Kadhalikka Neramillai (Tamil)
In Shriya, played by Nithya Menen, Kadhalikka Neramillai briefly gives us a beautifully fleshed-out female lead who refuses to let her life revolve around a man’s issues. She is an ambitious working woman—a trait that isn’t conveniently forgotten after she falls in love. She loves brazenly and isn’t afraid to show it. Most importantly, she believes in her right to become a mother with or without a man. But this particular free-willed, life-changing decision brings complications for both her and the audience rooting for her. Kiruthiga Udhayanidhi uses this refreshing idea to give us a sparkling romance that leaves us mostly beaming. Yet, it also leaves a bit of Shriya behind in its stride.
Kadhalikka Neramillai largely revolves around two equally competent and strong-willed architects: Shriya and Siddharth (Ravi Mohan, who recently dropped his moniker Jayam Ravi). Their lives are changed by their respective experiences of heartbreak. While one is prompted to become a mother without the help of a man, the other is determined to stay clear of babies and marriage. Until their paths serendipitously cross, we see glimpses of their individual, fraying, introspective journeys. Shriya begins rounds of IVF and is left to fend for herself after her patronising and patriarchal mother expels her from the house. Sid, on the other hand, is forced to learn about the workings of a sperm bank thanks to his gay best friend, Sethu (Vinay).
Sid’s storyline suffers somewhat from under-writing, and it’s easy to see why. Vinay’s character, despite being carefully performed without clichés, deserved a bigger role in the film—one that didn’t just reduce him to his sexuality. Sid’s friend group also consists of Gowda (Yogi Babu, in a typically cast role), who could have done without a couple of double-meaning jokes laced with the subtlest shade of homophobia. But the thing that irks most about Sid is how little we know about him. Unlike Shriya, whose core values are revealed through her actions and decisions, Sid’s values are fed to us through angry rants. At one point, he tells his fiancée that marriages are toxic, while simultaneously asking her to tone down her feminism. These rants feel forced, rather than stemming from organic tension in the scenes leading up to them.
However, the film runs on cruise control the second Shriya’s path intersects with Sid’s. Basing a romance on a soul connection could easily have been perceived as excessive in another film, but in Kiruthiga’s hands, the romance feels beautifully instant, and so does our acceptance of it. Add to that AR Rahman’s lilting score, and we’re mostly swooning. Nithya Menen and Ravi Mohan give this relationship life through a chemistry that’s almost palpable. Menen, in particular, exudes an effortless charm, making us believe in this romance and the instant connections she makes with Sid and his delightful dad (Lal). Theirs is a love that is torn apart even before it begins, with their priorities being extremely disparate. But when they do meet again, almost eight years later, their feelings are stronger, and the priorities dissipate.
As the romance takes over (no complaints there), the film also switches its focus from Shriya’s journey as a single mother—an arc that took up almost the entire first half—to her child’s desire for a father figure. While these may be essential questions and struggles in any single child’s life, the bond between Shriya and the child she left everything behind for, unfortunately, is left unexplored and underwritten. In comparison, Kavin and Aparna Das’ Dada (2023) managed to express the unbridled angst and love in a child living with a single parent with tact. Kadhalikka Neramillai instead opts for a simpler approach, leaving no way for complexities in feelings to arise.
But to its credit, this also means staying clear of unnecessary theatrics. The “other woman” is refreshingly not villainised, and instead treated as an adult with maturity. Overbearing mothers turn over a new leaf without a sympathetic side-track, and most importantly, the film still manages to surprise you just when you’re ready to dismiss it as a conformist romance.
Watch the film's trailer here:
If there’s anything Sruthi loves more than watching films, it’s writing about it. Sruthi Ganapathy Raman’s words can also be read in Film Companion, Scroll.in, and The Times of India.
Disclaimer: This review was not paid for or commissioned by anyone associated with the film. Neither TNM nor any of its reviewers have any sort of business relationship with the film’s producers or any other members of its cast and crew.
