XB Film Creators

Review By: Kesava Chandra KaadanUA26 Mar, 2021 2 hrs 30 mins Tamil Drama Listen to this Album 3.0/54.2/5Rate Movie INFOCAST & CREWMOVIE REVIEWVIDEOSPHOTOS USERS' REVIEWSNEWS SYNOPSIS An eco-warrior takes on a central minister who plots to turn his beloved forest into a luxury township. CAST & CREW Prabhu SolomonDirector Rana DaggubatiActor Zoya HussainActor Shriya PilgaonkarActor Pulkit SamratActor Vishnu VishalActor Raghu BabuActor Kaadan Movie Review: Earnest storytelling keeps Kaadan engaging TIMES OF INDIA M Suganth, Mar 25, 2021, 03.45 PM ISTCritic's Rating: 3.0/5 In Kaadan, Rana Daggubati plays Veerabarathi aka Kaadan, who is referred to as the Forest Man of India (modelled after the real-life environmental activist Jadav Payeng). When the film opens, we see Kaadan sitting still by a stream where a herd of elephants are quenching their thirst. The forest is pristine (AR Ashok Kumar's cinematography highlights the paradise-like quality of the place) and everything indicates tranquillity. Here is a man who is one with nature. A few scenes later, this idea is reiterated when Kaadan carefully removes a creeper that has twirled around his finger while he was asleep. There is no surprise then in how this man would react to a JCB trampling over flowers or saws cutting through the beloved trees that he has planted in the forest, and destroying the very fabric that holds the forest together. These acts are carried out by men belonging to a developer, who also happens to be the environmental minister, ironically named Kurunjinathan (Anant Mahadevan). The minister wants to build a luxury township, complete with golf course, amphitheatre and what not. But Kaadan and the elephants stand in his way. With Kaadan, Prabu Solomon comes up with a largely engaging film that is unabashedly melodramatic in its treatment. Characters are painted distinctly in black and white, they are largely one-note, and the scenes play out at a pitch that is somewhat over the top. The one character who gets a bit of shading is that of Maaran (a lively Vishnu Vishal), who comes to the forest to help the minister's men tackle the menace of the forest elephants with his kumki elephant, Jillu. This track more or less follows the arc of the director's Kumki, which was also about a mahout blinded by love and the fallout of his selfish actions. We even have an older man (Raghu Babu, who contributes to the humour) as this character's sidekick. Here, Maaran falls in love with Aruvi (Zoya Hussain), who belongs to a group of rebels fighting for their rights and the forest. This character and that of Arundhati (Shriya Pilgaonkar), a reporter who empathises with Kaadan's cause, are underdeveloped, which is disappointing given that they are the only two significant female characters in the film. But for a long while, Prabu Solomon is more interested in telling us a story. It is only in the climax that the filmmaker starts to sermonise, which feels unnecessary given that we get the movie's 'message' even without the need for any underscoring. But the earnestness in the storytelling keeps the film afloat, making us root for its characters. And then there is Rana, who wins us over with the sheer physicality of his performance. It is as magnificent as the animals and the jungle