Watch Kedi for Tamanna and Ileana

The only thing about Sri Surya Movies' Kedi that stays in your mind is the image of Tamanna Bhatia. Acting in her first Tamil film, Tammana excels in a role that has striking resemblance to Padayappa's Neelambari. She does overdo it a few times, but still deserves credit for working well, given the limitations.

The next best thing about the movie is Ileana. She has little to do, but what she does is a neat job, completely at ease playing the girl next door. And, while Tamanna puts on a bit of attitude, Ileana plays it simple.

The story is a run-of-the-mill love triangle. The man is loved by a middle class nice girl and a shrew. Tamanna is the rich shrew, Ileana wears flowers in her hair. And yes, Ravi Krishna is the man. The irresponsible young fellow, lovingly whipped into discipline by a poor girl, becomes an object of desire for the Home Minister's spoilt sister. He falls in love with the poor girl, which infuriates the shrew, who plots to kill the woman so she can have him to herself. All this, with sundry characters thrown in.

Director Jyothi Krishna twists the story in the end. This could have been made more enjoyable with a taut screenplay and less rhetoric. As a director, Krishna shows more maturity in terms of story. He fails to maintain a consistent flow in the screenplay though. The good thing is, he doesn't fail miserably. His choice of technicians is good. Karun's camera work is decent, and Kola Bhaskar does a good job. His casting also needs to be appreciated on some counts. There's Tamanna and Ileana to start with, and M S Bhaskar is as good as ever. Atul Kulkarni has not been used effectively, and it is hard to understand why nobody noticed that Suman Shetty isn't even remotely funny.

Yuvan Shankar Raja seems to have let his mind wander through the depths of the Amazon jungles while scoring the music; there is a complete lack of innovation and inspiration in the sounds. Some of the tracks are loud, crass and irritating.

Ravi Krishna was not born with two left feet. He was born with his right foot on the left side and the left foot on the right side. He proves this in song after song here. Watching him unable to emote, in movie after movie, also gets to you. He needs lessons in acting and screen presence, and is Kedi's weakest aspect.

The most prominent reasons to watch Kedi are Tamanna and Ileana. See it for them, if for nothing else.

Rediff Rating: