Minsara Kanavu (1997)

It's not that I hate the film... Rajiv Menon does a good job in directing, the entire cast is fabulous, A.R. Rahman of course delivers a GOAT album, and everything is just so pretty to look at (including Kajol's dresses)... and yet, something was missing and I just couldn't bring myself to love the film. Probably because the story didn't do justice to any of the elements that I mentioned above.

It's hard to pick one favourite acting performance here, but Arvind Swamy's character annoyed me the most, so I guess he deserves a special mention. Kajol shines through as Priya: I had my doubts about whether she could successfully carry off a character who wants to be a nun, but as always, she surprised me. Girish Karnad and S.P. Balasubrahmanyam added so much comedy with their father acts, and made the story seem funnier than it was. I honestly don't even know what to say about the story: my problem isn't that it was predictable or clichéd, but how weirdly it was paced and the path that the narrative took to reach the conclusion. The movie at places was so absurdly ignorant of the very real class-conflict that was going on that I really couldn't help but view it with disdain. Had this been made by a class-conscious director, it could have been so much better, in my opinion. 

In conclusion, A.R. Rahman and Nasser save the day. 

PS- the way I flipped when I realised it was Prakash Raj asking for Kajol's hand!! 

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