart from OKK, Nadigaiyar Thilagam and Karvaan. Kannum Kannum…..has to be hands down one of his least involved portrayals ever. Yes, he is known for his breezy, effortless performances, one hardly sees him hamming away or overcooking a scene. But there is a difference between carrying off a role with a light touch and turning in a lightweight performance. This film seemed to be mostly the latter.
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Jai
April 14, 2020
BR, while I agree with you on this statement- ” We need to liberate our cinema from the burden of conventional morality. We need to give movies the space to be fiction, and not expect them to do what our parents and teachers or we ourselves should be doing”, — however this particular film only portrays a carefully circumscribed version of amorality/ lack of conventional morality, if you will.
Just a few instances, off the top of my head after watching the film yesterday.
1) Siddharth and Kallis jauntily state to their female counterparts that they are in the con business as it is much easier (and more fun) to make money this way, they could hardly make this much money utilising their engineering qualifications. But, just a little later, we have Sid querying Meera/Madhu with a faintly disappointed air as to why she is into conning people, shouldn’t she rather be harnessing the “Superwoman” within her. Does she, he asks, really derive enjoyment from what she is doing?
Huh? But I thought he himself felt conning was making a fast & easy buck and a lot more fun besides?? I wonder why sauce for the goose wasn’t sauce for the gander??
2) As I’ve already mentioned in my previous comment above, that wholly inapposite dialogue between Kallis and Varsha where it is clarified for the audience’s benefit, that while the ladies serially honey trap men (at least 9 if not more) and embezzle from them; they are careful to “stay within physical limits”. The pity is, this “clarification” was totally unnecessary and seemed rather ludicrous.
3) Kallis’ response at that point indicates that Siddharth and himself were “perfect gentlemen” and content with gazing moonily into their counterparts’ eyes over candlelit dinners and hand-in-hand walks, and never made a move to go further. 😀 ;-D Just saying, till that dialogue, neither of the guys came across as anything like this at all. There was even a scene earlier, where Siddharth tells Kallis that they have had their share of fun dating quite a few girls.
Two couples– apparently very much in love and committed to very shortly get married, go to settle down in Goa— and the ladies carefully share a room while the dudes carefully bunk in the living room. Very much conventional morality here, whatever their scams may be. 😀
4) Meera’s rather vague justification for why she enjoys doing what she does. She says she derives pleasure from getting her own back on men who “lusted after her” and tried to two-time their wives by flirting with her. Even within the the universe of this film, her explanation didn’t make sense; because why in that case would she scam Siddharth, who was a bachelor and declared his love for her and proposed to marry her? Why bother giving such a justification at all, which made no sense?
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Yamini
April 28, 2020
Even with the amount of screen time Ritu Varma got, the role didn’t really have much scope to show off her acting skills. Would’ve been cool if she made the role more personal and added more depth, but the writing gives enough her characterization that adding more layers through the acting might’ve just become distracting.
She still has natural simplicity to her tho, something that many other actresses try too hard to be but fail miserably.
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rsylviana
June 7, 2020
But, we have this completely unrealistic and wholly unnecessary dialogue shoe horned in between Kallis and Varsha, wherein we are told the ladies don’t ever go beyond hand holding and walks to the beach and candle lit dinners at the most. No physical hanky panky whatsoever!! You see, they may be scamsters and cheats but they have ultra traditional mores!! Honey traps for ultra sanskaari men, one presumes!!
@Jai – Oh yea! I think the writers’ intent during that scene was “to convince the audience that the girls are as sanskari as a Visu padam heroineee even if they are crooks” and not “to make the audience get a sense of the girls”. Looking back at the movie the obvious question to ask the girls at that point would be “How come you are not afraid that the men may assault you?” or “What would you do if one of your targets does make a move on you?”. Someone else mentioned here that we know nothing about Varsha/Thenmozhi , heck I’m not sure I know Meera either. Why do the girls like/fall for the guys? The guys at-least were ready to let go of the con-game and settle down at a certain point but the girls seemed least interested at the prospect for the most time until , of course, it was time to end the movie. Also for a supposed honeytrapping mastermind, Meera/Madhu spends an awful amount of time saying “bayama irukku” like a typical tamil film heroine for most of the second-half. Oh well, the more things change…
@Naren – High-five ! Even I felt that the movie could have used an open-ending , something like the girls/guys escaping with the stolen money and the cheated parties challenging the other that they will come find them because they know them better now. Given how underwhelming the romantic portions are, it would have made for a more plausible and exciting climax.
Regarding Ritu Verma’s acting, having only seen her in Pelli Choopulu and this , I think she can ace the no-nonsense urban girl part but cannot convince us with the cheesy bits at all. She just seemed so awkward in the playful fight scene at the very last. But ,like BR mentioned, it is hard to be sure given her limited career.
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