Story : It is an atypical "Good vs Evil" story told in Maniratnam's perception.Performances : The casting is superb. Everyone acted well but Aravind Swamy and Arjun shine in their roles. Gautham Karthik makes a fine debut.Story-Screenplay-Direction : Story is nice with some interesting twists thrown in. Screenplay is little dragging. It is absolutely dull in the scenes following Sam's conviction. The concept of hero joining Bergman is unconvincingly told. I thought hero is avenging. Direction is nice. The scenes like Thomas taking the newly born baby into his hands and looking at Jesus Christ's idol are excellently shot and they show the class of Maniratnam.Music & Background Score : Music by A.R.Rahman is godly. It is divine, sweet, eclectic, soul stirring and adjectives are insufficient. Every song is a gem. This is easily the best album from Mani-ARR combo since "Alaipayuthey". Background Score is excellent again. Rahman has bought in the global music feel to the background score. The orchestration is superb. In short, the music and background score out shines the movie itself.Other Departments : Cinematography by Rajeev Menon is topnotch effort. Watch the climax and know how good the cinematography of this film is. Editing is okay. Artwork is excellent.Final Piece : This is typical Maniratnam movie. It is dark, silent and has little commercial elements. But Maniratnam's fans like me may like this film. I liked it. Plus points are some extraordinary scenes, excellent music, performances by Arjun and Aravind and world class cinematography. Minus points are over all slow pace of the movie, unconvincing told concept of hero joining Bergman and lack of universal appeal. Watch it with academic interest.

So it's time we saw a Mani Ratnam film again. The director appears once every three years, with his insurmountable reputation and brings along a ton of critics Mani Ratnam tells a grand but simple tale this time, that of the Christian concept of god vs the devil. As usual mani;s conceptualisation skills is still untouched and gets better over the years His film metaphors the sea (Kadal in Tamil) to great effect.Watching a Mani Ratnam film, you inevitably compare 'Kadal,' with his earlier films.But the the canvas of Kadal is bigger than a mere coincidence of the scenes from some of Maniratnam's earlier movies with familiar childhood nayagan, visuals of kannathil muthamittal, emotions and ideology of Thalapathy and the familiar romance from Alaipayuthey. Again we cannot find any hint of the director rehashing his old work although segments of the movie have similar themes to his past work . Of course no ratnam movie is complete without his trademark "events should be imagined through words and dialogues rather than shown" scenes which u will find aplenty in this movie.Kadal, is a story of good versus evil, of retribution and forgiveness told in the inimitable style of Mani Ratnam. Every single member of the cast and crew have acted very well in Kadal The impressive part of the movie is the attention to detail of the rural landscape attitudes, scenery and the mannerisms portrayed. Only Ratnam has an eye for little details, borrowed from life. The cinematography in kadal is the best Maniratnam has ever produced since his 1992 magnum opus movie Roja,thanks to the ever roving camera of Rajiv menon. You will feel that u are actually there as part of the story and the sea.The débutante young lead stars are surprisingly excellent for first timers in their performance .The former heart rob of the 90s and a favourite cast of Maniratnam, Arvindswamy carries the movie with a coming of age bold and divine persona. The movie marks the comeback of the actor in a graceful way.Its probably the first time Arjun has been put into a seemingly villain role and a first in a maniratnam movie and it was a pleasure to see him and his excellent mannerisms which are true to life on the big screen.If u are the kind who prefer to walk in to the trashy mainstream masala cinema and happen to dislike the movie due to its unconventional story and theme, then mani has a way of enjoying the movie , that by giving u a movie of his which has the best cinematography, editing and acting scenes and an accurate portrayal of a Christian fishing village .Having said that, you have to actually sit through this film to experience the godsend combined effect of Rajiv Menon's stunning visuals and AR Rahman's soulful compositions. Overall well done flick but some may be too harsh to put the movie down afterall it does take intelligence and appreciation to watch a movie that borders thinly on commercial cinema and that of art-house variety which maniratnam does exceptionally well , more so than other other director in the Indian movie industry today.We know his ability to churn out masterpieces which will never go wrong even if they are commercial flops and Kadal is the Maniratnam movie just like his past movies which lingers in your mind long after u leave the theatreDon't have to think twice . Just watch it.

