Tuesday, December 24, 2013

Kalyana Samayal Saadham (2013)

Kalyana Samayal Saadham (KSS) picks an aspect of marriage that usually goes undiscussed in our cinema - impotency. Whether or not it is a permanent medical complication, a matter of sexual compatibility or a stress-induced temporary state can be attributed to detailing, but one could sense that the movie shunned away from topic through out its course the typical tamil cinema way. KSS chooses to instill humour into all the situations arising out and comically dismisses Raghu's (Prasanna) problem. When Meera (Lekha Washington) delivered the "Let's assume you are impotent, so what ?!" line, she appeared as if she was receiving the Tamil-culture-girl baton directly from Vadivukkarasi of Kanni Paruvathile (1979). The detailed procession of the wedding through the second half of the movie is probably a black critique on the system of arranged marriages - the unimportant modus operandi taking the center stage while nobody seems to care about important aspects such as the one presented in the film - impotency of the bridegroom.


One can observe that the movie assumes an elitist and urban setting with the tamil brahmin wedding and a complete song featuring facebook template etc, but the issue addressed is definitely universal. I definitely felt a bit let down with the way the script tackled Prasanna's problem with no honesty or intensity, expecting a psychological study of the problem in the context of a relationship. But the movie still deserves credit for bringing such topics into discussion, considering the mindless escapist stuff dished out in the name of mainstream entertainment in tamil cinema.