The song for the Valentine’s day - ‘Kadhal Enge’

‘Kadhal Enge’ featuring Darshan Ganeshan and Srisha, directed by Lakshmi Devy has received critical acclaim for it’s creativity

Rating - 4.5 / 5

When one explores to write about the most striking love song on Valentine's Day, the choices are plenty. But miles apart from the normal cliches of love portrayed on screen, ‘Kadhal Enge' transcends time and space to recreate the magic of love. This comes from the awarded and acclaimed Indian American Director Lakshmi Devy whose short movie ‘When the Music changes' was a strong contender for Oscar Live Action Short category. Her album raises the standard of music videos to the level of movies.

Having the Hollywood icon John Turtturo as the movie's executive producer, her movie screened for Oscars with rave reviews from the Academy Awards enthusiast fraternity. Now the award winning film maker has ventured out into a Music video in Tamil and Telugu. Her Tamil music video song on ‘eternal love transcending time and space' has become a raging hit across the youth. The music video also got released in Telugu as ‘Yadhalo Mounam'. The most striking aspect of the endeavour being the theme and team.

The theme is ‘unexpressed love that journeys beyond the boundaries of time' and fulfils itself after centuries of patience. The team comprises of Darshan Ganeshan who is the grandson of legendary Tamil artist and doyen Sivaji Ganesan, Shrisha, the niece of late iconic actress Sridevi and Lakshmi Devy, the grandniece of Padmini, who ruled the screens in her era. It would be an interesting fact for the movie buffs that Sivaji and Padmini were considered the dream team and ideal pair in their era.

The Indian American Doctor Lakshmi has captured the nuances of Tamil sensibilities and South Indian culture with finesse. The visual language adopted in the video to showcase the historical landscape in which the ‘unspoken love' between the protagonists emerge has been delivered with artistic mojo. Not often does a music video merits the elaborate review from the mainstream media. But ‘Kadhal Enge' is a game changer in the arena of music videos and raised the bar for the future directors. In the new digital world, it has become a nearly impossible task to balance between appealing to a cultural & regional segment and also has international standards of aesthetic sensibilities, production value and craft.

One of the in-depth features of the album is the choice of costumes and the artful creation of the settings of various centuries. The eye for details in the video rivals that of big screen movies with precision and even minute details are taken care of. The editing has added flavour to this ode for eternal romance. The story and screenplay has been written in a format that conveys meaning and marvel of the soulful emotion of interpersonal connectivity between two people bereft communication. The lovers have been facing constrains imposed by the society and it is exhilarating to find them take courage after many lives to share their feelings suppressed for centuries.

The video is tastefully shot by Abinandhan Ramanujam of Kappan fame. Cinematography is one of the most striking features of this album. Music is composed by renowned music director Achu Rajamani in collaboration with the new ‘musical guy on the block' Varun Menon. Achu Rajamani he has also sung the song. Editing was by Anthony Gonsalvez who has worked mostly with eminent directors like Shankar and Gautam Vasudev Menon. The bilingual video has been released by Aditya Music and produced by FiDi Talkies.

By Biijal Shah