Baana Kaathadi
Starring: Atharva, Samantha
Direction: Badri Venkatesh
Music: Yuvan Shankar Raja
Production: Sathyajyothi films
Baana Kaathadi stars Atharva who happens to be the son of well known actor Murali. This is Atharva’s unveiling in the world of Kollywood and makes expectations run high. The movie is under the direction of Badri Venkatesh which makes the movie interesting right on the screenplay and the fine acting skills of the cast.
The film interestingly showcases kite flying which is a passion and a hobby in parts of the country. Although Madurai is the ideal place for shooting movies this day, the filmmaker chose to have the movie on set at the slums of Chennai. Not only is the approach to the setting very realistic but the director should also be applauded for picking out the right set of actors to take on the film to give justice to the movie’s storyline. It puts a break from commercialized films in most movies out in the market today.
Baana Kaathadi is about Ramesh (Atharva) who is an all out student and is living in the slums of Chennai. On his free time, his passion for kite flying is shown and his kites are what his life is all about along with his friends with whom he shares the same passion.
He falls for a fashion technology student, Priya (Samantha) whom he came across with when he went after a kite that flew off. The twist of the story happens when Priya’s pen drive finds its way to Ramesh. Priya gets some real scolding after losing her pen drive that has important things related to her project, Priya sets out determined to look for Ramesh which she eventually does and their windswept beginnings end up in a beautiful friendship and later on a love match.
Things may seem as if everything else is falling to its right place especially when Ramesh proposes to Priya but things only get worse because of more untoward events that make Priya decide to leave Ramesh. Trouble awaits for Ramesh once again when he witnessed a murder that was done by a goon in their place, Ravi (Prasanna). Ravi may be a goon but he is one kind young man who advises Ramesh to leave and find a place other than their slums because he is now a witness to the murder of an ex-MLA. What happens next to his life is something that audiences should look out for.
The acting of Atharva for a newbie is not bad. He makes it seem so easy and the camera just loves him and what was expected of him in his character was something he was able to put up with. His counterpart, Samantha was also able to do her role well. The intimidating goon character of Prasana took the audience attention and Karunaas who played Kumar as Atharva’s friend in the film call to mind laughter and the rest of the cast were able to pull it off well too.
The music of Yuvan Shankar Raja are well enough but his re-recording is what was really great which fitted well for scenes with kite flying. The cinematography of Richard Mahesh also deserves an applaud for he was able to show the slums of Chennai well.