Kedi Billa Killadi Ranga

Known for blending humor into the narrative of all his films, director Pandiraj has pulled off yet another full length comedy entertainer with a heart-tugging message towards the end.  ‘Kedi Billa Killadi Ranga’ (KBKR) doesn’t boast of a storyline that will keep you hinged to your seats, but thankfully it has comedy to appeal one and all from the word go. Subtly addressing several issues revolving around modern day youngsters, KBKR has a winner written all over it.

Revolving mostly around the friendship of two childhood friends, Kesavan and Murugan, KBKR takes us the lives of these two characters and what happens in their lives when they decided to earn a career in politics. But, when things don’t go as planned, what happens in their lives? This forms the rest of the story.

Director Pandiraj, known for churning commercial entertainer, has this time very intelligently addressed the modern day relationship between parents and children in today’s era. By making a story as entertaining as possible, the film strikes chord with a little melodramatic but effective climax.

The subplots about the filth of politics and the state of politics in this country aptly fit into the narrative of the film. It also paves way to sensible comedy that at that very instant may appear stupid but will make sense later. 

Performances by Vimal and Siva are satisfying, while Bindu and Regina also shine in the respective roles. It is extremely difficult to find even a single dull moment in the film, thanks to the director for that. Even though the film is a comedy entertainer at heart, but it succeeds in managing to drive home a thought worth dissection. 

Yuvan's music is partly elevates the film to certain extent, but on the whole it's the simple story and witty dialogues work in the favour of the film. If you want to watch something worthy of every penny you spend, then here is your film

Comedies are usually known to have a radically opposite effect on different people. I hated SMS and OKOK, but quite liked Kanna Laddu Thinna Aasaiya. Go figure. We all have our reasons and we know why a film works and why some do not. Kedi Billa Killadi Ranga, Pandiraj's latest after Pasaga and Marina, is another one of those gazillion Tamil films which uses Rajnikanth references just for the heck of it. It falls somewhere between the aforementioned movies on the 'fun' scale. 

The film hasn't much of a story to discuss. Kesavan and Murugan are two inseparable friends who have been together since childhood. Their friendship is so potent that it resulted in the breakage of their father's friendship. Like most Tamil film heroes, they are unemployed drunks who hang around with a much older man who is still rejoicing his bygone youth. Their sole intention is to get into politics and become the Counsellor of their respective Wards. They aren't motivated by the urge to make people's lives better, but by the desire to accumulate wealth. Each of them finds himself a girl and expectedly falls in love. Then a bit of wooing happens. This is really hard. There is really no story, guys. 

Kedi Billa Killadi Ranga is never boring or unbearable to sit through but I didn't find it as funny as most people at my screening did. I feel weird saying this but the lack of a story doesn't really hurt the film. It's not like Tamil audience mind a story-less comedy as long as they have had their share of laugh. Chances are, you won't even miss the lack of a story, to put it bluntly. After sitting through nearly two hours of a story less narrative with a few funny one liners sprinkled at regular intervals, the film gets to business with a few surprisingly emotional scenes. Because the ending feels slightly abrupt, I get the idea that the film was basically using comedy as an excuse and building up only to deliver the 'message'. 

No one likes to be told to do things- especially not in a movie. So Kedi Billa Killadi Ranga tries to make you laugh, and once it believes it has given you enough bang for the buck, it smothers you with sentiment. This is not a complaint. I appreciate the film for at least doing this and making it a little respectable. As long as it is not manipulative, I do not have a problem with sentiment. 

This is the first time I'm watching a Siva Karthikeyan movie and I'm impressed. He's a far better actor than Vimal, who is basically sleep-walking through the film. He's such a one-note actor. Neither is his romance with Bindu Madhavi interesting nor are the stunts performed by Bindu funny in any way. But the one who managed to make me smile most number of times has to be Barotta Soori. He's been playing the same guy in all his movies but he still gets the laughs. This is Yuvan Shankar Raja's most decent work in I don't know how long. He was going through a lean patch for a long time, and this film's soundtrack surely changes that.

I was fifteen years old when Kanda Naal Mudhal released. It's one movie I totally loved and I am certain it will hold up well even after all these years. I'm bringing it up because that was when I first saw Regina Cassandra and immediately developed a huge crush on. She played Laila's sister in the film and her character dealt with teenage pregnancy. I used to re-watch scenes in which she appeared. She did a few movies here and there, but remained obscure. I am very pleased to see her return, even though I don't have any feeling for her now. Sorry, Regina. It's not you, it's me.

Save for a few occasional one liners, I didn't find Kedi Billa Killadi Ranga funny. The part I liked the most is the emotional, final few minutes. You can call it 'Appa sentiment' if you want to. I'd like to give it 2.5/5 but the new site layout doesn't allow me to do that. So I'm leaning towards the positive side with 3.