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Kai Vanda Kalai: Boring

Last updated on: June 12, 2006 19:42 IST

When well-known director and actor R Pandiyarajan -- who has acted in more than 80 films and directed 11 films in his career spanning 25 years -- launches his son Prithi and is also handling the direction, you expect a good comic entertainer. Added to this, Kai Vanda Kalai is pitted against Pandiyarajan's Guru (Bhagyaraj), who is launching his daughter. Sadly, when you step out of the theatre, you realise the student has not kept pace with changing tastes in humour.

Kannan (Prithi) along with his father, a trickster, makes a living by conning the public. Kaushalya (Sruthi) is a schoolgirl wooed by Kannan. She puts forth a condition that he should reform if he wants to marry her. So, he sets off to Chennai to work with his uncle Ganeshan (Pandiyarajan). The uncle hires out glass containers to keep dead bodies. Kannan expands the business into a full-fledged mortuary service. Just when things look rosy, an old family squabble arises, which keep the lovers apart. The

predictable happens.

Pandiyarajan's style of narration is archaic. His son is even more pathetic. Even if you overlook his looks and physique (when you have many actors who are only as thin as the knives they carry on screen), the action quotient is on zero level. His only plus point is his dancing skill, but don't assume he is another Prabhu Deva or Vijay.

As for the heroine, the less said the better. She is a child artiste turned heroine, with a baby face that makes you want to charge the hero with child-snatching. Pandiyarajan tries to pass off old stuff with the hope that the audience will have forgotten his earlier films. He brings in Seetha and Revathi to make it look like a sequel to Aan Pavam.

Dhina's music is pathetic and Vairamuthu will regret having something to do with this film. In short, far from a comeback or launch pad, this is just a big bore.

S Sudha