I understand the unnecessary extrapolation of this statement, if not for reasons in my favor. For a mass Tamil audience, it can be difficult to immerse yourself in a film like Kadseela Biriyani. Kadaseela Biriyani lacks the artistic aesthetics of cinema, nor can she boast of the commercial sensibilities we know and process in Tamil cinema. He fell somewhere in the middle. And we call this average film “experimental.”
This film is not really a narrative experiment, but relies heavily on storytelling.
Nishant Kalidindi’s directorial debut brings the ancient theme of conspiracy to avenge murder into an explosive original. The idea for the film Nishanth came from the events before the murders, in which the main character was involved. Let’s take a look at the “plot” first, though there’s nothing here and that’s fine.
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Three brothers, Peria Pandi (brilliant Vassant Selvam), Elijah Pandi (Dinesh Mani) and Chiku Pandi (Vijay Ram from Super Deluxe) plan to kill the owner of a rubber plantation in Kerala to pay the bill for his father’s death. Think of any movie from the 80s. From here we get this colored foil in the opening credits and the music from Ilaiyaraaja.
Nishant can finally edit a short film about revenge in the timeline. In this case it is a murder movie. But in Kadaseela Biriyani, the staging of the murders the director predicts is the actual film he wants to see and one we want to be a part of. Results? We get a very satisfying “genre” film, whose filmmaking standard is A+.
The film starts with the voice of Chiku Pandi. Who organized and beaten by their brethren to plot the assassination? Frightened by this, his father takes Chiku Pandi from his mother’s brothers and family due to his violent background, in hopes that the shadow will not befall him.
In this case, Kadaseela Biriyani has a classic setting: In Chikku Pandi, the protagonist is deeply intrigued by the system of violence that he avoids in the first place.
When the first action is difficult, male energy boils with anger:
From the work of Lijo Jose (The Diaries of Angamali, Jalikattu), the second act is reminiscent of Kumararaja’s Aaranya Kaandam. The meeting of these two worlds went smoothly. Taking inspiration from a director is one thing, but learning their craft and making it your own is another. Nishant seems to really do the latter.
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With Kadaseela Biriyani, the subtext is actually the main text, where the event construction becomes an allegory for the hunting hunter. Like Aaranya Kaandam, in Nishanth’s interpretation of this forest there are no rules where the only rule is survival.
We speculate that Chiku Pandi was a sheep carried by her cheetah brothers until they found the cruel animal in Hakim Shah. That seems to be the idea: foxes hunt deer because they think they are prey, but the animal turns out to be an ox and now there really is no turning back. But the whole first half had to get to that point; escalation should come earlier which makes it more interesting.
There is a slight change of tone in the second half, where the black humor comes from the helplessness of Chikku Pandi. Some things fit, but the rest just don’t make sense, like Chiku Pandi and his siblings giving the character a “disgusting” name. Another major issue with this film is the recording speed. There is an important part where the hero confronts the demon; the settings are very nice and tense, but the results are not entirely satisfactory.
This film needs more chaos. I hope it’s not too strong in the middle.
With Vijay Setupati as the narrator, who also plays a cameo, Nishant tries to create “integrity” in the film universe. Some commented on the absurdity of life that it doesn’t produce the desired effect, as in Super Deluxe.
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But filmmaking makes a difference in the story. Nishant understands expertise in film production – all Kadaseela Biriyani footage comes straight from film school. The camera work is formal: we feel like old school directors shooting without moving the camera much. We get variations of these three basic settings: extensive, extensive, and medium. The operational work, combined with the solid sound design, gives this film a bit of liveliness.