sureshfair If somebody likes Entertainment movie, this is not the movie for those kind of people. This is not a typical Maniratnam movie. Even the dialogues are not clear as they talk tamil differently. Not able to follow most of the scenes. Pros1. Excellent Music 2. Good Character selection (except Heroine) 3. Wonderful camera work 4. Good background music by ARR 5. Excellent Acting by ArunCons1. Lot of filthy words used in many dialogues 2. Not a good story (sometimes boring) 3. Heroine acting is not good.Wonderful climax fighting. Some of the kadal (sea) locations are superb. Nenjukulle song wasted in movie. This movie is definitely not the best of Maniratnam. Expected a lot from him. I would not say don't watch it, but go and watch the movie without any expectation. Kadal without ARR will not be liked at all by many. But because of Rahman songs, people are able to see the movie. Will wait for Mani's next movie.

dir-ashok *Mani Ratnam's move to take a movie based on a script and shared screenplay written by jayamaohan was an intelligent move. *The movie was so original to the script and very beautiful cinematography and songs. *All the actors were amazing on their roles,a beautiful portrayal of all the characters with magic of Mani Ratnam can be seen throughout the film. *Visually the songs could have been better. *But you can tell no flaws if u lived along with those characters throughout the film rather than watching them as mere actors. *We can feel the purity,sincerity,perfection in movie making from Mani Ratnam,one should not miss this movie...go to theater,sit,relax and enjoy the movie. *This movie is surely not for commercial movie goers,but for those people who love to see dramatic movies will surely love this epic!!

Nirmal Jose I think people should know the base story of the film. In the bible, there are two main angels, Micheal and Lousipher. Lousipher was bad and kicked out of heaven and he became the Satan. In the real world, Michael helps us to be out of bad and Lousipher pulls us into the bad. Lousipher in the end, fails to Holy Lady. This is the base story from which the story is developed I believe. Aravind Swami plays Michael's role and Arjun plays Lousipher's role. The hero is a normal soul that is been the targeted by both.The hero, is brought up to good by Michael who is later taken away by Lousipher's bad world. Then he comes back to the normal life through a confession to the girl that he has done these these sins. Ultimately arjun fails in-front of the girl due to his fatherly love. I think if people know this story before watching the film, it could have been more entertaining. Mani Ratnam showed his class again by using a theme story like this and making it an entertaining one. The casting, cinematography, story line, direction everything has been excellent.

Dhanu Kemathas 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.