We have seen this format so many times... a modern couple don't believe in marriage and just want to live together and be 'friends with benefits' before they go on their separate paths to successful careers. They promise to have no attachments to each other, never to nag like married people do, never to put heart above head. You know this is not going to work... right from the beginning. And it doesn't. It could get damn boring, you know?
O Kadhal Kanmani is living, thriving proof of what a master storyteller brings to the table.
Beyond the brilliant music of AR Rahman, beyond the non-cliched Bombay as setting, beyond the love art direction and even beyond the natural acting of all concerned is the wonderful script of OK Kanmani. The sequence of events and the dialogues are both wonderful, both done by Mani Ratnam.
I am somewhat familiar with Tamil and I could catch the crackle of the banter in Tamil more than a few times and felt the subtitles - though competent and error-free - did not quite match up.
I loved the casual way in which the lead couple talked about sex and living together, how their work (video game design and architecture) smoothly became a part of the flow and how the old-new conflicts played out without filmi cliches.
Even in Mani Ratnam's earlier films - Saathiya and Yuva, for example - these themes have been explored but they seem fresh every time. The train rides of Saathiya and bike rides of Yuva come back here, like playful nods to the earlier avatars.
Dulqer Salman has a strong screen presence and Nithya Menon out-bubbles Preity Zinta in her prime in the bubbly game. But I'd be shortchanging her if I kept it at that as she is very good in the emotional scenes too. Prakash Raj - as the bank manager turned landlord - is amazing as the devoted husband to a wife (Leela Samson) who is slowly slipping into Alzheimer's. He gets the character - with all its tics - perfectly.
You cannot review OK Kanmani without mentioning the songs. They are brilliant, bursting with energy at one level and slowing down at another. AR Rahman is the only composer who gives me earworms in languages I don't understand. OK Kanmani's Mental manathil is one such. For several days at a stretch, I listened to this song on loop.
Here... you do too!
O Kadhal Kanmani is living, thriving proof of what a master storyteller brings to the table.
Beyond the brilliant music of AR Rahman, beyond the non-cliched Bombay as setting, beyond the love art direction and even beyond the natural acting of all concerned is the wonderful script of OK Kanmani. The sequence of events and the dialogues are both wonderful, both done by Mani Ratnam.
I am somewhat familiar with Tamil and I could catch the crackle of the banter in Tamil more than a few times and felt the subtitles - though competent and error-free - did not quite match up.
I loved the casual way in which the lead couple talked about sex and living together, how their work (video game design and architecture) smoothly became a part of the flow and how the old-new conflicts played out without filmi cliches.
Even in Mani Ratnam's earlier films - Saathiya and Yuva, for example - these themes have been explored but they seem fresh every time. The train rides of Saathiya and bike rides of Yuva come back here, like playful nods to the earlier avatars.
Dulqer Salman has a strong screen presence and Nithya Menon out-bubbles Preity Zinta in her prime in the bubbly game. But I'd be shortchanging her if I kept it at that as she is very good in the emotional scenes too. Prakash Raj - as the bank manager turned landlord - is amazing as the devoted husband to a wife (Leela Samson) who is slowly slipping into Alzheimer's. He gets the character - with all its tics - perfectly.
You cannot review OK Kanmani without mentioning the songs. They are brilliant, bursting with energy at one level and slowing down at another. AR Rahman is the only composer who gives me earworms in languages I don't understand. OK Kanmani's Mental manathil is one such. For several days at a stretch, I listened to this song on loop.
Here... you do too!
Frivolous Footnote: Shaad Ali (who made Mani-sir's Alai Payuthey into Saathiya) is remaking this one too. Produced by Karan Johar, the official remake will star Siddharth Roy Kapur and Shraddha Kapoor and seems like a huge hit on the way. Except I am not able to get myself excited over a film called OK Jaanu. Ugh.
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