Kolaiseval Movie Review:

There have been multiple iterations of more popular epics in Tamil cinema. Countless more films on the characters of those epics. But films on the Nattaar Marabu/Dheivam (Rural Traditions/Deities) are few and far between. The clash of the Gods Pekkaaman and Virumandi entered common knowledge, but in broad strokes, as seen in Virumandi (2004), for instance. VR Thudhivaanan's Kolaiseval sparks an initial excitement about the story of one such Goddess, a woman deified after being killed in a caste-related incident. However, the makers struggle to maintain the excitement, despite a runtime of less than two hours. Thankfully, Kolaiseval doesn't dissipate quickly.

Kolaiseval begins in Tiruvannamalai with Kaali's (Kalaiyarasan) family making preparations to conduct a prayer at their ancestral deity, Nirai Sooli (the pregnant Goddess)'s temple, for the healthy delivery of their expectant daughter-in-law, Anusuya/Anu (Deepa Balu). As they prepare, the narrative shifts to two additional characters. They, too, are preparing to leave for the temple. The plot thickens as we learn more about these characters.

The film doggedly follows the singular event of what happens to the family that plans to visit the temple on a hillock. This choice pays off to an extent, but ultimately causes the film to come apart at the seams in the second half. Irrespective of how taut or not the screenplay is, it is fascinating to watch films like Kolaiseval that don't bother about too many things. Kolaiseval, the film, is as straightforward as its trailer. The film, despite making it clear it will be about honour killing, with info-drops like Anusuya leaving her family for Kaali and retro songs playing in the background expressing concern over people's degeneration, like 'Ethanai Periya Manithanukku', arrives at the point with a controlled pace. It is understood that the makers have worked on the first half as a set-up, but not everything required meticulous attention. Jokes centred on Kumar (Bala Saravanan), a film aspirant who spins stories on his 'Chennai dream', did not bring levity to the tense build-up. Also, as Kumar gets placed in a very intense sequence later in the film, it would have been useful to see him doing things other than the sarakku and cinema jokes.  

Director: VR Thudhivaanan

Cast: Kalaiyarasan, Deepa Balu, Bala Saravanan, Gajaraj

The flashback portion acts like a needle struck to a balloon that was filled with great labour, in the second half. Those scenes did not slow down the narrative, which was already progressing like a slow-burning thriller, but brought the proceedings to a screeching halt. This time-bound film was already functional with the details provided about the characters in the first half. What should have necessitated a flashback was a bit more about the hero and the heroine, not the meet-cute parts, but their family backgrounds and how a casteist mindset percolates across generations. There is a Pariyerum Perumal-like unassuming casteist in the film, whose psyche would have been an interesting exploration. The flashback, solely dealing with the falling-in-love act, is a weak link by itself and also fails to justify the bad guys’ proclivity to do evil. This portion, coupled with a gore-filled climactic sequence, shifts emphasis from the mental retardation of casteism to the very basic violence, which is only a result and a byproduct of a much bigger problem.

While there are no brilliant performances, within the scope of this particular milieu and the storyline, the actors are passable. As mentioned before, the antagonists, played by Gajaraj and others, needed more to chew on rather than just walk and go on a slaughter-spree. The film's writer did have ideas. Moments such as Kaali’s mother telling his niece that the Nirai Sooli idol was merely discovered and then began to be worshipped, and Anusuya saying she feels as though she has already been in the Goddess’s abode, quietly add to the narrative’s mysticism, hinting that many rural Deities emerged from structures of entrenched social hierarchy. The film needed a lot more of that. As the end credits of Kolaiseval began rolling, the voice-over says, "Even if God says there is no caste, people will reject it as they want a god who approves this system," criticising how people have gone to a point of no return in the casteist mindset. The film might have been far more effective had it translated those words into a more powerful visual language.