Kadaikutty Singam movie review: Karthi fits the bill as dhoti-clad farmer in brother Suriya's production debut

Suriya, for the first time, has come forward to produce Kadaikutty Singam under his home banner 2D Entertainment for his brother Karthi. He makes a walk-in appearance as himself in the beginning of the film giving away a trophy in the Rekla race (bullock cart race) to the protagonist. It sets the mood for this village based film on the importance of family values, joint family system, sacrifice and bonding. [caption id=“attachment_4725961” align=“alignnone” width=“825”]  Karthi and Sayyeshaa in a still from Kadaikutty Singam. Image from Twitter/@pudiharicharan[/caption] Karthi is an actor who has done well in village based hero roles right from his first film Paruthiveeran. And here, the crux of the rural drama is the importance of joint family and farming, laced with romance, humour, villains and sentiments. Gunasingam (Karthi) is a proud farmer who believes that farming, as a profession, should be given as much respect by today’s youth as they give to an engineer or doctor. Ranasingam (Sathyaraj) is a benevolent landlord with a large family – two wives (Viji Chandrasekhar and Bhanupriya) and five daughters. Ranasingam married a second time just to have a boy. His wish was granted as the sixth and youngest in the family, Gunasingam, is born. As he grows up, he bonds very well with his sisters and does everything keeping their interest in mind. The entire family wants Gunasingam to marry one of his two nieces — Poompozhil (Priya Bhavani Shankar) or Aandaal (Arthana Binu). However, our hero has madly fallen in love “at first sight”  with Kannukiniyaal (Sayyeshaa), daughter of Thilai Nayagam (Ponvannan) whose sister was supposed to marry Ranasingam but the wedding was called off as soon as the latter’s wife delivered a boy.  This creates a huge split in the family as Ranasingam (who stands by his son) and Gunasingam are isolated. Some bad guys who want to cause harm to Gunasingam create further rift in the family. Ranasingam tells his son that he has only one wish, to gather the entire family for a group photograph. Will Gunasingam be able to reunite the family? The story and the packaging remind you of 1990s rural mass films churned by Vijaykanth and a few others. The storytelling is preachy and filled with melodrama, and bringing in a villain just for the sake of it and make the hero flex his muscles. However, the Rekla race scene has been captured in a stunning manner by cinematographer Velraj. To be fair, director Pandiraj’s dialogues are good and he has given each and every character their due in the nearly 150-minute film. Karthi holds the film together. He is at complete ease doing the dhoti-clad farmer’s role and shines in the emotional scenes. His comedy scenes with Soori, who plays his nephew, is enjoyable. Soori once again proves that he is a terrific as a side-kick of the hero. And the bus romance with Sayyeshaa is a delight. Sayyeshaa, as the heroine sans makeup, has done a neat job The huge supporting cast of Sathyaraj, Bhanupriya, Viji Chandrasekhar and Priya Bhavani Shankar are impressive. The film clearly has a message that no matter how educated we become, we still need to realise the importance of family. No amount of money can match the wealth of strong relationships. On the whole, it is a well made rural entertainer that is sure to reach its target audience.