Aandavan Kattalai (2016 film)

Aandavan Kattalai
Movie poster
Directed by	Manikandan Chandra Mathiazhagan
Produced by	G. N. Anbu Chezhiyan
Screenplay by	Arul Chezhiyan M. Manikandan Anucharan
Story by	Arul Chezhiyan
Starring	Vijay Sethupathi Ritika Singh Nassar Pooja Devariya
Music by	K
Cinematography	N. Shanmuga Sundaram
Edited by	Anucharan
Production company	Gopuram Films, Tribal Arts
Distributed by	Sri Green Productions
Release dates	23 September 2016 (2016-09-23)
Running time	146 minutes
Country	India
Language	Tamil

Aandavan Kattalai (English: God's order) is a 2016 Indian Tamil language satirical film co written and directed by Kaaka Muttai fame M. Manikandan (director credit as Manikandan Chandra Mathiazhagan) co written with Arul Chezhiyan and Anucharan. The film features Vijay Sethupathi and Ritika Singh in the lead roles. Produced by G. N. Anbu Chezhiyan and featuring music by K, the film began production in March 2016. It was released on 23 September, performing well at the collection centres in Tamil Nadu and has become a hit at the box office.^[1]

Plot

Faced with several debts, a village accountant Gandhi (Vijay Sethupathi) leaves for Chennai with his best friend Muthu Pandi alias Pandi (Yogi Babu) to get all the documents necessary for going to London, where they plan to make a lot of money to pay off their debts. They approach two middlemen to help them get the passport and British tourist visa necessary for them to go to London. The middlemen claim that the British Deputy High Commission would prefer to give tourist visas to those who are already married, so the duo are forced to add their "wife's" name while applying for passport, with Gandhi adding his "wife's" name as Karmeghakuzhali. However, Gandhi's visa application is rejected, forcing him to remain in Chennai and take up a job as an accountant with a drama troupe Stray Factory, run by Master (Nassar), while Pandi leaves for London.

With his hardwork and sincerity, Gandhi soon becomes the favourite employee of Master and is made to act in his plays. Eventually, Stray Factory are invited to perform in London, leaving Gandhi in a bind as he now needs to get his "wife's" name removed from his passport. He finds out that the only way to do so is to divorce his "wife", but for that he needs to find a woman who has the name Karmeghakuzhali. He successfully manages to track down a woman with the name Karmeghakuzhali (Ritika Singh), who is a television journalist, and tries to convince her to act as his wife and "divorce" him. Initially she refuses, but she soon gives Gandhi the necessary documents to "divorce" her, feeling pity for him. However, since both husband and wife need to be present at court at the time of divorce, Gandhi convinces Aarthi (Pooja Devariya), an actress who works in Stray Factory, to act as Karmeghakuzhali at the court. But at the time of the divorce hearing, Aarthi disappears to the toilet, forcing a relucant Karmeghakuzhali, who is present at the court, to take part in the divorce hearing. The subsequent events at the divorce hearing prove humiliating for Karmeghakuzhali and she leaves the court in tears with no "divorce" granted.

Later, Gandhi finds out that Pandi has been deported back to India and detained by immigration officials for giving false information and address verification while obtaining his passport, and he too finds himself in the dock for doing the same. However, he shows his and Pandi's original Voter ID cards to the immigration officials, getting them released, while the middlemen are arrested. Pandi, humiliated by the recent events, returns to his village.

Gandhi goes to the Regional Passport Office in Chennai and admits his crime to the Regional Passport Officer. The passport officer asks him to pay a fine of ₹1,300 to get Karmeghakuzhali's name removed from his passport. But in a last-minute decision, Gandhi chooses not to remove Karmeghakuzhali's name from his passport and instead proposes marriage to Karmeghakuzhali, who is initially taken aback, but agrees. He soon gets his British visa and leaves for London with the rest of the Stray Factory troupe.

