Kandukondain Kandukondain (also known as I Have Seen it in
English) is a 2000 Tamil film directed by Rajiv Menon. The
films was also dubbed into English and other languages. The movie
stars Ajith,Mammootty,Aishwarya Rai and Tabu. The film is a
contemporary Indian take on Jane Austen's Sense and
Sensibility.
Kandukondain Kandukondain,directed by Rajiv Menon, comes across as
a refreshing change from the formulaic films churned out by
Bollywood week after week. The film, a major improvement over his
previous film Sapnay, looks at the trials and tribulations of a
family consisting of a mother and three daughters and about the men
who walk into the lives of the elder two girls of marriageable age.
In a cruel interplay of destiny and betrayal, the family stripped
of their house and belongings sets out to the city to build a new
life. How they eventually find success and love and learn to live a
life of dignity is what the film is all about.
Music for the film is composed by A.R. Rahman and the movie is said
to have the most unique sound of his to date in the millenium. He
has undoubtedly infused a whole new different sound in this
one.
A.R.Rahman's music score for this film fetched audio rights worth
Rs2.2+ crores. This record still remains unbeaten as the film audio
market has gone into recession since 2000.The music by A.R. Rahman
goes a little innovative on his usual heavy use of synthetic sounds
and a lot of it is, in fact, based on ragas of Carnatic music
The film works quite well even if some of the problems faced by the
characters and their solutions appear a little too pat and
predictable like Tabu solving the computer programming glitch in
the office and immediately being promoted. The contrast between the
two elder sisters - the elder one (Tabu) sober and cautious, the
younger one (Aishwarya) vivacious and passionate is well brought
out and the unique bond they share among themselves is truly
heartwarming. However the narrative flow of the film could have
been smoother. At times the story follows the travails of one
sister for far too long before suddenly coming back to the other.
Also, the faithful servant who follows the family to the city is
never established earlier so her decision to do so comes more as a
bolt out of the blue.
The film is aided by two strong central performances by Tabu and
Aishwarya Rai and they are more than ably supported by Mammooty
(who is as usual outstanding), Ajith and Abbas though admittedly
the latter is handicapped by a sketchily underwritten role. His
flamboyance and sweeping Aishwarya off her feet doesn't quite come
off.
The film is well shot by Ravi K. Chandran with an appreciable
aesthetic sensibility and visual sense barring a couple of tacky
special effects as in Tabu's flat with the fireworks in the
background. . Among the songs, Aishwarya's song in the village
fields stands out for its innovative picturisation.
A couple of technical flourishes stand out like the lead into
Aishwarya's first song and the cut from the train to the tracks in
Egypt to the song between Tabu and Ajith.
What is interesting is that instead of dubbing the film in another
language, the makers have had the film subtitled in English.
According to Rajiv Menon this helps the film retain its 'very
Tamil' flavour yet be understood perfectly by outside viewers. Also
since the film is a story of relationships and focuses on
performances with lots of close-ups, dubbing into another language
and mismatched dialogues would take away from the film. Though the
subtitles work well and the film is enjoying a good run at the box
office, albeit in a limited release, this restricts the audience to
a minority who would understand and appreciate a good effort like
this.
Menon acknowledges the role of Sringar Films who picked up the film
and hoped this would start a new trend like Hyderabad Blues did.
One could thus break down language barriers while retaining the
authentic flavour of the original film. And after all, isn't Cinema
a universal medium?
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