Honestly speaking i don't know how this filmmaker named Mani Ratnam manages to enthrall the viewer in me with his every single film. That makes him truly a rare breed. A true genius. Yes Mani Ratnam is truly the wizard of Indian Cinema and he continues his magical journey with his latest offering "Kadal". A gem of a film in all ways.Kadal marks the comeback of the 90s heartthrob Arvind Swamy and as expected he delivers a brilliant performance as Sam Fernando,one of his best roles ever. Arjun Sarja the Gentleman/Mudhalvan of Tamil Cinema is just terrific as Bergmans. He is a treat to watch in Kadal.The film also marks the debut of Gautham Karthik(son of yesteryear actor Karthik) and Thulasi Nair (daughter of yesteryear actress Radha). Needless to say these star kids can be proud of this incredible debut forever and they are indeed very very impressive. Special mention should be given to Ponvannan, Lakshmi Manchu and the child artistes who played the childhood of Gautham Karthik. They were really mesmerizing.AR Rahman started his musical journey with Mani Ratnam long back in 1992 in the sensational Roja.When it comes to the songs of Kadal i felt like the Rahman of 90s has come back. Truly one of his best work.The BGM is too good and it provides the needed emotional depth to Kadal.Kadal mainly deals with the conflict between good and evil which for sure has been approached by many filmmakers in the past but not as impressive and authentic as Kadal. Each and every frame of Kadal is captivating. Thanks to the amazing work by Rajiv Menon who cranked the camera.Absolutely it's Rajiv Menon the cinematographer at his best.Kadal is truly a film that deserves multiple viewing.Beautifully written by Jeyamohan Kadal is a masterstroke of Mani Ratnam. Hats off to the legend.

After Raavanan, Mani Ratnam has returned behind the camera and has delivered us Kadal (English: The Sea), a drama film which revolves the story of the life of Indian-Tamil Christian fishermen. It features an ensemble cast that includes Aravinth Swamy, Arjun Sarja, Ponnvannan, Lakshmi Manchu and débutantes Gautham Karthik (son of actor Karthik Muthuraman) and Thulasi Nair (daughter of actress Radha). The film's score and soundtrack were composed by the two time Academy Award winner A.R Rahman and the voices were lent by A.R Rahman, Vijay Yesudas, Sid Sriram, Abhay Jodhpurkar, Harini, Shakri Sri Gopalan, Haricharan, Chinmayi, Tanvi Shah and rapper Aaryan Dinesh Kanagaratnam. The lyrics were penned by Kaviperarasu Vairamuthu, his son Madhan Karky and rapper Aaryan Dinesh Kanagaratnam. The film was written by Jeyamohan while Rajiv Menon and A. Sreekar Prasad handled the cinematography and editing. It was produced by A. Manohar Prasad and Mani Ratnam.The film has two story lines that become one. The one features Father Samuel Fernando aka Sam (Swamy) and Bergmans aka Meesaikaaran (Sarja) while the other one features Thomas aka Tom (Karthik) and Beatrice aka Bea (Nair). The film marks a comeback for Swamy. He was last seen in Mani Ratnam's Alaipayuthey which was released 13 years ago. We can say that Aravinth Swamy owns the film even if the main actor is Gautham Karthik. The film's strongest point is the screenplay which was handled by Jeyamohan. The screenplay was simply amazing, specially the childhood scenes of Thomas. Both the child and the teenager who portrayed the younger Thomas have done a fabulous job. Both Karthik Muthuraman and Radha can be proud of their children. They have delivered a wonderful and neat performance. Specially Gautham Karthik. His acting skills, dance skills and action are pretty impressive. Thulasi Nair is natural, but I didn't feel that Beatrice was a suitable role for her. Aravinth Swamy was at his strongest performance after Bombay (1995). He was simply the perfect choice to portray Father Samuel Fernando. Arjun Sarja, the action king who has delivered a bunch of successful action- packed films in the 90's has portrayed Bergmans, the main antagonist. Sarja has played a role with negative shades and has shown us another side of his acting skills. Ponvannan who portrayed Thomas's unknown father has also done a good job.Rajiv Menon, the cinematographer has pictured the whole film beautifully, specially the songs Elay Keechan, Moongil Tottham and Adiye. You will still have the shots of Thomas as a teenager when he surfs in the ocean in your mind even when you leave the cinema. A. Sreekar Prasad, the editor, deserves to be praised for his work as well.A.R Rahman, who has been Mani Ratnam's usual composer since Roja (1992) has given the film a soundtrack with different genres. Chittirai Nila describes the difference between life and death, Elay Keechan has a farmer-humpback tune, Adiye has a jazz feel, Nenjukkulle, a romantic touch, Anbin Vaasale, a religious song, Moongil Tottham, a slow tune of Nenjukkulle and Magudi Magudi, a Hip-Hop track which gives energy in the action scenes. Kadal is the third best album of the Mani Ratnam - A.R Rahman combination.Overall Kadal is a beautiful journey you never want to miss. It is a story that tells us about the good versus the evil. It has emotions, action, love, heart melting music, extraordinary shots of jumping waves, a good message and a small piece of comedy. It may not be a usual Mani Ratnam flick, but if you want to look and experience something different, then Kadal is definitely the right choice. Strongly recommended for everyone. Specially non-Mani Ratnam fans.