Cast

• Vijay Sethupathi as Gandhi
• Ritika Singh as Karmeghakuzhali
• Pooja Devariya as Aarthi
• Nassar as Master
• Yogi Babu as Muthu Pandi (Pandi)
• R. N. R. Manohar
• Cheenu Mohan as passport official
• A. Venkatesh
• Sivagnanam Aravindhan as Nesan
• Vinodhini Vaidyanathan as Junior Lawyer
• Singampuli
• Ramesh Thilak
• Namo Narayanan

Production

In July 2015, Manikandan revealed he would direct Vijay Sethupathi in a film to be produced by G. N. Anbu Chazhiyan of Gopuram Films.^[2]

The film began production in February 2016, with actress Ritika Singh announced as a female lead and began filming in March 2016.^[3][4]

Shooting of the Film has been wrapped up and dubbing work had been completed by July 2016.^[5] The story is about people's craze trying to get settled in foreign countries even with a fake passport.^[6]

Soundtrack

Aandavan Kattalai's music was composed by K. The soundtrack album features nine tracks, sung by Benny Dayal, Anthony Dassan, Janani S. V. and K himself; all lyrics were written by Ganakaravel, Vivek Velmurugan, Darwin Guna. The album was out on 12 September 2016. A jukebox with all the song was released on youtube.^[7] Behindwood gave a rating of 2.75/5 stating 'Aandavan Kattalai is a brilliant album from K who gives the best of various genres in a perfect package.'^[8]

Release

The film earned positive reviews from most of the critics. The film will be released on 29 September overseas . National award winning critic Baradwaj Rangan noted "Aandavan Kattalai is a comedy of desperation. Manikandan zooms in on people whose plight should make you cry – he makes you laugh, instead. He doesn’t have an iota of the self-righteousness that inflates so many filmmakers that you want to stick a pin into them".^[9]

Reception

The film received mostly positive reviews from critics and audience^[10][11] Times of India wrote 'Just like how Manikandan's Kaaka Muttai and Kutrame Thandanai refrained from finger-pointing and sermonising, Aandavan Kattalai, too, is far from being preachy, despite involving a subject that offer plenty of targets to take pot-shots at.' and gave 3.5/5^[12] Baradwaj Rangan of the hindu said 'Manikandan and his writing team (Arul Chezhiyan, Anucharan) should hold classes for other Tamil filmmakers who want the story-screenplay-dialogue credit but reveal little understanding of these elements. Everything in Aandavan Kattalai is there for a reason.'^[13] Hindustan Times gave a rating of 3 out of 5 'Director Manikandan, who gave us the lovely film called, Kaaka Muttai on the travails of two little boys angling for a pizza, takes us this time to a completely different theme in Aandavan Kattalai.'^[14] Firstpost wrote 'Aandavan Kattalai works largely due to its script and the situational comedy in the narration. The way the story unfolds and the difficult situations the hero faces is so well brought out, without taking any cinematic liberties.'^[15] Deccan Chronicle gave it 3.5 stars out of 5 calling it 'A film that's not to be missed!' ^[16] Behindwood said 'Manikandan is a proven director as we all know, and this film is yet another addition to the director's mettle as a storyteller. The screenplay has been written by three people, Manikandan, Anucharan, and Arul Chezhiyan. The trio has made sure that the film does not deviate from the core plot.' and gave 3/5.^[17] Sify News gave 5 out of 5 wrote 'Overall, Aandavan Kattalai is a must watch for all the ardent movie buffs. We are sure that this honest attempt from Manikandan will not disappoint you!^[18] Rediff gave it 4 out of 5 stating that 'The director once again delivers big time with a refreshing screenplay loaded with reality and fun, some great music, delightful characters and brilliant all-round performances.'^[19] Indiaglitz gave 4 out 5 and said 'Don’t miss this Gem that speaks the truth and only the truth through the maze' ^[20]

References

External links

• Aandavan Kattalai at the Internet Movie Database